Andrea Yates found not guilty by reason of insanity...

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:12pm

I know many others may not agree, but as someone who suffered from postpartum depression, I am glad to see this...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/07/26/yates.trial.ap/index.html

[Magdalene]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:18pm

I think her HUSBAND should have been out on trial!!!!

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:20pm

you mean EX-husband?

[Mamie]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:24pm

I agree with you, Magdalene. Let's hope this poor soul can find some peace. I suspect she never will.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:28pm

May Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary rest in peace.

If only Andrea's wrongheaded religious leaders and inattentive medical professionals had realized how ill she was, those 5 children might still be alive.

Her ex-husband is NOT to blame. He tried to get her help. The help he got was insufficient, inappropriate and misdiagnosed her condition. Don't judge him until you examine what he did and ask yourself what you would have done differently.

You can find all the background information in this painful but comprehensive book.
Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:29pm

Postpartum depression is an illness that many people do not understand, especially the woman's husband/partner. Her husband should be applauded for actually attempting to get her help, as many others do not.

[Mamie]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:33pm

I'm not sure I entirely agree, PJ. A vasectomy quite a few children ago would have helped a lot.

[Magdalene]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:36pm

To my understanding, Andrea Yates dr. told her husband to cool it with the kids for a while, and the husband didn't listen...

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:39pm

My heart breaks for Andrea. This is one of those things I don't think one can ever get past. And her husband has struck me as a decent sort. Even though they are divorced (and he has remarried), he continues to stick by her. And they were clearly trying to live by a code that undermined their fragile family structure.

It's almost like I hope that they keep her heavily sedated so that she doesn't have to face what she did every waking moment. I, too, hope she finds peace.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:42pm

there is so much tragedy in this story; is it really necessary to also assign blame? The survivors have suffered enough, and no amount of finger-pointing will ever bring those poor children back.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:42pm

Their religious leaders would never have ALLOWED Andrea and Russell to get a vasectomy. They were actually being encouraged to have MORE children.

Clarification re post-partum depression: Andrea actually suffered from post-partum psychosis, not depression. There is a major difference.

It was when Andrea was taken off the antipsychotics and put on antidepressants that her behavior veered into the delusional and destructive. Recent medical literature has other stories of people whose psychoses were emboldened by SSRI's (antidepressants like Prozac) to commit suicide and homicide.

If Andrea had been kept on the antipsychotic drugs, she would probably never have developed the ability to actually drown the children.

Updated On: 7/26/06 at 04:42 PM

[mominator]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:42pm

Postpartum is way scary. Thank heavens this woman will get the help she so desperately needs. Sadly it is many years too late for her children.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:47pm

Magdalene, you are wrong.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:48pm

The situation is just tragic, but I believe that this new verdict is the more appropriate one than her inital guilty one.

I read an interesting article recently about this... and am reminded that we are all members of a community who can do something to help.
Andrea Yates Shows That Mothers Need Our Help

[NYadgal]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 4:51pm

Finding our roles:

"All of us can find a place in this important work.

Pro-choice organizations need our energy and financial support.

Doctors and mental health agencies need to move from a hands-off stance that stresses patient rights to a position of engagement with the community surrounding a patient.

Those of us in faith communities need to take on fundamentalist groups denying choice to women."

Updated On: 7/26/06 at 04:51 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 5:01pm

Tex said it well: "There is so much tragedy in this story; is it really necessary to also assign blame? The survivors have suffered enough, and no amount of finger-pointing will ever bring those poor children back."

Can't hurt to read it again.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 5:37pm

I do think the constructive and pro-active aspects of some reactions to the case might be helpful in the long run.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 5:56pm

I feel for Andrea and Rusty. It's kind of a blind-leading-the-blind situation. I don;t think either of them really knew what to do.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 7:09pm

I think that someone who is personally responsible for the deaths of five human beings permanently forfeits their right to freedom. If she is not determined to be mentally competent, then she gets to spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. If she is determined to by mentally competent, then she goes to prison for the rest of her life.

I find it very disturbing that she may well be walking around free some day. Will she have to enter her name on some list, like the sex offenders who at least don't drown their victims?

Updated On: 7/26/06 at 07:09 PM

[blueroses]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 7:15pm

"I think that someone who is personally responsible for the deaths of five human beings permanently forfeits their right to freedom. If she is not determined to be mentally incompetent, then she gets to spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. If she is determined to by mentally competent, then she goes to prison for the rest of her life."

I agree with Roscoe. Is there zero personal accountability?

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:01pm

Women who suffer from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis sometimes think that killing their children is acceptable because they are not good enough mothers. Please do not think that Andrea Yates just got up one morning and decided to murder her children. Postpartum depression and psychosis are very disturbing and dark diseases that many women suffer from and until you suffer from it or personally know someone who is/did, I think it is unfair to judge her.

[DG]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:17pm

"Is there zero personal accountability?"

I believe this woman is going to pay for this for the rest of her life, in ways you can't possibly imagine. At least not as long as you have the kind of life that allows you to sit unperturbedly at your computer and throw stones about a situation of which you really have no awareness.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:26pm

It's not a matter of Andrea Yates getting up one morning and thinking to herself "well well, what to do today? Ah, I know, I'll drown my five children!" No. I personally don't care what she thought. The fact remains. Five people are dead. Solely because of her.

I just cannot agree that any person, male female father mother sane or insane depressed or otherwise, can be allowed to walk around free after killing five people.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:31pm

Pay attention. She's not being allowed to "run free." She's being moved from a prison to a mental-health facility.

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:42pm

Yeah, PJ is right. I doubt she will ever leave the facility she is going to.