It’s too late for my son, but Maryland mental health bill could save the lives of others

I applaud Gov. Wes Moore for introducing mental health legislation (Senate Bill 453 and House Bill 576) to establish assisted outpatient treatment in Maryland to help save the lives of our loved ones with SMI. Unfortunately, it is too late to save my beloved son, Ben, who had serious mental illness, and tragically died on Dec. 8, 2023, at the age of 35. On Dec. 4, four days before Ben’s death, he was found unconscious from an anoxic brain injury on a Baltimore street without identification and admitted as a John Doe to the same hospital where he had recently, and voluntarily, received psychiatric treatment for a month. He was discharged on Nov. 27.