No Justice for Dr. Faughey and We Who Still Love Her
It seems there may be no justice for my late therapist, Kathryn Faughey; as you can see in the below article.
This February it will be 3 years since Dr. Faughey was brutally and needlessly murdered by David Tarloff... and I am not over it.
I don't think I ever will be.
As Dr. Faughey said to me many times, "some things you don't get over. you adapt and move forward." So I can say, yes I have.
I attempted to sit down and write a note to her husband about the 15 years of care she gave me many many times. I can't do it. (If you are reading this Mr. A. - I have tried a number of times in the last 3 years. I think it's just a form of continuing denial on my part and I apologize.) It took me months to remove her phone number from my cell and her email from my contacts.
And still many many times I have stopped and said to myself, "I need to call Dr. Faughey"... then I remember.
I would guess this is my PTSD, which she diagnosed after years of my being told I was some flavor of crazy. I close my eyes see the press photo through the window of her office where her shades were skewed and you could see one of the paintings she had on her wall. I can still see myself sitting on the other side of those shades, with a glass table between us, pouring out my soul while I stared at that picture just to focus. Or sitting in the waiting room, many times over the years - the same waiting room where death paced impatiently. The office that was a safe haven for me was turned into a crime scene. How does anyone adapt to that?
I haven't gone near that neighborhood since the funeral. I can't. The funeral - throngs of her patients were sitting around me. Some had seen her just a couple years or even a few months - but they were all affected. All were weeping for the loss. It was palpable and much too real.
Dr. Faughey - I think about you often. You always had my back which is why I called the press when you were being maligned before they caught Tarloff. You were a cautious, private but compassionate person. You never ever judged me. You listened and gave advice that was not textbook. You understood. I believe you saved my life. You let me open up to you about things I felt I couldn't tell anyone else. You got me blogging, writing and helping others again. Seven years ago you helped me wade through some of the most horrifying treatment I have ever received; and see it for what it was. You were not a one-dimensional person and you treated others as multi-dimensional too. You were smart, you were honest and you were there for me many times when no one else was.
And probably the last words you ever said were "Can I help you?" to the murderer in the waiting room.
No, missing you is something I will never get over. And I don't think I am supposed to.
BELLEVUE DEFIES LOGIC
The public was owed - and did not get - every assurance that the man accused of murdering psychologist Kathryn Faughey - was incompetent to stand trial before such a ruling was made.
David Tarloff, a schizophrenic, was charged with hacking Faughey to death two years ago. As trial neared, the question became whether Tarloff was too disturbed to understand the proceedings.
Tarloff refused to cooperate with psychiatrists retained by the Manhattan district attorney's office to gauge his mental state. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin then ordered psychiatrists at Bellevue Hospital to work up an evaluation. They reported back that, in their opinion, Tarloff was not competent.
The assistant DA asked to speak with the Bellevue psychiatrists. The doctors refused, and, unbelievably, the hospital went so far as to decline to discuss even its policies for cooperating with law enforcement.
McLaughlin properly blasted Bellevue for "obstructionist conduct" and said:
"The truth-telling process in this instance seemed to have been thwarted to a degree by the lack of the exchange of information."
While there may be little doubt that Tarloff is, in fact, unfit for trial, New Yorkers deserved better.
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