An Interview with Pete Earley
Interviewed on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air shortly after his book Crazy came out, Pete Earley speaks candidly of his experience with his son’s battle with mental illness and their efforts to navigate America’s health care system. Using his skills as a journalist combined with his father’s heart, Earley places his family’s plight in the context of mental health care history, and illustrates with devastating clarity the poor state of care in our country. Ironically, there appears to be a return to the beginning – jailing those who are mentally ill – rather than providing decent hospital care. Crazy raises poignant questions regarding patient civil rights, and while the answers to those questions are not clear Earley forces us to take a hard look at a currently less than humane system. Click here to hear the interview.
