"If you're going to have a baby, you need to understand mental health."īut both parents say recognition of mental illness has to begin within the family. “They may see things that the parents do not, because that is when a kid is around a lot of other people,” Arlene Holmes said. The Holmeses also support a push for earlier identification of mental issues by school teachers, counselors and administrators. But, it's crucial information if you're someone who wants to shoot people, kill people.” “They wouldn't release the information to us. “I think providers have to be specifically educated in when they're not trampling on HIPAA and trampling on civil rights, and when they are revealing information for the good of the patient, so that they don't live in fear of litigation,” she said. Arlene Holmes says she’s made sharing this information one of her goals. However, the federal law was updated in 2016 to allow what is called "compassionate communication" so that families can be notified of information that might help care for their loved one. James Holmes was an adult, entitled to his privacy under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a federal law that safeguards medical information. “Who can say one hundred percent that could have prevented it. The psychiatrist “didn't tell us what we needed to know,” Arlene Holmes said. This is a good thing.”īut the psychiatrist didn’t tell them that their son was having homicidal thoughts and had talked about killing a lot of people. “He's seeing somebody for social anxiety and he's going to keep seeing her. The call seemed reassuring, Arlene Holmes said. They knew their son was simply not comfortable around most other people. So about a month before the Aurora theater shooting, they weren’t concerned when a University of Colorado psychiatrist called to tell them she was treating James Holmes for social anxiety. “So when he showed that particular behavior, I mean, I wasn't really surprised or particularly alarmed.” “We're very introverted,” Bob Holmes said. Yet neither of them had been too concerned at the time. “We learned that this gradual decline in interaction and talking, speech, were hallmarks of this disease, this mental illness.” “You start to notice that he is pulling back, staying alone much more, not talking very much,” Arlene Holmes said. And they’re trying to help more parents see what they didn’t: clear warning signs their son was losing touch with reality. The Holmeses have been quietly working to help educate mental health professionals about what care providers are allowed to share with family members regarding an adult child’s care. “I think it's sort of what we are now,” Bob Holmes told Rocky Mountain PBS. Why had their son, James Holmes, murdered and maimed so many people at an Aurora theater in 2012? And why had they not recognized his descent into mental illness? Now they are reaching out to college students, counselors and Congress, sharing what they have learned. For six years, Bob and Arlene Holmes have been searching for answers.
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