Everyone should know about the Andrea Yates case by now. If you don’t, then keep reading. Yates is a woman who waited for her husband to leave for work so she could drown all five of her children in the bathtub. Crazy, right?
Mary- 6 months
Luke- 2 years
Paul- 3 years
John- 5 years
Noah- 7 years
Interesting how they are all named after individuals from the bible. This family, including Andrea and her husband Rusty, were very religious and attended church. So it would be odd for a good christian woman to want to murder her children, especially so young. Noah was able to run away at first, but then Andrea caught him and dragged him by his hair to the bathtub. He had no chance to survive.
Andrea Yates, Houston Chronicle
Mrs. Yates was previously diagnosed with postpartum depression and psychosis, more so after their daughter Mary was born. She only lived to see 6 months. Maybe she was learning how to crawl at the time, or started having her first tooth poke out of her tiny gums. It took only 6 months for Andrea to become a monster after finally having a daughter among all those boys.
Now Andrea’s doctor, whom treated her after Mary’s birth, was Dr. Mohammed Saeed. He treated her at the Devereux-Texas Treatment Network. He began tapering off a medication that had previously worked for Mrs. Yates back in 1999 when she was first treated. In my own opinion, I believe that should have been taken into account during her trial. Not saying that we should blame the doctor; however, he perhaps should have kept using the medicines that worked and got rid of others that did not. This horrific crime may have been prevented with just this simple component.
But then again, Andrea was diagnosed with postpartum early on in her days of being a mother. Despite her diagnosis, the family preacher , Michael Peter Woroniecki encouraged having as many children as humanly possible no matter what the consequences. Seems a little extreme, sort of like the Duggar family.
Because of all of the medical attention surrounding Andrea’s case, there is a lot of debate on whether she is a monster or just a troubled woman. Or whether she knew right from wrong and if she should be let out of the mental institution or not.
Haldol, a anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia as well as Tourette’s, was one of the drugs that Dr. Saeed tapered off from during Andrea’s treatment. Due to HIPAA laws, we cannot find out what she may be taking now, but if Haldol was working in the past, then perhaps she is taking them now.
Yates is now said to be doing well at Kerrville State Hospital. She is the only one in the facility in Texas that is not allowed to leave (People.com, 2016). She has submitted requests to have 2 hour leave, but her attorneys have withdrawn that request (back in 2012). It is not said from the article on People.com whether there will be future requests.
What do you think about this case? Some feel sorry for her since she has mental health issues. Others want her to rot or be put to death for her crimes. Where do we draw the line with mental health and crimes?
mortiscrime.com 