If there had been a law requiring the public access to medical records for mental health disorders the Virginia Tech tragedy would never have happened. Also in a free country shouldn't we have the right to know that a lunatic may be living among us?
No, absolutely not.
It's already difficult enough to go to a counselor or a doctor and talk about your problems and how life isn't working for you, etc. If people knew that their secrets would be a matter of public record... then no one would ever seek mental health treatment!
Cho had not committed any crime... and he refused mental health treatment. Even if his records were public, that would not have prevented this tragedy. What would people have done if they had known about his mental health record? Sure, the school could have asked him to leave... but then he would have gone and shot someone else..The laws of this country cannot force someone to get mental health treatment or to lock them up in jail if they have not been convicted of a crime. And it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict someone's behavior or to predict violence.
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