Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions held a demonstration outside the federal bldg. in downtown Detroit on Oct. 3, 2008. (Photo: Alan Pollock).
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One of man's three sons was Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.
Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse.
The two-story rented home is in a gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The shootings were discovered after 8:20 a.m. Monday, after a neighbor called police to report that the wife had failed to pick her up to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore said.
Ed Winter, assistant chief from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, identified the suspect as Karthik Rajaram, 45.
Winter said the victims included Rajaram's mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA.
Also dead were Rajaram's wife, 39, Subasari Rajaram, and their two other sons, 12 and 7. Some of the victims had been shot more than once, and their identities were not immediately confirmed, he said.
"Due to the nature of their injuries, it's been a little difficult," Winter said, adding that there were no signs of a struggle.
Police first found the mother-in-law shot in her bed in a downstairs bedroom, Moore said.
Upstairs, the couple's eldest son was shot in the master bedroom; the wife in another bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head; the two younger sons in the bedroom they shared, both shot in the head. The 12-year-old was on the floor and the 7-year-old in bed, Moore said.
The suspect was also in that bedroom, a gun still in his hand.
The killings are thought to have occurred after 6 p.m. Saturday, when the man was last reported seen, Moore said.
Inside the house, police also found three letters, one to law enforcement acknowledging responsibility for the killings, a second to friends and relatives and a third that appears to be the suspect's will, Moore said.
"He attests to some financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for the taking of the lives of his family members and himself as a result of those financial difficulties," Moore said.
Neighbors, family and friends told police that the suspect, who had not worked for several months, had said in recent days he was having had extreme financial difficulties, Moore said.
One of the letters, intended for friends and marked "personal and confidential," detailed his financial transactions that resulted in "an unfortunate, downward spiral," Moore said.
"His narrative is one of talking about this tragedy befalling him and his contemplation of an available exit or solution," Moore said. "One is taking his own life and the other is taking the lives of his family and himself. ... He talked himself into the second strategy, believing that was, in effect, the honorable thing to do."
Moore said the several-page narrative appeared to have been written over a period of time. "This was something that was not a spur-of-the-moment type of event," he said.
Moore said it was clear to police that the family members were close and "had an affection for each other." He said the parents had given up their master bedroom to their eldest -- who was spending the weekend home from college -- "out of respect."
"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit."
No neighbors reported having heard gunshots, and there was no sign of forced entry at the house, Moore said.
Rajaram was involved in a financial holding company as part owner "at least," Moore said.
There is no evidence he had had any history of mental difficulties, nor was there an indication he had sought counseling, Moore said.
Neighbor Trish Harrison, who lives three houses from the crime scene, said the family had lived in the community for about a year, but kept to themselves and had little interaction with neighbors. The parents were from India, she said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District was making arrangements for crisis counselors to visit the schools attended by the two younger sons.
CNN's Stan Wilson contributed to this report.
OCTOBER 7, 2008
Angst Is Rising, but Many Must Forgo Therapy
By ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN
Wall Street Journal
In the latest sign of the deepening economic crisis, more people are considering cutting back on their mental-health therapy, even as they become more stressed.
Across the country, psychiatrists and psychologists say they are seeing an increasing number of patients who are worried about paying for treatment. Some are reducing the amount of time they spend in therapy. Others are trying to negotiate a reduced fee. And, despite doctors' warnings that it can be detrimental, some patients are using tactics to make their medication last longer, such as taking half their dose.
"People are in a quandary," says Jaine Darwin, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Cambridge, Mass. "The economy is forcing them to decide, 'Do I give up my lifeline?'"
The developments come as Americans begin cutting back on a broad range of health care, ranging from preventive tests to prescription drugs. But studies show that in times of economic crisis, when people lose their jobs and insurance, they tend to reduce their mental-health care more readily than their general medical care, with consequences that can be dangerous. When the economy slides, suicides and psychiatric hospitalizations tend to go up, as people neglect to get treatment until it's too late.
More people are showing signs of psychological distress. In New York, some therapists are reporting an influx of clients from the beleaguered financial-services industry. And many doctors nationwide say that patients are talking more often of their concerns about losing jobs, homes and savings.
Lynne Brunello of Verona, N.J., has been struggling to keep paying for her daughter's eating-disorder treatments.
Kristen, a 21-year-old college student, has been hospitalized twice in the past two years. She sees a psychologist twice a week and a psychiatrist and nutritionist once a month -- care that costs about $400 a week.
Ms. Brunello, a bookkeeper for a title company, estimates she and her husband have spent $80,000 on their daughter's care over the past couple of years. She says they have taken out a second mortgage on their home and have given up all luxuries, including vacations and evenings out.
Now, Kristen is worried about the future as the price of necessities such as gasoline and food have risen. "I have been thinking about sacrificing care, how it's going to have to happen if things keep going the way they are, because we can't keep paying $400 a week," she says.
Psychiatrists and psychologists are seeing patients of all types struggling to afford their care. At Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mark Goldstein, chief of the division of adolescent and young adult medicine, says he's noticed some patients with eating disorders who may be trying to save money by calling to discuss their illnesses with him on the phone, rather than coming in for appointments.
Shorter Sessions
In New Rochelle, N.Y., Paul Greene, a psychologist who is a professor at Iona College and has a private practice, says he's seeing patients asking to cut back on the frequency of their visits. In Belmont, Mass., Carol Kauffman, a staff psychologist at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, has allowed patients to schedule shorter therapy visits -- a half hour instead of an hour -- so they can pay half as much.
Help For Stressful Times
If you are suicidal or in crisis, call your therapist or a crisis hotline.Do not reduce or stop taking your medication without your doctor's approval.If you really can't afford your therapist's fee, ask for a reduced rate, based on what you can afford.If your therapist cannot provide a reduced rate, ask for a referral.A crisis hotline can help you find a therapist with a reduced feeor can steer you to community services.
Many pharmaceutical companies provide medications to people who cannot afford them, through their patient assistance programs.Ankur Saraiya, a psychiatrist in Manhattan, says some of his patients are too embarrassed to talk about money, "so they will talk about the fact that they don't want to come in as often." He's offered to renegotiate his fee for people who no longer can afford it. "Many therapists have a dedication to their patients' well-being," he says.
April Jones, who lost her job as a paralegal last year, recently negotiated with both her therapist and her psychiatrist to continue treatment for her bipolar disorder at a rate she could afford. Ms. Jones, a single mother in Plattsmouth, Neb., had paid a $10 co-payment per session until her insurance ran out. After that, her out-of-pocket expenses jumped to $105 for her therapy appointments and $180 for her psychiatrist. She also had to pay for her medications out of pocket.
At first, Ms. Jones, 37, stopped seeing both medical professionals and even cut back on her medication, but her health quickly deteriorated. "I got depressed and lonely," she says. "I couldn't really do anything: The dishes and laundry piled up. I didn't have the energy to give attention to my kids."
Sliding Scale
She discussed her situation with her psychologist, who suggested she pay on a sliding scale, based on what she can afford. Her psychiatrist agreed to do the same. Now, she sees both her therapists less frequently, and pays just $5 for each session. She also applied to the patient assistance program at AstraZeneca PLC, and the pharmaceutical company now gives her her medication.
"It's degrading and embarrassing to have to ask for help," says Ms. Jones. But "it's definitely life or death," she says.
Experts say people with the most severe mental disorders will be the hardest hit if they encounter problems paying for treatment. "The 'worried well,' who do therapy for personal growth, will generally be OK," says Iona College's Dr. Greene. "The people who concern me are those for whom that therapy helps them to function and earn a living and be good parents."
Suicide and Recession
Research shows that suicides and psychiatric hospitalizations tend to peak at the lowest point of a recession, when unemployment is at its height. A smaller peak also occurs just prior to the economy falling into recession, when there is widespread uncertainty. "If you were to look at suicide graphically, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine that you would be seeing another economic indicator," says M. Harvey Brenner, a professor of public health at the University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas, who has studied the relationship between recessions and mental health, primarily at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Other research, most notably a Rand Corp. health-insurance study from the 1970s, has shown that when costs increase people are somewhat more likely to defer their mental-health care than their general medical care because they may see it as more discretionary. "You are more likely to forgo your therapy compared to your surgery or chemo," says Harold Pincus, vice chairman of the department of psychiatry at Columbia University and a senior scientist at Rand.
A big reason is insurance. If people lose their jobs, they lose their health insurance. But even people with insurance may have trouble affording mental-health treatment, since therapy can be expensive and is not often adequately covered by insurance companies. Meanwhile, government and nonprofit resources for mental-health treatment are strained, with more cuts likely on the way as the economy slows.
Legislation meant to address at least some of these problems finally made it into law -- more than a decade after it was introduced in Congress -- when it was tucked into the Bush administration's $700 billion financial rescue package and signed by the president last week. The law, known as the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, requires most employers and insurers to cover mental illnesses just like other medical conditions covered by their plans. But experts say it's too early to know how the legislation will actually affect individual consumers.
Mental-health experts have advice for people who are struggling to afford treatment. First off, people who are thinking of hurting themselves should not curtail or stop therapy. Psychiatrists also advise people not to cut back on their medication without the supervision of a doctor.
"If you are in treatment, the first thing to do is to have a very frank talk with your doctor and with yourself," says Nada Stotland, a psychiatrist with a private practice in Chicago who is president of the American Psychiatric Association. "For example, are you buying a $5 coffee every day?"
If you really cannot afford your treatment, Dr. Stotland suggests asking your doctor if you can renegotiate the fee.
Many therapists will agree to do that. "Doctors have a right to earn a living, but they don't have a right to abandon someone if they are in the throes of a disease," she says. Experts say some people can reduce their therapy appointments safely, under the supervision of their doctor.
If your therapist cannot reduce your payments, he or she may be able to refer you to someone who has a sliding-scale fee structure. Local and national crisis hotlines, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK) can provide referrals to therapists who accept reduced fees, and to local community resources.
Write to Elizabeth Bernstein at elizabeth.bernstein@wsj.com
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