Seek law to safeguard therapists/tenants

In light of the brutal slaying of psychologist Kathryn Faughey in her Upper East Side office by schizophrenic Corona resident David Tarloff, 39, last week, State Senator Eric Adams is calling for current law to be modified to prohibit treatment at psychotherapy offices located in residential buildings when a patient has a documented current record of violence.
“We cannot tolerate an atmosphere in which residents feel that they or their loved ones are unsafe or insecure,” said Adams. “A violent patient deprives a family of the peacefulness of its most fundamental and essential haven, its home.”
On Tuesday, February 12, Tarloff, with a history of mental problems and an arrest for assault on February 1, allegedly planned to take vengeance on Faughey’s business partner, Dr. Kenneth Shinbach, for committing him to a mental institution in 1991.
Tarloff planned to rob Shinbach and use the money to pay for a Hawaii trip for himself and his 73-year-old mother Beatrice, with whom he was reportedly obsessed.
Shocked that Faughey was still in her office, Tarloff allegedly hacked her to death with a meat cleaver before slashing Shinbach, who had come running upon hearing the fracas, and robbing him of $90.
Tarloff was arrested days later, when palm prints on a package of adult diapers he had packed for his mother were matched to those on file for his arrest after assaulting a guard at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, where his mother was being treated.
The man, who lived alone in a two-bedroom co-op in Corona, for which it is believed his father paid the $600 monthly maintenance, is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.
At his first court appearance on Sunday, February 17, Tarloff was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. His next court date is February 23, by which time he will be appointed a new lawyer.
Neighbors and local business owners knew Tarloff had mental problems.
“You could tell he had problems,” said Lameka Bell, assistant manager of the BP gas station, according to published reports. “He had that cold, deranged look in his eyes.”
His family allegedly had tried to get him help by having him committed, but “they kept releasing him,” said Robert Tarloff, the suspect’s brother, according to published reports.
Now Adams is promoting a modification in Section 22-14 of Article II of the New York City Zoning Resolution that contains the regulations that allow treatment facilities in residential buildings. He said that violent patients should be treated in hospitals or clinics, and is calling for a task force to be created to help families, neighbors and even police get in touch with medical professionals.
Adams is also examining the possibility of altering the articles of the New York State Education Law that regulate the practice of therapy, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg is asking deputy mayors to examine whether changes should be made in services for the mentally ill.
Dr. Tina Walch, Clinical Director of Outpatient Ambulatory Care at the Zucker Hillside Hospital, part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, explained, “Private practices tend to be more isolated.”
She told The Queens Courier that at the 223-bed facility patients are never scheduled when staff is alone.
“Typically, there are at least two providers,” she said. “Patients wait in a waiting area observed by clerical staff. The waiting areas in private practice offices are often not observed by staff.”
She also said that all ancillary staff at the facility is attuned to mental health needs and that Zucker Hillside, equipped with crisis response teams, has the resources of the North Shore-LIJ system available.
In Queens and Nassau counties, too, Walch explained, mobile crisis teams can respond to the homes of patients.
Walch cautioned against a backlash against the mentally ill in light of Faughey’s murder.
“I’m afraid when these things happen it gives schizophrenics a bad name,” she said.