Suicide victim’s family seeks damages from state
Michael Janicki told no one about the voices in his head ordering him to kill his father until the 19-year-old finally obeyed them, plunging a sword into his sleeping father's chest in 2002.
Even after he was found not guilty of his father's death by reason of insanity and sent to a psychiatric hospital, it took three years before the withdrawn and stoic South Brunswick High School graduate had a breakthrough: He confided to a therapist at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital that he was having thoughts of hurting himself because he was so distraught over devastating his family.
His mother, Cheryl Janicki, recalled their telephone conversation on Aug. 16, 2005, about his revelation to the therapist. "I told him I was proud of him and that he handled the situation exactly as he should have," she said.
But the hospital's response did more harm than good, according to his family, his journal entries and a wrongful-death lawsuit that prompted a hearing against the state that begins Monday.
Instead of providing more therapy and encouragement, his treatment team took away his job and off-site visits, and delayed plans to move him to a less-restrictive unit.