© 2024
Virginia's Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Deeds Shares His Story on "60 Minutes"

CBS News

State Senator Creigh Deeds speaks on television for the first time since his son's suicide, and he’s taking his mental health care message to a national audience.

In an interview with Scott Pelley for “60 Minutes” Creigh Deeds discusses what he feels is a “critical failure in mental health care”.

That “failure” he talks about ended in the death of his 24-year-old son Gus, who attacked him with a knife, shortly before taking his own life last November.

The attack followed what Deeds calls, an inadequate system that fails to help mental health patients under emergency custody find immediate mental health care. That lack of proper care resulted in Gus’ release from a medical hospital a day before the attack.

In the interview, Deeds describes the attack in detail.

“I said, 'Hey, bud, how'd you sleep?' He said, 'Fine.' I turned my back and, you know, I turned my back, had this feed thing in my hands and he was just on me."

There were 10 knife wounds on all, including two prominent, and possibly permanent, wounds on his face.

Since the attack, Deeds has introduced several bills aimed at fixing the state’s mental health system.

That interview airs this Sunday on “60 Minutes”.