a day ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: He overdosed after being turned away by S.F. drug treatment center. Mother seeks answers
Jonathan Martin, my son, overdosed after he was turned away from HealthRight360's detox facility on Aug. 27, 2024. Jonathan was desperately ill and seeking help. He died alone early the next morning.
Jonathan's death was the subject of a Chronicle story ('He overdosed waiting for help. Why did S.F.'s largest drug treatment center provider turn him away?' San Francisco, Feb. 27).
When the story was published, I sent a letter to Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, the chiefs of the Department of Public Health and relevant agencies, HealthRight360 CEO Vitka Eisen and every member of the Board of Supervisors, hoping to find out why my son was turned away. I wanted to understand what prevented him from receiving the services he so urgently needed.
I have still not received a single response, explanation or even a note of condolence from any of these officials. If the people who oversee drug treatment in the city will not answer a grieving mother, who will give my family answers?
Citizens of San Francisco: You voted these people into office. Is this how you want your loved one to be treated while trying to seek help?
The silence from those in power is deafening. Our family demands answers.
Carolyn Stueve-Martin, Tulsa, Okla.
Don't hide Pride
I empathize with her desire for concealment, misdirection or camouflage during a time of danger. My wife is trans, and this is a scary time for us. But I am afraid that Judd is missing the purpose of Pride entirely.
Pride is not about shame. It's not about showing off our most socially acceptable community members in the hopes that bigots will leave the rest alone. It is the bigots who should be ashamed.
A Pride celebration that is ashamed of its trans and genderqueer members — who are, as Judd wrote, just people trying to live their lives openly and freely — is no Pride at all.
Amanda Seyfer, Oakland
Big Brother rising
Technology has always been a double-edged sword. Fire can provide warmth and light, but it can also be used to burn down an enemy village. IBM's punch cards helped make Social Security possible, but also enabled Hitler's destruction of European Jewry.
Today, a shadowy Bay Area company called Palantir is coalescing federal government information on Americans into a database that would allow it to target anyone who dissents from its autocratic policies or has characteristics that it does not favor.
We need our representatives (or the courts) to block this monstrous machine before it rolls over us and makes this country a new Reich just like the old Reich.
