when I was teaching dental students, we always had one bat shit crazy

[PCIntern]

member of each class who would exhibit incredibly bizarre behavior.

Of course, in those days, it was known as 'quirky' behavior and as long as no one was being physically hurt, no cheating was going on, no dental patients were being damaged, these COMPLETELY INSANE PEOPLE were allowed thru the program.

Here's one story; we had a guy who used to carry his infant son in a papoose, and would walk tnru the heavy steel swinging doors, which would JUST MISS the kid's head...every time. One of the faculty finally went after this guy and told him not to 'play this game' with the baby's head. the student just stared at the faculty member like he had three heads, and walked away. this same fellow was working in the clinic and I was supervising. during the procedure, he said to me, "I don't feel very well." so I replied, "Go and lie down." so he stands up out of his chair, takes two steps, and lies down next to the dental chair with his own patient. Everyone's looking down...I asked, "Are you going to pass out?" He replied, "No, but you told me to go and lie down." "I half-screamed at him: "ELSEWHERE! NOT HERE!"

Orly Taitz must've just been another lunatic...

[Cleita]

1. I guess the problem is, do you prevent them from earning a living as long

as they aren't a danger to anyone? This is a hard call. I wonder why they aren't put into therapy though as a condition for continuing their studies?

[PCIntern]

2. Great question....

complex answer in THOSE days and everything about privacy has changed.
I'm not competent to answer this question these days...new laws and HIPAA stuff prevails.

We had more psychiatric issues than anyone could ever imagine...really scary stuff.

[Hekate]

3. Back in the day one of my roomies was a Social Work grad student...

She said that one of her colleagues in the program (a guy, as it happens) was ultimately "counseled out" before he could graduate with that MSW.

I know people have to make a living, but sometimes there is just not a good fit and *other* people's lives are on the line.

Yow.

Hekate

[Cleita]

7. Right now this seems like a good outcome, a counselor

steering someone away from a bad career choice and on to another career path more suitable for him. I work for a doctor who has mental health issues, but medication and weekly sessions with a psychiatrist keeps him functional and "normal" enabling him to earn a living and pay me, frankly.

[Ex Lurker]

4. there's no right to earn a living in a job you're not suited for

There's a difference between eccentric and unable to function in society. I wouldn't have a problem with someone like this doing academic research. Treating live patients-nope.

[formercia]

5. Robert Hanssen went to dental school

Made a long career as a Soviet agent thanks to Louis Freeh and his 'boys.'

Not only was he crazy, he was an assh0le. I know, I had to work with that jerk.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hanssen/4.html

Classmates Reminisce

After getting his B.S. degree from Knox, Bob applied unsuccessfully for a position as a cryptographer at the National Security Agency just north of Washington, D.C. An NSA official explained to him that the rejection was due to budget cutbacks. It was the middle of the Vietnam War, and Hanssen wasn't anxious to be drafted. He again turned to higher education, enrolling in Northwestern University's Dental School. At Northwestern, just north of Chicago, Hanssen shared a dormitory room with a Hawaiian classmate, Jerry Takesono, who remembers a quirky, introverted youth who sometimes behaved a bit strangely, always wearing a black suit, white shirt and tie to class when everyone else wore sweaters and jeans. Hanssen also wore the black suit to his cadaver class, carving up the dead bodies without even taking off the jacket. He continued to wear the same black suit after the dissections, something Takesono hasn't forgotten.

"The suit smelled of formaldehyde and he was hanging it up each night in our room. Our place reeked of the cadaver. I finally had to ask him to get it drycleaned." Takesono recalled.

--snip--


He was whacko....

[PCIntern]

6. There's that word: "quirky"...

lots o' stories about 'quirky'...

guy's driving back from Florida gets pulled over by a Statie in NC...not for speeding, but for shouting and waving to the fantastic images which had appeared all around his car. Apparently it looked like the scene from Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit...no history of hallucinogenic drug usage...institutionalized for 4 weeks, came back to school, graduated in my class...always weird, even to this day...

[formercia]

8. Isn't that interesting....

You can't make this stuff up...