Thursday, December 21, 2006

Man strangles grandmother for drug money

Daytona Beach, FL: A 20-year old man with an addiction to crack cocaine strangled and killed Linda Hummer, his 59-year old grandmother, to obtain drug money, police say.

The man's family says they tried to get him into treatment, but they could not afford to pay the fees at the private centers. But a counselor at the Serenity House center said that the man, Christopher Culp, probably would have qualified for outpatient treatment there. Culp had been attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Culp was about to begin an intake assessment at Serenity House when he said he had to go get a soda. He never returned.

The intake counselor told the press, "People are very ambivalent sometimes about seeking help." Details.

Question: Isn't Serenity House violating a patient's confidentiality here? Or does a person have to "sign on the dotted line" before confidentiality attaches?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew Chris Culp from High School... we went to Parkview HS in GA together... and my ex b/f (both an old friend of Chris' and a friend of mine) told me about what happened... I never would have thought he would have done something like that. He always stuck up for me in school.. and was just a really nice person.. very fun to be around. Its insane how certain drugs effect some people so strongly. My prayers are with him to get better... and my prayers are with his family.

Anonymous said...

I also knew christopher culp, but not from high school. I knew him when he dropped out and the crystal meth we were doing every day really started to take effect. Although it was short lived for me and I went on to have a totally normal life... apparently Chris just couldn't stop. We dated for a very short time in 2004, and I am appauled and disgusted that I could know somebody like that in my lifetime. I feel bad for his family though.

Anonymous said...

Despite what chris did he is a good person.