Sir Barken Hyena writes:

Here’s a sad case that I think brings up some difficult questions:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/02/fire-kills-1-badly-burns-another-in-extreme-hoarding-intervention-gone-awry/

“An extreme hoarding situation ended in extreme sadness on Tuesday. It may have been a final act of defiance that killed a man and seriously injured his sick mother…

An intervention was apparently already underway in connection with the clutter inside.  A dumpster on site was supposed to be used to house the many belongings the occupants had amassed. The fire, apparently set by the son, broke out just hours before state social workers were supposed to arrive, police said.”

Now, the article is short on details, no doubt because this just happened. But these are some of the questions I have:

• Just how far does the right of a person to live the way they choose go?
• Are we justified in intervening in cases like this because of the reasonable desire of the neighbors not to live next to an eyesore like this house apparently was?
• Is it justified because of health concerns, such as disease or rats?
• Is it justified because it’s wrong for society to stand by and let people live in such squalid conditions?
• Are people who choose to live like that incompetent in a legal sense and therefore don’t have the rights the rest of us have?
• If so, what kind of harm has to be done to justify removing the rights the rest of us have?
• I know that if I lived next door to a house like this I wouldn’t like it. But, also, so what?
• Does that mean I can, as a mere citizen, sick the authorities after them? Doesn’t that escalate the issue to the realm of force?
• Is it in fact inhumane to allow this kind of situation to continue?
• And, who’s responsible when things go awry like this? It seems the son started the fire but when an intervention goes like this wouldn’t have been better to have left them alone?

What do you think? I’m kind of alarmed at the way we’re empowered to get in each other’s face these days. A certain amount of live and let live is going to have to be revived…and yet go too far with that and a lot of bad things can happen. My wife used to do meal deliveries for the old and sick, and sometimes went to houses that were like this. Once I went with her on her rounds and there was one apartment with a very old and sick lady living alone that was pretty bad. I found it very distressing, but I’m not sure it would have been better for her if someone had intervened either. It’s sad, but is tearing someone’s independence away from them the answer? It all makes my head hurt.