Though some of us are focussed more directly on getting the job done, finding a place where the homeless can take shelter, finding ways to smooth out some of the emotional roller coasters, that does not mean that we can dispense with theory and research. Theory is a tool for keeping us aware of the complex factors that enter into the issues with which we deal, and methodology keeps us honest in measuring the world around us to assess both the problem and our proposed alternative solutions. Theory, methods, and practice should go hand in hand. We can all pretty much agree with Deborah Weinstein's statement that we shouldn't abandon and push away those who cannot meet their basic needs without assistance. But agreeing on much else becomes difficult, especially when we recognize that one reason the doctors who rejected the request to hospitalize one of the subway assailants aren't speaking to the press is that there are likely to be law suits over the harm done to two innocent citizens waiting for subway trains.
Tort law apportions the cost of harm.
If the city or state improperly rejected hospitalization, and citizens were injured as a result of that action, the law will have to decide how to apportion the cost of that harm. So there are more than just the unhappy, frustrated mental patients to consider. There is also the safety of the general public. And to hospitalize, especially in a mental hospital, is to invoke endless disagreement, and loss of individual freedom. So much is at stake here.