COURTHOUSES In some, outrage fuels a deadly obsession

Most aggrieved plaintiffs accept legal setbacks, but an angry few can't move on.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO -- Fixtures in courthouses everywhere, they are a rumpled presence with voluminous documents and an even greater desire to be heard.
Maybe it's a divorce, a firing or, as in the case of Bart Ross, a beef with doctors. Ross lethally shot himself Wednesday during a traffic stop outside Milwaukee, leaving a note detailing his plans to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow and killing Lefkow's husband and mother.
Whatever the trigger, these aggrieved individuals feel they've been wronged in some way -- and they are as stuck on this injustice as a phonograph needle on a scratched record.
"These are extremely intense emotions . . . and they just won't go away," said Dr. Dave Davis, director of the Piedmont Psychiatric Clinic in Atlanta. "It's like a continuous loop in their brains ... and because they are only consulting with themselves, the message never gets interrupted."
Angry and isolated
Mental health and legal professionals are familiar with the profile for such people: angry, socially isolated, obsessed with revenge, often with access to firearms and a substance abuse problem. More often than not, they are single-minded enough to exhaust financial resources, relationships and everything else to assuage their deep-rooted sense of outrage.
"Eventually, these individuals get desperate," said Davis, a forensic psychiatrist who once tracked people making threats to government officials for the Secret Service. "And it gets to the point where the loop says, 'They've left me no choice.'
"Long before they come to the attention of clinicians, they may be well known in the legal community. When they can't convince a lawyer of the merits of their case, they usually represent themselves as pro se plaintiffs, tirelessly taking on the judicial system.
Dorothy Brown, clerk of the circuit court of Cook County, Ill., could not provide data but said such litigants are common. Ross, she said, was "an anomaly" because he filed multiple cases, which places a strain on the clerk's office and judiciary staff.
Convinced they own the high moral ground, the plaintiffs press on even in defeat, filing more appeals and documents. Each setback only fuels their feelings of victimization.
"From a medical standpoint, when you have someone who has been dealt a lousy hand of cards, they want to blame someone," said David "Chip" Barry Jr., a partner at the Chicago law firm Corboy & amp; Demetrio who has been involved with medical malpractice and personal injury law for 24 years.
"But for most people, once they get some answers to their questions, they can move on. . . . Ross could not," said Barry, whose former firm represented the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago when Ross sued in the late 1990s.
Ross' treatment at UIC had a good outcome -- "he didn't die of cancer" -- but it involved irradiating his jaw, which resulted in some bone loss, according to Barry. "And he felt that his life was destroyed."
Someone to blame
Why are some people preoccupied with payback while others ultimately move on?
"That's the million-dollar question," said Dr. David Carrington, a forensic psychiatrist with the Isaac Ray Center at Rush Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago.
Some might be susceptible because of a mental disorder with a genetic component. Perhaps there was no adult in the person's life who modeled appropriate ways to deal with frustration. One common trigger is a perceived lack of respect.
"People who feel wronged have no way to redress the wrong," Carrington said. "They are socially immature and unevolved . . . and have no other outlet for their rage."
Though some observers might blame violent media images or other realities of 21st century life as promoting a "don't get mad, get even" philosophy, therapists say there's no evidence such retaliatory acts are on the rise. Long before "Rambo," John Wilkes Booth stalked Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.
Nor, contrary to popular belief, do such people just "go off." Instead it's more of a slow simmer that, over time, comes to a full boil, according to Robert Zitter, a psychologist at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
"It is highly unlikely that a person with no history of obsessive or paranoid characteristics develops these kind of qualities in their 40s or 50s," Zitter said.
Instead, Zitter described a person who continues to function -- even barely -- but never gets professional help.
"This type of person is the least likely to get treatment," he said. "Because there is always someone else to blame."