Member-only story
The Caroline Ekong Case: Psychiatrist Is Brutally Murdered By a Patient
Do professionals dealing with mentally ill patients deserve more protection?
[Hockessin, Delaware]
Dr. Caroline Ekong (55) was a double-board certified children’s and adult psychiatrist predominantly raised in Nigeria. While attending school in Nigeria, she took a large liking to the concept of education, trying her best in her classes, and succeeding with great grades. Her passion and meticulous manner when it came to excelling in classes allowed her to flourish in her education journey, especially as she chose her occupation to be a helpful psychiatrist. Apart from helping vulnerable patients, she embraced being a mother as her number one role. Among all of the educational success, she would never hesitate to say her two daughters were her ultimate accomplishment — the jewels to her crown, actually.
In 2012, she saw a patient by the name of Christopher Frick (22). He was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, a form of autism, when he was younger and ultimately experienced more stressful mental struggles as he grew older. Reports from his previous doctors indicated Christopher suffered from a range of illnesses, including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, psychosis, and obsessive compulsive disorder. As Dr. Ekong continued to see Christopher, she decided placing him inside a psychiatric hospital for a brief stay would be in his best interest. There, he would receive more intense therapy and supervision.
His stay at the mental facility spiraled into the complete opposite result as intended.
Christopher was released from his stay filled with more anger from the experience, and now, resentment toward his psychiatrist for sending him there. To publicize his negative feelings about the facility and toward Dr. Ekong, he logged onto his computer and left a hostile review under the Rockford Center's Google page. In the review, he claimed he was a “non-suicidal” person that was imprisoned in a corrupt hospital against his will.
