Commitment: Should It Be Easier? Children of Slain Couple Want Laws Changed

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The children of James and Nancy McBride plan to fight for changes in the laws on committing the mentally ill. They want to give families more power to get treatment for relatives unable help themselves.

The couple's son, Matthew McBride, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, is accused of murdering his parents in their Glendale home. His brothers and sister say they wish it had been easier to commit him to a hospital for treatment.

But the issue of commitment is complex - both legally and philosophically, experts say.

State laws are set up to protect the mentally ill, says Richard D. Stevenson, executive director of the St. Louis Chapter of the …