Speechless at this incredible story of Dr. Vince Gilmer. A rural doctor known in his small town for being caring, well-loved, and respected by his patients became a murderer in a blink of an eye when he killed his father and dumped his body off the road. Everyone in this clinic spoke highly of him and would have never in a million years believed that Dr. Vince Gilmer was capable of killing a rat let alone a person - his father.
The other doctor named Ben Gilmer is found taking over the clinic where Dr. Vince worked and became worried that he won't be accepted in the community. Both have nothing in common nor have met, the only thing they have in common is their last name. Dr. Ben Gilmer begins digging into the murder case and the story takes a different route that wasn't expected.
This book is one that I will definitely look back and remember it dearly because it taught me so much about Huntington's disease and prison. I don't condone murder but once this story detailed Vince's childhood abuse, progressive hatred toward his dad, and symptoms of Huntington's disease- all aimed at he did not deserve such extreme sentencing.
Prior to finding that Vince had a neurological disease, all evidence was not adding up to what may have led up to killing his dad so much that the doctors involved in this case believed he had TBI (traumatic brain injury) from a car accident may have led to causing a murder, as Huntington's disease doesn't really make a person angry or cause erratic dark mood changes.
Now, I bring this idea to other cases like the continuous mass murders that our country is currently facing and I pose a question: Should those mass murderers plead not guilty by reason of insanity? I am certain that no sane person can go around killing people, so there is an underlying mental illness that has been projected on the wrong outlet but should they also deserve to go to a mental facility or to prison? Clearly, both scenarios are different as Dr. Vince Gilmer was a wonderful man who often did not charge his low-income patients and took them on a walk when to ease their anxiety, thus, every patient was fond of Vince, as opposed to those rebellious mass murderers that often were poorly raised and bullied growing up did not have an impact on a community like Dr. Vince.
My mind really wondered with thought-provoking ideas and scenarios that only raise other what-ifs. Nevertheless, I am extremely grateful that this book was made because it promotes awareness of the lack of sources that inmates with mental illness face and how they are brutally treated behind bars.
Dr. Ben Gilmer's determination and altruism toward Dr. Vince were admirable.
Rating: 5
Format: Audiobook
Author: Dr. Ben Gilmer
Genre: Non-fiction
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