Shifting the Blame

Commentary: Insanity Claim Makes NASA Look Inept, Discovery News

“In court documents, the lead attorney for ex-astronaut Lisa Nowak outlined several mental conditions which psychiatrists say made her legally insane when she allegedly attacked a romantic rival in an Orlando airport parking lot. At least two of the afflictions, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger syndrome, a neurobiological condition related to autism, typically manifest in childhood or early adulthood.”

Editor’s note: There are a lot of people who are going to be outraged to learn that someone claiming to have Asperger syndrome – one of NASA’s (former) finest – is stooping so low as to use Aspergers as part of an insanity defense. People with Asperger’s are not insane. To be honest, based on what has appeared in media reports and court documents, I personally think that it is about time that Lisa Nowak started to accept a little responsibility for her actions. Moreover, If indeed she has Aspergers syndrome, why didn’t she inform NASA of this? If things were this bad (as her lawyer seems to think), shouldn’t she have been enough of a professional to have informed her superiors of this potentially debilitating condition – one that could have affected her performance? Lots of troubling questions here.