Sally Yates (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
We absolutely encouraged him to seek help. But you can’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do—and I don’t think he was aware of the seriousness of his illness. I think he viewed it as a weakness and worried about the stigma. Looking back I can see signs—I wish I could have seen them then.
If it helps one person to open up and seek treatment, it’s worth it. Depression is a very treatable illness. I was so touched by the outpouring of people who’ve gotten in touch and shared that they suffered from depression or are suicide survivors. If you have kidney disease or a broken arm, you are not expected to tough it out. If you are suffering from a mental illness, why should you be expected to suffer in silence?
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— Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who currently works as a partner in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office, commenting on the death of her late father, Judge John Kelley Quillian of the Georgia Court of Appeals, during the 2019 Dorothy C. Fuqua Lecture presented by Skyland Trail and Grady Health System, which focused on mental health and suicide prevention. Judge Quillian died by suicide in May 1986, while Yates was preparing for law school finals.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.