(12-21-2015) My wife, Patti, suggested we watch a newly released  documentary on Netflix last weekend called Making A Murderer and we were so disturbed by its shocking portrayal of justice in America’s heartland that we saw all ten episodes back-to-back.

I had a special interest because in the early 90s, a young Alabama attorney named Bryan Stevenson told me that he was representing an African American man on death row who was innocent.

As Patti and I watched the documentary, I kept having flashbacks about that murder case. What I heard being mouthed by Wisconsin prosecutors and detectives was shockingly similar to the sort of rationalization I heard in Alabama.

At first glance, it seemed unlikely that Bryan’s client, Johnny D. McMillian, was innocent.

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Less than twelve hours after I posted a blog about a family’s campaign to get their fifteen year-old daughter treatment for Anorexia Nervosa, Aetna Insurance announced it would permit “Jenny” to see doctors at a facility that was not “in network.”

Aetna had paid for Jenny to be hospitalized five times at “in network” treatment centers but her condition had not improved. Anorexia Nervosa, a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. When Aetna insisted that Jenny return to the same providers for a sixth time, her parents consulted outside experts who recommended Oliver Pyatt, a facility in South Miami that specializes in treating difficult anorexia nervosa cases. Unfortunately, it was not on Aetna’s approved list.

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A family frustrated by Aetna Insurance is going public with its story in what is becoming a growing trend — turning for support, outrage and help through social media.

In November 2013, “Jenny” was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa, a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. The family’s insurance company, Aetna, agreed to pay for treatment but only at facilities that were “in-network.”  Two years later, the now fifteen year-old’s condition has worsen much to the alarm of her parents.

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Bryan Stevenson’s number one bestselling book, JUST MERCY, describes his heroic efforts to free Johnny D. McMillian from Alabama’s death row. That case is the subject of my book, CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, which first spotlighted Bryan’s successful campaign in 1996. My book won both a Robert F. Kennedy award and Mystery Writers of America’s prestigious Edgar.

Buy both as holiday gifts to get all of the details about how Bryan saved an innocent man’s life.

Here’s a recap of what books are available as gifts.

An audio sample of Duplicity, my newest novel.

Sent to inspect a Pakistan prison for human rights violations, NGO Attorney Christopher King encounters a bribe-seeking warden and becomes entrapped in a Taliban attack in this short audio snippet from DUPLICITY, my new action/suspense novel co-authored with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Duplicity

My newest, DUPLICITY is the first in a two-book series that Speaker Gingrich and I are writing that features two heroic Marines  — Capt. Brooke Grant, a African American military attache, and Sgt. Walks Many Miles, a Crow Indian embassy guard, in a battle against The Falcon, a charismatic terrorist forging an alliance between radical jihadist factions in Africa. It’s been described as a House of Cards and Jason Bourne thriller.

Resilience

If you prefer non-fiction, consider RESILIENCE: TWO SISTERS AND A STORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS, the autobiography that I helped Jessie Close write about her recovery from mental illness and addictions. Jessie speaks frankly about her bipolar disorder, suicide attempts, failed marriages and the resilience that eventually led to her healing and recovery in this lively, witty and poignant book that includes vignettes by her famous actress sister, Glenn Close.

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My decision Monday to name the Treatment Advocacy Center as the most impactful mental health organization during 2015 sparked a slew of emails. These two were representative of the range of reactions.

Con: ISIS and every mass-gun-murderer had a huge impact on the lives of thousands of people in 2015, too.  “Huge impact” does not necessarily mean ‘good, meaningful or beneficial”, though, does it?  

Pro: Why do civil rights advocates not see that when people are too sick to help themselves it can be the humane choice to get them treatment…Five years ago, (our son) was hospitalized against his will. He was livid.  Today, now in recovery and stable, he believes that move saved his life.

One cause I believe both sides would support is a better system that engaged individuals early on in their illnesses.

One emailer asked what national organization was the least impactful?

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The Treatment Advocacy Center is my choice as the organization that had the most impact in mental health during 2015.

Each December, I look back to see what group or person made a difference in mental health matters. In 2014, I chose Rep. Tim Murphy, (R-Pa,) Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds and Philanthropist Ted Stanley as key impact players.

Whether you agree or disagree with TAC’s actions — and it does have its distractors as well as its supporters — you have to acknowledge its national influence. Last Thursday, it released “Overlooked in the Undercounted: The Role of Mental Illness in Fatal Law Enforcement Encounters,” which reported that individuals with untreated mental illness were 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other Americans when dealing with law enforcement. That report was the latest in a series of TAC studies that have called attention to the plight of persons with mental illnesses. Consider these earlier studies:

“The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: A State Survey” (April 2014)

“No Room at the Inn: Trends and Consequences of Closing Public Psychiatric Hospitals 2005-2010″ online (July 2012)

More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals (May 2010)

Problems Associated With Mentally Ill Individuals in Public Libraries (March/April 2009)

The Shortage of Public Hospital Beds for Mentally Ill Persons (March 2008)

Because TAC focuses on implementing Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) laws,  anti-AOT critics have accused it of releasing studies that buttress its call for greater use of AOT. That might be true, but it’s also true that TAC has consistently and unrelentingly revealed flaws in our system that need repair  – and it’s done it louder and often more effectively than other advocacy organizations. (It’s also done it on a yearly budget of slightly more than $1 million — that’s not much in Washington’s advocacy circles.)

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