Senators Meeting Quietly On Bipartisan Mental Health Legislation: What’s The Fate Of Rep. Tim Murphy’s Bill?

Sens. Cassidy and Murphy explain their version of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act

 Sens. Cassidy and Murphy explain their version of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act–a companion bill to Rep. Tim Murphy’s legislation (Photo National Journal) 

(3-7-16) A group of Senators are quietly preparing a bipartisan mental health reform bill that they hope to introduce in mid-March in an attempt to get some form of mental health legislation passed this year, according to a news report and D. J. Jaffe, who monitors federal legislation for his website mentalillnesspolicy.org. 

Peter Sullivan, a reporter for The Hill, revealed in a March 4th story that the Senate effort is being led by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the leader of the Senate Health Committee, along with Democrat Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bill Cassidy (R. La.)  The White House also is reportedly involved in the negotiations.

You might remember that Sens. Murphy and Cassidy had aligned themselves with Reps. Tim Murphy (R.-Pa.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D.-Tx.) in the House to get the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015  passed in both chambers. The Senate bill is S 1945 and the House version is 2646. Although they have the same name and are similar, they are not identical. The American Psychiatric Association has posted a comparison of them here. 

Until the Senators unveil their behind-the-scenes negotiations, no one can be certain how it will impact Murphy’s bill or others currently making their way through the legislative process. But some are worried that the Senate bill could be used to go around Murphy’s bill which has been stuck in the House even though it has 185 co-sponsors — including 50 Democrats and 135 Republicans.

The Pennsylvania psychologist’s bill has been a lightning rod since it was introduced because it calls for major changes in how mental health care services would be delivered in our nation. At a recent breakfast meeting sponsored by the International Bipolar Foundation, Murphy said that he hoped his bill would finally reach the House floor in March. In a recent 60 Minutes interview, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R. Wis.) said Murphy’s bill was on his radar.

But all of that was before news of the Senators’ closed door meetings and before eleven House Democrats introduced a bill last month as a Democrat alternative to Murphy’s bill.

Click to continue…

One Step Forward, 2 Back: Family Again Fighting Insurance Giant For Daughter’s Health Care

anorexia

(3-4-16) Last year, I posted a blog about “Jenny,” a fifteen-year-old girl diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa whose parents were waging a social media campaign to persuade Aetna Insurance to pay for her treatment in a residential center that was out-of-network.  Jenny had already gone through in-network treatment programs four times during a two year period without success. Twelve hours after that blog was posted, Aetna agreed to approve coverage of Jenny’s treatment at Oliver-Pyatt Center, a facility in South Miami that specializes in treatment eating disorders. Sadly, I received this email from Jenny’s parents this week.)

Dear Pete,

After your blog last year and 34,000 tweets, Aetna agreed to cover our daughter’s treatment at OliverPyatt. I never thought I would have to write for help again, but here it goes.  In January, my husband’s insurance changed to Blue Shield of California.  We had no choice but to switch, but we thought we were in the clear because OliverPyatt is in their network. Just to make sure there were no bumps, we chose the most comprehensive Blue Shield plan available to usblue_shield

Obviously, we didn’t want any interruption, because for the first time since the summer of 2014 Jenny has been making real progress. She is even now verbalizing that she wants to recover!  Before Oliver-Pyatt, she was “white knuckling” it — eating and going through the motions to appease her family and treatment team — her illness quietly waiting for the next opportunity to restrict, over-exercise, or self-harm herself.

At Oliver-Pyatt, doctors have worked to normalize the eating experience for her, as opposed to re-enforcing it as purely a mechanism for weight gain.  Thanks to that approach, she has on occasion said that she actually enjoys the flavor of some foods!  Eating is still very much a struggle, but she’s learning to discern likes and dislikes based on taste as opposed to caloric or fat content.

Click to continue…

“We Should Be Embarrassed About What We Are Doing!”

How America’s criminal justice system became the country’s mental health system

 Kevin Earley of Fairfax County, Virginia, knows too well what it’s like to be on the bad side of a police officer as a person with bipolar disorder — scared you’re about to die.
Prior to the encounter, Kevin’s father, Pete, called police when Kevin, now 36, acted violently on a night in 2005. Kevin refused to surrender and tried to flee, thinking police were trying to hurt him. Officers blasted him twice with a Taser, shocking him with 50,000 volts of electricity each time.

“I was very delusional, erratic, confrontational, and paranoid,” Kevin said. “So when they came, they tased me.”

Click to continue…

My New Speech: What I’ve Learned As A Parent And Why Engagement Is The Key To Recovery

speaking

(2-29-16) What’s the key to helping someone with a mental illness recover?

Is it robust community mental health services? Is it by forcing someone to take anti-psychotic medication? Is it housing? Jobs?

I’ve spent the past ten years traveling our country touring programs, examining services and talking to mental health experts, other parents, family members, and persons who have recovered. And I’ve come to believe that everything we do to help people recover is a temporary band-aid if the individual who is sick doesn’t want to get involved in their own recovery.

Lessons I’ve Learned: The Key To Recovery Is Engagement is the title of a new speech that I will be delivering to audiences beginning this year. (Here is a five minute snippet of my speech.)

 

This doesn’t mean that I’m no longer going to speak about the inappropriate incarceration of persons with mental illnesses in our jails and prisons. I still plan to talk about the need for Crisis Intervention Team training, jail diversion, mental health courts, and re-entry programs. I’m still going to speak about my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, and how my son’s breakdown and arrest led to me spending ten months inside the Miami Dade County jail following persons with mental illness through the criminal justice system and back onto the streets.

Click to continue…

3 Noteworthy Events, Including Documentary That Chronicles Unnecessary Death of Linda Bishop

GOD KNOWS WHERE I AM (Trailer) from Brian Ariotti on Vimeo.

(2-26-16) I am delighted that filmmaker Brian Ariotti has made a documentary about the life and death of Linda Bishop. The film, which was shown this week at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, raises important questions about how we treat persons with serious mental illnesses.

I first heard about Linda Bishop’s death in late 2009 when I met her sister, Joan Bishop, after giving a speech in New Hampshire. I was horrified when Joan told me how her sister had died after being discharged by the New Hampshire State Hospital with no real follow up care. Shortly after meeting Joan, I published two blogs exposing the tragedy in February 2010. (see Linda’s Story Part One and Part Two.)

Within hours after Linda was discharged, she broke into an abandoned farmhouse where she survived on apples while waiting for divine guidance. Alone, psychotic and slowing starving herself to death, Linda kept a diary up to within a few weeks before her death.

Oct. 8
So this is my 5th day of freedom – basic synopsis – left NHH at 11 am…then into woods…So here I sit for the second day, have water and apples awaiting further instructions. Can’t walk too far on just apples. Don’t really want to talk to anyone and even attempt to explain the situation… Crying now. Just disappointed again. Don’t see how I can live on apples until Advent.

..Dec. 18th.
This is my 13th day without food. Fell yesterday when coming in from getting snow for water, hurt left knee, shoulder and cheekbone, writing this lying down – only time I feel good is when I am sleeping because then I forget.

It was estimated that she died sometime in January 2008 but her body wasn’t found until May. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Click to continue…

Treatment Rather Than Punishment In Horrific Case, But What Can We Do In The Future

motherswing

(2-22-16) Maryland Judge Hayward West should be congratulated on his decision to place Romechia Simms, the Maryland mother found pushing her dead child on a swing last year, in treatment for her schizophrenia rather than sending her to jail.

Simms had stopped taking her medication when she became psychotic, began hearing voices, and took Ji’Aire Lee to a park where she pushed him in a bucket swing for more than 40 hours, including in the rain. The 3 year-old died of hypothermia and dehydration.

Public defender Elizabeth Connell said the agreement to keep Simms in community treatment represented a “progressive way of thinking” and was a “testament to the progress of science and society.” I agree.

Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington wasn’t pleased, but said he didn’t have much choice  after three psychologists found Simms not criminally responsible for her actions.

Click to continue…