Posted on 06/21/2004 10:19:15 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
Honest mistake. You should go check it out; this isn't just Farah and BMJ as you've mistakenly (an honest omission, no question about it) posted. Good luck.
No, it's not.
Sheesh! You people probably think the 9/11 Commission is credible...
President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
Executive Order
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020429-2.html
Did you read that link? It's the WH progress report on the commission. It specifically refers to people with disabilities. Over and over.
Uhhh, this is a joke, right??? I hope so, if Bush wants to re-elected.
I can see that. I was particularly impressed by this statement that you made:
President Bush probably gets 100's of crazy proposals each day. He has the guts to post them on the White House website for knee jerkers like you to chew on to get some feedback.
With friends like you Pres. Bush doesn't need enemies.
Let's recap events to this point. The President appointed a commission which has come back with this incredibly boneheaded initiative.
But this is just WND spreading some vicious rumors. Ooooookay.
Yes, I had the same type of experience myself in the 80's. I didn't expand in my previous post, but the doctors had put me on Prozac, et al for the symtoms I gave them. CLASSIC symptoms of diabetes. The nurse in the hospital where I finally landed told me my sugar was so high that if I'd gone much longer without a proper diagnosis, I would have gone into a diabetic coma and died.
What I also didn't share in my previous post is that I am bi-polar. It is a very convenient dumping ground for incompetent diagnosticians. That's how I know that diseases WILL be lumped under "mental health treatment required".
I am so sorry to hear of your own medical problems, which are much worse than mine. I certainly hope you have a REAL doctor now !!!
Uh they are not "facts" but proposals.
Get a dictionary and read some definitions about words.
Joe farah, the person who gets no scrunity in your book, twisted those defintions.
But what the hey you worship at the altar of the press, that's your right as an American.
Amazing. President Bush is a physician, too???????
Mental health isn't covered in govt insurance as free-and-clear coverage, unless they changed it recently. Is it possible that is what he is speaking about? That government health care is not providing for mental health issues? But private insurance provides access?
I don't read that speech and end up thinking that he is going to ask that every person in America is screened, then medicated as needed.
nah, he already has one and his name is Joe Farah, who twists definitions and proposals.
Are you kidding. They could propose checking everyone's homes for available, unoccupied bedrooms to temporarily house illegal aliens, and the homeowner would receive a government voucher, and some here would defend it, without a doubt.
You're in good company then.
Thank you, I don't run around the crowd that thinks that tin foil is vogue.
I'm still waiting for the words from the White House that says everyone will be screened. II've not found it on the WH website. And I've not seen it clearly stated in the commission's report either.
WND's established hate for George Bush and tabloid tendencies has little to do with this.
It's not wise to run with either the tin foil or the "everything a Republican does is right and perfect" crowd.
No, it will be voluntary.
Of course, if you don't volunteer, then you must not be in good mental health.
But the important thing is that such a policy would steal one of the Dems' issues! Don't you see - it's brilliant strategery!
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To: NittanyLion; Dane
The speech Sabertooth linked is proof enough for anyone willing to look at the facts.
No, it's not. Sheesh! You people probably think the 9/11 Commission is credible... 522 posted on 06/22/2004 9:44:40 AM PDT by Corin Stormhands (Osama remains "missing" 'cause Michael Moore ate him...)
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