A landmark study indicates that seven pesticides, some widely used, may be causing clinical depression in farmers.

A NIH study finds that: There’s a significant correlation between pesticide use and depression, that much is very clear, but not all pesticides. The two types that Kamel says reliably moved the needle on depression are organochlorine insecticides and fumigants, which increase the farmer’s risk of depression by a whopping 90% and 80%, respectively.

As seen in this report from Modern Farmer Magazine

(Read the full article at the link)

Earlier this fall, researchers from the National Institute of Health finished up a landmark 20-year study, a study that hasn’t received the amount of coverage it deserves. About 84,000 farmers and spouses of farmers were interviewed since the mid-1990s to investigate the connection between pesticides and depression, a connection that had been suggested through anecdotal evidence for far longer. We called up Dr. Freya Kamel, the lead researcher on the study, to find out what the team learned and what it all means. Spoiler: nothing good.

“There had been scattered reports in the literature that pesticides were associated with depression,” says Kamel. “We wanted to do a new study because we had more detailed data than most people have access to.” That excessive amount of data includes tens of thousands of farmers, with specific information about which pesticides they were using and whether they had sought treatment for a variety of health problems, from pesticide poisoning to depression. Farmers were surveyed multiple times throughout the 20-year period, which gives the researchers an insight into their health over time that no other study has.

Because the data is so excessive, the researchers have mined it three times so far, the most recent time in a study published just this fall. The first one was concerned with suicide, the second with depression amongst the spouses of farmers (Kamel says “pesticide applicators,” but most of the people applying pesticides are farmers), and the most recent with depression amongst the farmers themselves.

There’s a significant correlation between pesticide use and depression, that much is very clear, but not all pesticides. The two types that Kamel says reliably moved the needle on depression are organochlorine insecticides and fumigants, which increase the farmer’s risk of depression by a whopping 90% and 80%, respectively. The study lays out the seven specific pesticides, falling generally into one of those two categories, that demonstrated a categorically reliable correlation to increased risk of depression.

These types aren’t necessarily uncommon, either; one, called malathion, was used by 67% of the tens of thousands of farmers surveyed. Malathion is banned in Europe, for what that’s worth.

[...]

The study doesn’t really deal with exactly how the pesticides are affecting the farmers. Insecticides are designed to disrupt the way nerves work, sometimes inhibiting specific enzymes or the way nerve membranes work, that kind of thing. It’s pretty complicated, and nobody’s quite sure where depression fits in. “How this ultimately leads to depression, I don’t know that anyone can really fill in the dots there,” says Kamel. But essentially, the pesticides are designed to mess with the nerves of insects, and in certain aspects, our own nervous systems are similar enough to those of insects that we could be affected, too. “I don’t think there’s anything surprising about the fact that pesticides would affect neurologic function,” says Kamel, flatly.

[...]

Of course, the knee-jerk reaction to fix the situation is to give the farmers more psych drugs. Nope.

The sham drug idea of the year: 'pink Viagra'

Snippet from from an Op-Ed featured in the LA Times by Ellen Laan and Leonore Tiefer

Ellen Laan is an associate professor of sexology at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and a Kinsey Institute research fellow. Leonore Tiefer is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine and founder of the New View Campaign

Many women report losing their desire for sex, some temporarily, some permanently. Is this a relationship problem, a normal aspect of life changes or, as the pharmaceutical industry maintains, an “unmet medical need”? That was the question under consideration for two days of meetings in late October, during which the Food and Drug Administration heard from sexual medicine experts and women with sexual complaints.

It was a rowdy meeting by sedate, scientific standards, and months of public relations campaigning had preceded it. The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health, which is largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry, had joined with Sprout Pharmaceuticals and other companies with skin in the game to develop two slick campaigns, “eventhescore.org” and “womendeserve.org,” which argued that the FDA's failure to approve a drug to treat women's sexual problems was “sexist.” After all, men have Viagra and its various relatives.

The patients told stories of their frustrations and distress, but they appeared to have been coached to demand drug solutions. They acknowledged that their travel expenses to the meeting had been paid. Wearing matching green scarves and buttons proclaiming “#WomenDeserve,” the women described the mixed results and side effects of their various off-label treatments, including implanted testosterone pellets, testosterone gels and antidepressants. They insisted they had no nonmedical problems. Their desire had simply “turned off like a light switch,” as one woman said, sometimes as much as 30 years earlier, and they wanted it back, routine and predictable.

As professional sexologists and advocates of women's sexual rights, we were horrified by the campaigns' use and abuse of the language of equality to pressure the FDA to approve a potential billion-dollar blockbuster “pink Viagra.”

The only two drugs for women's sexual dysfunctions that have come to the FDA in the 16 years since Viagra was approved were rejected. One was Sprout's drug, flibanserin, then owned by a German company. The drugs for women didn't work and were unsafe. Not approving them isn't sexism, it's proper regulation.

The campaigns to “even the score” are deceptive for several reasons.

[...]

There is absolutely no evidence for womendeserve.org's claim that “a biological lack of desire to have sex negatively impacts 1 in 10 American women.”

No diagnostic test has identified any biological cause — brain, hormone, genital blood flow — for most women's sexual problems. On the contrary, abundant evidence shows that low sexual desire in women typically reflects a difference in desire between two partners. It is unethical and unscientific to attribute a couple's discrepancy in desire to the woman's biological deficit. In study after study, women's response to both test medications and placebo drugs is high. These repeated findings do not support the “unmet medical need” theory.

Emphasis added by this blogger.

Be sure to read the full Op-ED at this link

Big Pharma Plays Hide-the-Ball With Data

NewsWeek has a Story featured on their front cover about how "Big Pharma Plays Hide-the-Ball With Data"

The story is focused on the general and universal problem of publication bias.

Naturally the problem is also a major issue for psych drug manufacturers.

It is much too long to quote in full but we can feature some highlights here.

On the morning of March 2, 2005, a 14-year-old Japanese girl woke up scared. At first she thought someone was outside the house watching her, but then she decided the stranger must be inside. She wandered restlessly and, despite the cold weather, threw open all the windows. Later, over a meal, she declared, “The salad is poisoned.” Two days later, she said she wanted to kill herself.

This teenager with no history of mental illness was diagnosed with delirium. The night before the hallucinations started, she began taking an anti-influenza drug called Tamiflu (generic name: oseltamivir), which governments around the world have spent billions stockpiling for the next major flu outbreak.

But evidence released earlier this year by Cochrane Collaboration, a London-based nonprofit, shows that a significant amount of negative data from the drug’s clinical trials were hidden from the public. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew about it, but the medical community did not; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which doesn’t have the same access to unpublished data as regulators, had recommended the drug without being able to see the full picture. When results from those unpublished trials finally did emerge, they cast doubt over whether Tamiflu is as effective as the manufacturer says.

---

Knowing about negative results is not just useful; it is essential to good science. Randomized clinical trials are considered the best way to test a drug: Get two groups of patients with the same problem, give one group an experimental treatment and see if it works better than no treatment. Even better, amass the results of dozens of similar clinical trials, level the differences and draw better conclusions from a larger amount of data. That’s called a systematic review.

Problem is, a systematic review only works if the reviewers have all the information—good, bad and inconclusive.

“In baseball, it is easy to find out just how well Cal Ripken has hit against various pitchers in the past, at home or away games, in recent weeks or during his career,” Dickersin and Rennie wrote. “Yet in medicine, there is no comprehensive source for finding out similar, accurate statistics for medical interventions. How can baseball be better organized and keep better records than medical science?”

One reason is that drug companies have so much to lose. “The potential economic implications of publishing an unfavorable study are really significant for pharmaceutical companies,” says Christopher W. Jones, who studies publication bias at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. “And clearly those incentives have an effect on the way they choose to present their data to the public.”

---

Publication bias in clinical trials was, for a long time, something only scientists cared about. But lately the issue has raised a crop of lobbyists and gone mainstream. In 2005, John P.A. Ioannidis, a researcher at the Stanford School of Medicine, published a scientific paper under the provocative heading “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False” and mentioned publication bias. And British doctor Ben Goldacre leads a movement called AllTrials. His TED talk on publication bias has been seen 1.8 million times.

Medical Licensing Boards in Canada: Information on filing complaints against psychiatrists in Canada

Here is a list of Medical Licensing Boards in the Canada, given alphabetically by Province. This information may be useful if you want to file a complaint against your local psychiatrist.

This is contact information for provincial agencies in Canada responsible for the licensure and certification of psychiatrists throughout Canada listed in alphabetical order below. Other additional links and information are provided.

Please note that while we think this information is correct, that names, telephone numbers, and other information may have changed.

As found at this webpage on the website of the Canadian Psychiatric Association

---

I want to make a complaint about my psychiatrist's conduct. Who should I contact? Contact your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons or Medical Board for further information on the complaints process governing physicians in your province. Complaints must usually be made in writing. The following is a brief description of how to lodge a complaint, the contact information for the appropriate body and the link to further electronic information.

To lodge a complaint in Alberta, mail in a completed, signed Complaint Reporting Form or letter of complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta. The contact information for the Alberta College is:

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta
2700 - 10020 100 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0N3
Phone: 780-423-4764
Fax: 780-420-0651
General Public Inquires: 1-800-561-3899
Complaints Line: 1-800-661-4689 (in Alberta)
College Patient Advocate: 780-423-4764 or 1-800-661-4689
For more information on the complaints process in Alberta click here.

In British Columbia, complete a complaint form or write a letter including your name, date of birth, address and telephone number, the name and address of the doctor involved, a description of the incident in as much detail as possible, the date of the incident and your signature. Complaints are not accepted by e-mail and they must be signed and submitted in writing either by mail or fax. Send complaints to:

The Registrar
College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
400-585 Beatty St.
Vancouver BC V6B 1C1
For more information on the complaints process in British Columbia click here.

In Manitoba, complaints must be made in writing and signed. A letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba should include your name, address, telephone number(s), Personal Health Identification Number (from your Manitoba Health card), the name of physician(s) being complained about, the date(s) of service, the name and address of other caregivers from whom information should be obtained (for example, other physicians, nurses, physiotherapists or dentists), the name of hospital(s), dates seen, and a clear description of the complaint about the physician(s). Mail or fax your letter to:

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba
Attn: The Complaints Department
1000-1661 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 3T7
Fax: 204-774-0750
For more information, click here.

In New Brunswick, complaints must be submitted in writing to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick. Mail or fax your complaint to:

Registrar
c/o College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick
1 Hampton St, Suite 300
Rothesay, NB E2E 5K8
Tel: (506) 849-5050 ou 1-800-667-4641
Fax: (506) 849-5069
For more complete information on the complaints process, click here.

In Newfoundland, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador accept complaints in writing. Letters of complaint should be sent to:

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador
139 Water Street, Suite 603
Saint John's, NF A1C 1B2
Tel: 709-726-8546
1-800-563-8546 (Toll Free from outside St. John's)
Fax: 709-726-4725
For more information on the complaints process in Newfoundland and Labrador click here.

The President of the Medical Board of Inquiry is responsible for investigating written complaints about physicians in the Northwest Territories and can be contacted at:

President of the Medical Board of Inquiry
2025 Palermo Way SW
Calgary AB T2V 5J6
Phone: (403) 281-7122
Fax: (403) 281-7124

In Nova Scotia, complaints must be made in writing. Complaint forms are available on the College website. Although the form is recommended, you may file a complaint without using the form provided your letter is typed or legibly written and signed. A signed consent form is also required before the complaint can be investigated. The complaint should contain the doctor's name, a description of the events that led to the complaint (such as the date and location) and any other information that may aid the College in its investigation. You may wish to add the names of people who witnessed the events or who have useful information. The College contact information is:

Investigations Department
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia
Suite 5005 - 7071 Bayers Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3L 2C2
Tel: 902-422-5823 or Toll-free in Nova Scotia 1 877-282-7767
Investigations Department Fax: 902-422-5271
For more information on the complaints procedure, click here.

To obtain information about the complaints process in Nunavut, contact the
Department of Health and Social Services at:

Government of Nunavut
Registrar, Professional Licensing
2nd Floor, NCC Building
Box 390
Kugluktuk NU X0B 0E0
Telephone: 867-982-7672
Fax: 867-982-3256 or 867-982-7640
E-mail: bvandenassem@gov.nu.ca

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario accepts complaints either in writing or in other permanent form (such as a tape, film or disk). Complaints may be e-mailed to the College but confidentiality cannot be guaranteed when using this method. All correspondence sent from the College in response to an e-mail complaint will be sent by regular mail to preserve confidentiality. The College's web site also offers an online complaint form. The contact information for the College is:

The Registrar
c/o Investigations and Resolutions Department
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
80 College Street
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2E2
Tel: 416-967-2603 or 1-800-268-7096 ext. 603.
E-mail: investigations&resolutions@cpso.on.ca
For more information on the complaints process in Ontario click here.

To initiate a complaint in Prince Edward Island you must submit a letter detailing the complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of PEI and send it to:

College of Physicians and Surgeons of PEI
199 Grafton Street
Charlottetown, PE C1A 1L2
Fax: 902-566-3986
For further information on the complaints process click here.

In Quebec, you can request an investigation into the professional conduct of your physician by completing and sending a investigation request form to the Direction des enquêtes du Collège des médecins du Québec:

Direction des enquêtes
Collège des médecins du Québec
2170, boulevard René Levesque Ouest
Montréal (Québec) H3H 2T8
Fax: 514-933-2291
Tel: 514-933-4441 Toll free (from outside Montreal): 1-888-MÉDECIN
For more detailed information on complaints procedures click here.

In Saskatchewan, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan accepts complaints in writing. A complaint reporting form is available online. The contact information for the College is:

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan
500-321A-21st Street East
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 0C1
1-800-667-1668 (Complaints Toll Free Number)
Fax: 306-244-0090 (general) or 306-244-2600 (Registrar)
For more information on the complaints process in Saskatchewan click here.

In the Yukon, letters of complaint must be made in writing and accompanied by a Consent to Release Information form. Complaints should be directed to:

Yukon Medical Council
c/o Registrar of Medical Practitioners
Box 2703 C-18
Whitehorse YT Y1A 2C6
Telephone: 867-667-3774
Fax: 867-393-6483

More information on the complaints process is available on the Yukon Medical Council website.

Canadian Psychology Licensing Boards by Province (late 2014)

Here is a list of Psychology Licensing Boards in the Canada, given Alphabetically by Province 

This is contact information for provincial agencies in Canada responsible for the licensure and certification of psychologists throughout Canada listed in alphabetical order below. Other additional links are provided.

Please note that while we think this information is correct, that names and telephone numbers may have changed. This information may be useful if you want to file a complaint against your local psychologist. 

ALBERTA
The College of Alberta Psychologists
Address
2100 Sunlife Place
10123 - 99th Street

Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3H1

Phone 

(780) 424-5070

Main Page
Verify a License
Law

Rules & Regulations

BRITISH COLUMBIA
College of Psychologists of British Columbia
Address
404 - 1755 W Broadway

Vancouver, British Columbia V6J 4S5

Phone 

(604) 736-6164

Main Page
Verify a License
Law

Rules & Regulations

MANITOBA
Psychological Association of Manitoba
Address
162-2025 Corydon Ave., #253

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3P 0N5

Phone 

(204) 487-0784

Main Page
Verify a License
Law

NEW BRUNSWICK
College of Psychologists of New Brunswick
Address
236 St. George Street
Suite 219

Moncton, New Brunswick E1C 1W1

Phone 

(506) 382-1994

Main Page
Verify a License

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Newfoundland & Labrador Psychology Board
Address
NLPB, Suite 303, Carnell Building
P. O. Box 8275

St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador A1B 3N4

Phone 

(709) 579-6313

Main Page
Verify a License

NOVA SCOTIA
Nova Scotia Board of Examiners in Psychology
Address
The Halifax Professional Centre
455 - 5991 Spring Garden Road

Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1Y6

Phone 

(902) 423-2238

Main Page
Verify a License
Law

Rules & Regulations

ONTARIO
College of Psychologists of Ontario
Address
110 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 500

Toronto, Ontario M4R 1A3

Phone 

(416) 961-8817

Main Page
Verify a License

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Prince Edward Island Psychologists Regulation Board
Address
Univ. of Prince Edward Island, Psych. Dept.
550 University Avenue

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island C1A 4P3

Phone 

(902) 566-0549

Main Page
Verify a License
Law

Rules & Regulations

QUEBEC
Ordre des psychologists du Quebec
Address
1100 Beaumont AvenueSuite 510

Mount Royal, Quebec H3P 3H5

Phone 

(514) 738-1881

Main Page
Verify a License

SASKATCHEWAN
Saskatchewan College of Psychologists
Address
1026 Winnipeg Street

Regina, Saskatchewan S4R 8P8

Phone 

(306) 352-1699

Main Page
Verify a License

Unforgotten: Twenty-Five Years After Willowbrook

"Unforgotten" is a critically acclaimed, award-winning documentary that examines the impact of the horrors of Willowbrook on the survivors and their families, 25 years after Geraldo Rivera's historic television exposé.

It was a nightmare that shocked not only New York, but all of America. The public outcry about the Willowbrook State School for people with developmental disabilities resulted from Geraldo Rivera's exposé on WABC after he had entered Willowbrook with a film crew in 1972, using a stolen key.

Geraldo Rivera discusses what he found in Willibrook



Geraldo Rivera speaks on what it was like to make the investigative report (Parts 1 and 2 in particular)

Part One



Part Two



Part Three

NY lawmakers probe care for mentally ill inmates

As seen in the Houston Chronicle, much more info at the link.

The head of the troubled New York City jail system said Thursday it's critical to send mentally ill inmates to treatment programs instead of a lockup.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte told state lawmakers that Rikers Island is poorly equipped to be a mental health treatment center. The primary goal, one he shares with the medical staff, is to keep staff and inmates safe, he said.

"Violence at Rikers Island the past five or six years has gone through the roof," Ponte said, adding that assaults on his medical staff have tripled.

Dr. Homer Venters, head of the jail's health services, testified alongside Ponte. He said admission medical screenings done on every incoming inmate show about 25 percent have mental illnesses, though that diagnosis applies to about 38 percent of the daily population of about 11,500. Those inmates tend to stay twice as long.

which brings up the question of:

Are the shrinks are competent to handle the problem? That is, beyond the usual quick fix of chemical straight jackets, or even just doping up the prisoners . . .

Psychiatrist hired as chair at University of Alberta resigns amid sex scandal

As reported in the Star

A psychiatrist facing an allegation that he had sex with a patient in Ontario has resigned from his new job as department chair at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Claudio Soares was hired to head up the university’s psychiatry department effective Sept. 1, but was placed on leave before he could start.

The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is investigating a charge of professional misconduct against him. It’s alleged that Soares had a sexual relationship with a female patient between November 2007 and May 2009.

At the time, he was a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., and also director of the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic, which is affiliated with the school.

Jo-anne Nugent, a spokeswoman at the University of Alberta, said she couldn’t confirm when staff officially hired Soares or when they found out about the allegation against him.

The university’s website says he visited the Edmonton campus several times as a candidate for the job and made research presentations as early as January.

Nugent said Soares was placed on leave the same day he was to start as chair. And on Monday he “resigned effective immediately.”

Nugent wouldn’t say whether the university plans to review its hiring procedures.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario issued a hearing notice about Soares on July 11. On Aug. 7, it sent a public notification to other provinces informing them that Soares was not to be left alone with female patients during its investigation.

Documents also allege that Soares failed to fully co-operate with an investigator from the college.

College spokeswoman Kathryn Clarke said Soares no longer has a licence to practise in Ontario. His certificate of registration expired on Sept. 1 when his academic appointment ended at McMaster.

“Despite the fact that he is no longer licensed, the referral to discipline remains in effect because we have continuing jurisdiction for professional misconduct or incompetence.”

She said it may take a couple of months before a hearing date is set.

Kelly Eby, a spokeswoman for the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta, said it’s not known if Soares had applied to practise in the province, but he is not currently listed as having a licence or permit.

She said Soares didn’t necessarily need one. If his job as chair at the University of Alberta were strictly administrative, a permit would not have been required.

Man locked up 40 years in D.C. mental hospital for $20 necklace theft. Case raises questions about fairness within criminal justice system

From a Report in the Washington Times

Note: autoplay news videos not related to stories on page. turn your speakers off when visiting the link

The words come haltingly, the sentences trailing off into barely comprehensible asides: a story about an abusive father who drank himself to death, proud talk of his songwriting abilities and childhood memories of an older brother he still adores.

But Franklin Frye, 68, after all these years, speaks clearly about one thing: the arrest.

“They locked me up for no reason,” he said. “They never found the necklace on me I don’t know if they ever found it.”

It didn’t matter. Four decades ago, police charged him with stealing a $20 necklace, but Mr. Frye was found not competent to stand trial. If he’d been found guilty, he would’ve faced a fine or perhaps a short jail sentence. Instead, he’s spent most of his life inside the District’s psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeth’s, feeling frustrated with, and forgotten by, the very system charged with looking after his welfare.

It’s a case that raises tricky questions about fairness within the criminal justice system and life inside St. Elizabeth’s. Indeed, for years the court system simply lost track of him.

Through the D.C. public defender’s office, Mr. Frye sought unconditional release in 2008, but his motion was filed on the docket of a dead judge, where it remained until earlier this year — with no apology or explanation from court officials.

“You end up being caught up in the system in a way you wouldn’t have if you were just guilty. It’s a tragedy,” said Steve Salzburg, a law professor at George Washington University and former deputy assistant attorney general.

Mr. Frye, who spoke publicly about his case for the first time in a recent interview with The Washington Times, is entitled to petition a judge for his release once a year. But it took nearly six years for his 2008 motion to receive any attention.

Hospital officials insist they separately review his files on their own and that previous attempts at releasing him into the community have failed.

“Mr. Frye is receiving appropriate care,” D.C. Department of Behavioral Health chief of staff Phyllis Jones wrote in an email.

But elder brother William Frye said nobody should have to eke out their entire lives in a city psychiatric ward. While he doesn’t deny that Franklin suffers from mental illness, he believes life in the hospital itself has made him worse, that anybody would “go crazy” if they had to spend more than four decades inside St. Elizabeth’s.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/11/franklin-frye-languishes-in-dc-psych-ward-40-years/

East Mississippi Correctional Facility was supposed to house the state's psychiatrically disabled prisoners, providing intensive treatment services. [...] Instead, MTC ran it as a for-profit hellhole.

East Mississippi Correctional Facility is a cesspool. Prisoners are underfed and routinely held in cells that are infested with rats and have no working toilets or lights. Although designated as a facility to care for prisoners with special needs and serious psychiatric disabilities, ECMF denies prisoners even the most rudimentary mental health care services. Many prisoners have attempted to commit suicide; some have succeeded. One prisoner is now legally blind after EMCF failed to provide his glaucoma medications and take him to a specialist, and another had part of his finger amputated after he was stabbed and developed gangrene.​

This video is the story of two people forever damaged by their time at East Mississippi Correctional Facility. Prison sentences mean time behind bars, not abuse. The Mississippi Department of Corrections bears ultimate responsibility for these atrocities happening on their watch. Share this video to help end the abuse.



See this extensive report at News.MIC (with many links)

"If You Need That Proof America's Prison System Is Broken, Just Look to Mississippi"

More Information via Courthouse News

Two Top Liability Risks for Psychiatrists: Patients with Suicidal Behavior and Psychopharmacology

Snippets from a Press Release by PRM, still relevant today

Patient suicides may trigger the most lawsuits, but according to PRMS data, cases with the largest verdicts or settlements don't involve the death of a patient, but significant and permanent physical and neurological damage requiring lifelong care. Such damage can occur from things like renal failure from lithium toxicity, severe Stevens-Johnson Syndrome or brain damage from a suicide attempt.

"Defensive medicine is not the answer," said Jacqueline Melonas, RN, MS, JD, Senior Vice President of Risk Management for PRMS. "Care that has a sound clinical basis that also is well-documented is the best way to avoid or, if necessary, defend lawsuits."

[...]

Donna Vanderpool, MBA, JD, Assistant Vice President of Risk Management for PRMS, noted that breach of duty or negligence is just one element of a malpractice lawsuit. Other elements include duty of care (to meet a standard of care), damages or harm to the patient, and causation (the harm was caused by the breach).

"A plaintiff has to prove all four elements to win a medical malpractice lawsuit," Vanderpool noted.

During the session, PRMS also focused on another high-risk area for psychiatrists: psychopharmacology.

"Most psychiatric ailments are treated at least in part with medication, and much can go wrong when prescribing," said Denita Neal, JD, a Risk Manager with PRMS. Issues might include prescribing negligently, failing to monitor the medication or failing to obtain inadequate informed consent.

QUESTION: Where in the world could you go to find a place where half of all women are raped? ANSWER: Australia’s psychiatric hospitals.

Came across this news item from last year.

Still worth posting about

That’s the shocking conclusion of a new report from the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VIMIAC).

Their survey of women who have been in psychiatric wards in Victorian hospitals paints a shocking picture.

A terrifying 85 per cent said they had felt unsafe, with most saying they reported it to doctors and nurses and felt nothing was done. About 45 per cent had been sexually assaulted in hospital.

Just imagine the terror. You are alone, in a foreign place, completely under the control of medical staff, many of whom you have only just met, and surrounded by very disturbed people.

Even worse, you are disturbed: so depressed you unable to defend yourself, or perhaps already being tortured by fears, feelings or voices. There is a good chance you have a previous history of being assaulted, as such attacks vastly increase your chance of developing a mental illness.

It’s sickening. It’s happening now. And we are standing by and doing nothing.

“We expect people with mental illness to tolerate what no-one else would tolerate,” says Isabell Collins from VIMIAC. “It would only need to happen once in a general hospital ward and it would be fixed immediately.”

Yet, says Collins, she has been working in mental health for 25 years, “and sexual assault has been a problem for 25 years”.

Her survey included about 50 women from Victoria, but Collins says it does not overestimate the problem.

“If anything it underestimates it,” she says. “If you did the exact same survey in any state you would expect the same results”.

How could this be? How can we allow our most vulnerable people to be treated in this way? It’s hard not to agree with Collins that the answer is that society would rather just ignore mental illness, scared off by stigma and misinformation and a desire to sweep difficult problems under the carpet.

The incoming head of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Mal Hopwood, says that while he can’t be sure on the exact proportion of women raped in care, there is clearly a problem that exists around the country.

“Certainly the numbers in that report suggest it’s not an insignificant problem,” he says.

He wants hospitals to be properly funded to enforce female-only areas and support women who are assaulted.

But he says fixing buildings and allocating spaces won’t be enough: an attitude change is needed as well.

You also have to wonder if our over-reliance on medication and biological psychiatry have helped downplay the importance of creating positive environments in psych hospitals.

After all, if mental illness is just a brain disease that needs the right medication, then surely a stark, busy, hospital environment will make no difference?

But mental illness is closely linked to both our personal experiences and the culture we are living in, and putting people in scary, loud and under-resourced hospitals cannot be helping.

I couldn’t have more admiration for many of the hard-working doctors and nurses working in public hospital psychiatric units, yet the truth is that most of these places are awful to be in.

Rape is the terrible tip of a huge problem that we have been ignoring for far too long.

Psychiatrist and Fox News Channel analyst Keith Ablow freely mixes psychiatric assessments with political criticism, a unique twist in cable news commentary that some medical colleagues find unethical.

Commentary by David Bauder as seen on the Website for Channel 10 WISTV in Columbia, South Carolina.

Here are some snippets from the column, with my own brief comment. I recommend that you read it in full at the link above

[...]

He's been a Fox contributor since 2007 after hosting a failed syndicated talk show. Identified as a member of the Fox News Medical A-Team, he hosts a regular segment about behavior titled "Normal or Nuts?" on the "Fox & Friends" morning show. There were published reports this fall that the network had extended his contract.

Rival news networks CNN and MSNBC say they don't have a psychiatrist-commentator under contract. CNN said the closest thing it has to something similar is when profilers come on the air to discuss the mental characteristics of people who commit dramatic crimes, for example. The network said medical experts don't get into politics, but others can have different interpretations. The MRC's Graham said opinion often drifts in when television medical correspondents comment on aspects of Obama's health care plan.

Ablow clearly enjoys being provocative, and his commentaries don't stick to his areas of medical expertise. Within the past two weeks he called for an "American jihad," saying the country should urge all nations to adopt a government form based on the U.S. Constitution. His comment this summer that Michelle Obama "needs to drop a few" pounds was widely noticed.

[...]

Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, said Ablow seems more interested in entertaining than in reflecting well on his profession. Lieberman is past president of the American Psychiatric Association, which discourages members from speculating on psychiatric characteristics of non-patients.

"It is shameful and unfortunate that he is given a platform by Fox News or any other media organization," Lieberman said. "Basically he is a narcissistic self-promoter of limited and dubious expertise."

Ablow isn't an APA member, having resigned in 2011 in a dispute over transgenderism.

It's not unusual for there to be an uncomfortable relationship between the medical community and doctors who get into television. Talk show hosts Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz have their critics. Dr. Drew Pinsky took heat for exposing rehab patients to the pressure of a televised recovery.

While doctors are entitled to political opinions like anyone else, the way Ablow tries to connect his views to medical analysis "is really just irresponsible and it's embarrassing for physicians in general," said Ford Vox, a staff physiatrist at the Shepherd Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta.

Ablow has occasionally taken heat from Fox colleagues about his commentaries. Greg Gutfeld of "The Five" said that "we should probably avoid blaming people for tragedies," in response to Ablow's criticism of Obama on Ebola. And the four women co-hosts of "Outnumbered" clearly didn't appreciate the attack on the first lady's weight, made in context of her efforts to promote healthy eating.

Keith Ablow is a doctor without ethics, and is likely accusing President Obama of the the very things that Mr. Ablow is suffering from himself. Things like "severed himself from all core emotions." and so much more. Mr Bauder has done a great service in pointing out the professional hypocrisy and lack of ethics of Mr. Ablow. Too bad that Fox news has decided to profit from his lack of ethics instead of upholding professional standards.

We also note several followup columns on Mr. Ablow such as these

The strange case of Dr. Keith Ablow [Politico]

White House Foolishly Ignores Insights Of Fox ‘Dr.’ Keith Ablow, World’s Worst Psychiatrist [Wonkette]

Fox’s Keith Ablow Doubles Down on Psychoanalyzing Obama as a ‘Narcissist’ [Mediate]

Which is hilarious since Mr. Ablow is ever so likely to be a Narcissist himself.

Of course, he had to something to defend himself, not that it did him any good

Fox’s Keith Ablow fires back after fellow psychiatrists denounce him as a hack

Media Matters posted a mashup of some of Ablow’s past commentaries on Friday, which can be seen below.



On the basis that he is guilty of what he is accusing the President of, Keith Ablow is Toxic, and it is dangerous for your mental health to believe Keith Ablow.

While there may be plenty of legitimate reasons to dislike and and disagree with President Obama, those of discredited psych Keith Ablow are dangerous to American Politics.

Lawyers ask federal judge to declare state violates rights of mentally ill defendants

As seen in the Daily Reporter

SEATTLE — Lawyers for mentally ill defendants who are forced to wait in jail cells for months for competency evaluations and treatment have asked a federal judge to issue a ruling that says Washington's health services agency is violating the inmates' constitutional rights.

A federal lawsuit filed by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Washington is scheduled to go to trial on March 16. But late Thursday, the lawyers filed a motion for summary judgment.

The motion argued that mentally ill defendants, many arrested on misdemeanor charges, are held in jails for up to 60 days awaiting competency evaluations. If found incompetent, they're held in jails again waiting to go to the hospital to have their competency restored so they can help with their defense. The motion said this is happening because the state's two psychiatric hospitals are overcrowded.

The lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman to rule that withholding services violates the defendants' due-process rights. Last week, Pechman granted the lawyers' request to certify the case as a class-action, which means it will apply to all mentally ill defendants in the state who are on the wait lists.

David Carlson, a lawyer with the disability rights group, said they sought the summary judgment to narrow the issues they'll deal with at the March trial.

"We are asking to court to look at the uncontested facts and apply the law," he said. "We believe that given that everyone agrees there are significant delays in people receiving evaluation and restoration services from the two state psychiatric hospitals, the court can rule on whether the law is being violated."

If the judge rules that the Department of Social and Health Services is violating the law by not providing the services, "the trial would focus on what remedies can be crafted to deliver timely evaluation and restoration services to the class members currently sitting in jails across the state," Carlson said.

[...]

One document filed in the lawsuit details the hundreds of defendants impacted by the waitlists. It said that Eastern State Hospital reported on Oct. 24 that 60 people were in jails waiting for competency evaluations or treatment: 44 had waited for more than a week; 19 had waited form more than 35 days; and three waited for more than 56 days. Western State Hospital reported that 144 people were in jails waiting to get into the hospital.

More info at the linked story

Robin Williams had the Anti-Depressant Mirtazapine in His Body When He Committed Suicide, According to Coroner's Toxicology Report

Recent major news reports have said that there were no drugs in the body of Mr. Williams, according to the just released toxicology report from the Coroner. A closer reading reveals that there were no illegal drugs in his system, but that there were certainly prescribed drugs.

As seen in this Report in Radar Online

Investigators found that he had been prescribed a variety of drugs, including lansoprazole, rapaflo, finasteride, amoxicillin, quetiapine, carbidopa, and mirtazapine.

Toxicology reports showed he had mirtazapine, desmethylmirtazapine, caffeine, and theobromine in his blood at the time of his death, but no alcohol.

And also in this report from the NY Daily New

Robin Williams had no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system when he hanged himself in a shocking suicide last August, the Marin County Coroner said.

The Oscar-winning actor had only prescription medications in his body and was suffering from depression, Parkinson’s disease and a "recent increase in paranoia,” the final autopsy report released Friday and obtained by the Daily News said.

[...]

Williams also “had complained in the past about not liking the way some of his medications made him feel,” the report said.

Toxicology testing found the antidepressant Mirtazapine as well as caffeine and the Parkinson’s mediation Levodopa in his blood.

The Marin County Sheriff's office issued this short press release {PDF] which was very short on details. We have never been a fan of AntiDepressants, especially as they do not seem to address the root causes of the Depression.

We are greatly saddened by the loss of Mr. Williams, and feel he could have been better served.

The film 'Mental Hospital' shows life inside a 1950s Oklahoma psychiatric facility

The film 'Mental Hospital' shows life inside a 1950s Oklahoma psychiatric facility



Discussed in great detail here in a great article by by Jaclyn Cosgrove

Actually, Fred is a character in “Mental Hospital,” a film produced in 1953 that shows what life was like for patients in Oklahoma’s mental health institutions.

From what I can gather, the film was produced by the University of Oklahoma for the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the state mental health agency.
Interestingly enough, the film was produced the same year that the agency now known as the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services was formed.

The agency was established through the Mental Health Law of 1953, although publicly supported services to Oklahomans with mental illness date back to early statehood.

“Until the mid-1960s, the primary means to treat mental illness was institutionalization in large state hospitals. On an average day in 1960, nearly 6,400 Oklahomans were in the state’s mental hospitals,” according to the agency.

The film “Mental Hospital” gives us a glimpse of how mental illness was viewed and treated 61 years ago.

I should note: Over the past several years, treatments have changed, and there’s more focus on understanding mental health issues as medical conditions.

Viewers follow Fred from the day he’s admitted to discharged, including the “insulin shock therapy” that he receives to treat his schizophrenia. This happens about 12 minutes into the film.

The preferred name for this treatment was “insulin coma treatment,” according to this long historical guide on the treatment. By 1962, most of these units had closed throughout the U.S.

Once stable, Fred is offered a job as a grounds keeper.

"What a difference it makes,” the narrator says, “At last, Fred can be outside once more, working, enjoying the sun and the seasons."

Not long after Fred gets his job at the hospital campus, wife Betty and his friend George come to visit him.

At 17:24, we see a psychiatrist talking with Betty and George.

"It's not too long 'til the psychiatrist decides that Fred can try it for a while at home,” the narrator says. “He talks with Betty and with George, helps them to understand that they too have vital roles to play in aiding Fred to adjust successfully to the world outside."
This is something that so many family members say gets left out of present-day treatment.

In interviews I’ve had, people have said they’ve been quoted federal health care privacy laws and left out of their loved one's discharge plan. Sometimes, their family members are discharged without them knowing.

By the end of the film, Fred’s doctor gives him a cigarette, and he collects the crafts he has made at the facility. We learn that Fred has been there for six months.

"If I'd come here sooner, I might have been out in three,” Fred says. “But all I could think about was fear, the way everyone was all against me, how much I hated George. How wrong I was. Or no, not wrong — sick. And now that I'm well again, I can't help feeling just a little sad, the way you always feel when you leave a place where you've lived, learned and grown, but I am well, and I know it."

 Of course, they will try to paint a positive pretty face on all of this. Even though this was a period of history renowned for their failures. (I'm looking at you Lobotomy)

The Australian Medical Association has joined calls for Perth's Graylands Hospital to be closed, saying mental health patients are being forced to live in 19th-century conditions.

As Reported by Perth Now

The Australian Medical Association has joined calls for Perth's Graylands Hospital to be closed, saying mental health patients are being forced to live in 19th-century conditions.

Western Australia's largest psychiatric facility came under the spotlight after the acting director-general of the health department, Bryant Stokes, told a parliamentary committee he wanted to "blow up" the "archaic" facility.

Professor Stokes said he hoped a decision to close Graylands would be made in the next few years.

AMA WA president Michael Gannon said the living conditions of mental health patients had not kept up with the times.

"We should not force mental health patients to live in 19th-century conditions," he said.

"We hope Professor Stokes' comments will spur the state government into action."

Dr Gannon said some patients needed treatment in specialised long-term facilities that did not have to be within a mental hospital.

Alison Xamon, of the WA Association for Mental Health, agreed the hospital was hopelessly outdated.

"It's not somewhere you would want to go ... or somewhere that you'd want to send a loved one," she told Fairfax radio.

Ms Xamon said if Graylands was sold off, the money should be reinvested in mental health

Dr. William Lewek, the Rochester NY psychiatrist accused of burying a dead man in his backyard will go to trial Feb. 23, 2015

As Reported in The Democrat And Chronicle

The Rochester psychiatrist accused of burying a dead man in his backyard will go to trial Feb. 23, a judge ordered Thursday.

Monroe County Court Judge Christopher S. Ciaccio also placed additional travel restrictions on Dr. William Lewek, ordering that Lewek can not leave Monroe County — aside from travel for medical care in Erie County and to visit family in Oneida County — unless he obtains court approval.

The travel restrictions were ordered at the request of First Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford, who told Ciaccio that Lewek's past actions gave her concern that he was a flight risk.

Lewek had been hospitalized after a bizarre incident in September in which he drove his car down an embankment and walked into the Niagara River in Erie County. He was rescued from there.

Wolford said Lewek's traveling along the Canadian border, combined with his substantial financial resources gave her concern he may try to leave the country.

Lewek's lawyer, Matthew Parrinello, said the restrictions were "totally unnecessary" and that the accident in the Niagara river was only that, an accident. Lewek is free on $250,000 bail. Prior to his trial, motions will be argued in the case on Nov. 19 and a Huntley hearing to argue the admissibility of statements Lewek allegedly made to police will be held Jan. 7.

Lewek is accused of burying the body of Matthew Straton in his backyard of his city home in October 2013. Lewek is accused of tampering with evidence — the allegation that he tried to hide Straton's body — and possession of crack cocaine in his home. Lewek allegedly told police that Straton died in his home.

Wolford told Ciaccio Thursday that an autopsy has been completed and prosecutors will not be superseding the current indictment with a new one charging Lewek with additional crimes.

Straton was reported missing in October 2013, shortly after he disappeared. His body was discovered behind Lewek's home on Rowley Street in January.

Straton's mother, Kym Straton, was joined by a dozen family members and friends in court Thursday. She said she is relieved a trial date has been set and things are moving forward.

The Top Ten Reasons Psychiatrists Get Sued

This is the text of a paper/talk presented at a conference on medical malpractice in Texas in 1993, and is focused on Texas Law.

How I Decided to Sue You: Misadventures in Psychiatry

It is an interesting read, but is 24 pages long, including cover sheet, etc.

As a quick summary, The top ten reasons psychiatrists get sued are

A. Failure to Prevent Suicides or Self Inflicted Injuries
B. Sex with the Sick
C. Informed Consent (or lack thereof)
D. Inappropriate Administration of Electro Convulsive Therapy
E. Inappropriate Use or Non Use of Physical or Chemical Restraints
F. Liability for Locking Them Up
G. Injuries Resulting from Escapes or Elopements
H. Medication Errors
I. Failure to Diagnose Intracranial Lesions
J. the Psychiatrist Duty to Warn Third Persons

Overall, an interesting read. This is a PDF Document

Maine's Riverview Psychiatric Center has failed to abide by the terms of a decades-old consent decree by not adequately reducing the risk of injury to clients and staff and by arbitrarily limiting treatment options for patients

As reported in the Portland Press Herald

Further details at the link.

Riverview Psychiatric Center has failed to abide by the terms of a decades-old consent decree by not adequately reducing the risk of injury to clients and staff and by arbitrarily limiting treatment options for patients, according to a report issued by a former court-appointed receiver and consultant.

Elizabeth Jones was asked to report on observations she made during a three-day visit to Riverview, where the state treats its most severe mental illness cases, including patients sent there through the criminal court system.

Jones listed failures in treatment strategies, failure to provide proper interventions following aggressive acts by two patients and continued risk to patients and staff, a “serious misunderstanding of recovery model” that the hospital ascribes to, and lack of treatment and of outdoor time for Lower Saco unit patients, those who have been found not responsible for criminal conduct because of mental illness.

“Treatment options have been arbitrarily limited and, therefore, the provisions of the consent decree have been violated,” she wrote.

She said the use of seclusion and restraint need to follow consent decree requirements.

“At this time, it appeared that the requisite pro-active alternatives to seclusion and restraint have not been explored or provided consistently to the extent needed,” she wrote. “The lack of individualized treatment interventions and the lack of sufficient training and personnel support place both staff and class members at the risk of harm.”

Jones had a number of observations, including concerns that the state is no longer in compliance with the consent decree that requires individualized treatment plans and adequate staffing. The consent decree settled a lawsuit brought two decades ago by mental health advocates that holds the state mental health system to agreed-upon standards of care.

Daniel Wathen, the court master who oversees the consent decree, requested the visit following a series of problems at the hospital in Augusta, including serious attacks by patients on mental health workers and nurses, the use of a stun gun and pepper spray on patients, and a loss of federal funding estimated at $20 million annually because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had withdrawn the hospital’s certification.

Jones’ report was made public on Wednesday, though Wathen said he and Jones met immediately after the hospital visit with the commissioner of the state Department of Health & Human Services, and the hospital received a copy of the report on Monday.

Dr, Zahid Imran, an owner and operator of community mental health centers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has broken all records of fraud in the American health system.

As Reported on Geo TV

A Pakistani origin American doctor, an owner and operator of community mental health centers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dr, Zahid Imran has broken all the records of fraud in the American health department.

After proof of $258.5 million fraud, the court convicted and sentenced him seven year in jail and a fine of $43.5 million.

His accomplices in this fraud were also sentenced. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Brian A. Jackson of the Middle District of Louisiana imposed the sentence.

The FBI , Health Department and Inspector General Louisiana had file a case in the courts of Louisiana where for doctor’s role in a $258 million Medicare fraud scheme regarding psychiatric services that were unnecessary or never actually provided and hefty payments were taken from the American health department.

As part of the scheme, Dr, Zahid Imran admitted mentally ill patients to the facilities, some of whom were inappropriate for partial hospitalization, and then re-certified the patients’ appropriateness for the program in an effort to continue to bill Medicare for services.

Imran and others falsified patient treatment records to reflect services on dates when no such services were provided.

The investigation of three community mental health centers; Shifa Community Mental Health Center of Baton Rouge (Shifa Baton Rouge), Serenity Center of Baton Rouge (Serenity Center), and Shifa Community Mental Health Center of Texas (Shifa Texas) were used in fraud which has resulted in the convictions of 17 individuals employed by the facilities, including owners and the medical director, therapists, marketers and administrators.

According to court documents, the companies billed Medicare more than $258 million over a period of seven years.

All these people have been booked for fraud and scam. According to court documents, Hunter, a resident of Houston, was paid $1,500 per week in cash to direct patients to attend the partial hospitalization program at Shifa Texas.

Hunter, in turn, paid each patient $75 per week to attend the program. In an effort to get patients admitted to Shifa Texas, Hunter instructed patients as to the types of symptoms and diagnoses to describe to physicians in order to be admitted to the program.

Hoor Naz Jafri, 54, owned and operated two communities’ mental health centers in Baton Rouge and one in Houston. She was to pay $43.5 million in restitution and serve 8-and-a-half years in federal prison for a Medicare fraud.

The case was investigated by HHS-OIG, the FBI, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Abigail Taylor and Dustin Davis of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shubhra Shivpuri of the Middle District of Louisiana.

[...]

UPDATE:

As seen in this report

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that an operator of community health centers in Louisiana and a patient recruiter from Texas have been sent to prison for a Medicare fraud scheme that totaled to $258 million in inappropriate claims. 

• Roslyn F. Dogan, the health center operator, both encouraged patients to seek treatment in partial hospitalization programs in full knowledge that they did not need psychiatric care and directed staff to alter records to indicate that patients received care when in fact they did not. James R. Hunter, the recruiter, recruited people who were ineligible for partial hospitalization in exchange for cash payments of $75 per week. 

• Dogan and Hunter are two of 17 total people to be convicted in this case, including psychiatrist Zahid Imran, MD, co-owner of the Louisiana community health centers and the Texas facility.

Dive Insight: 

• Leveraging partial hospitalization programs for Medicare fraud seems to be an emerging trend. Last month, four individuals—former president of Riverside Hospital, Earnest Gibson III, his son, Earnest Gibson IV, Regina Askew and Robert Crane—were convicted for taking $158 million in Medicare funds for psychiatric care that was not rendered at the Texas institution. And according to Assistant US Attorney Ted Radway, there has been an "explosion of fraud in community-based treatments."

The British Parliament's Health Select Commitee has issued a damning report on the alarming failings in children’s mental health services

You can read the report online here and download a PDF of the 179 page report as well.

As reported in the Mirror:

Thousands of mentally unwell children are being failed because of “serious and deeply ingrained problems” in the provision of care, MPs warn today.

In a damning 117-page report, the Health Select Committee lays bare the alarming failings in children’s mental health services.

The official House of Commons probe was prompted in part by a series of campaigning articles in the Mirror, which submitted evidence to the committee’s inquiry.

Its report warns how “in many areas early intervention services are being cut or are suffering from insecure or short term funding”.

[...]

Earlier this year the Mirror uncovered how 4,391 children aged 10 or under had received treatment for stress, anxiety or depression since 2009 at two of the biggest NHS mental health trusts.

But Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston said it was a “disgrace” that data had not been collected centrally for over a decade.

She highlighted how the cost of a child’s in-patient bed in a mental health ward costs £25,000 a month. If that sort of cash had been spent on early schemes such as drop-in services it could have helped avoid the need for dozens of children to be admitted to hospital, she said.

While it is praise worthy that they want to do something for the children, they seem to be overlooking the inherent failure of psychiatry itself. No wonder the system is in such deplorable condition.

An Australian hospital offered a job in its psychiatric emergency unit to a doctor who had been deregistered over his lengthy drug addiction and ‘‘bizarre’’ treatments.

As seen in this report from the Newcastle Herald out of Australia

While addicted to psychostimulants, Dr Kim Street had painted the walls of his surgery black, was unable to pay bills, and exposed patients to experimental drug therapies without their knowledge. He prescribed the wrong drugs to pregnant women and elderly patients, as well as patients with a history of psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), erratic criminal behaviour, gambling addictions, major depression and social phobias. Dr Street, who moved to Swansea in 2000, faked patient prescriptions and pretended to pick up medications on their behalf. In September the Mater hospital offered him work in its psychiatric emergency unit under the supervision of Hunter New England Mental Health medical services director Dr Marcia Fogarty. That was despite Dr Street’s lack of acute care experience and the fact he had been heavily addicted to prescription drugs between 2002 and 2012.

Note: Deregistered = He lost his license to practice Much more about this train wreck at the link

A Natural Fix for A.D.H.D.

The New York Times has an article by By Richard A. Friedman on A.D.H.D

Here's a brief Snippet

My patient “treated” his A.D.H.D simply by changing the conditions of his work environment from one that was highly routine to one that was varied and unpredictable. All of a sudden, his greatest liabilities — his impatience, short attention span and restlessness — became assets. And this, I think, gets to the heart of what is happening in A.D.H.D.

Consider that humans evolved over millions of years as nomadic hunter-gatherers. It was not until we invented agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, that we settled down and started living more sedentary — and boring — lives. As hunters, we had to adapt to an ever-changing environment where the dangers were as unpredictable as our next meal. In such a context, having a rapidly shifting but intense attention span and a taste for novelty would have proved highly advantageous in locating and securing rewards — like a mate and a nice chunk of mastodon. In short, having the profile of what we now call A.D.H.D. would have made you a Paleolithic success story.

In fact, there is modern evidence to support this hypothesis. There is a tribe in Kenya called the Ariaal, who were traditionally nomadic animal herders. More recently, a subgroup split off and settled in one location, where they practice agriculture. Dan T. A. Eisenberg, an anthropologist at the University of Washington, examined the frequency of a genetic variant of the dopamine type-four receptor called DRD4 7R in the nomadic and settler groups of the Ariaal. This genetic variant makes the dopamine receptor less responsive than normal and is specifically linked with A.D.H.D. Dr. Eisenberg discovered that the nomadic men who had the DRD4 7R variant were better nourished than the nomadic men who lacked it. Strikingly, the reverse was true for the Ariaal who had settled: Those with this genetic variant were significantly more underweight than those without it.

So if you are nomadic, having a gene that promotes A.D.H.D.-like behavior is clearly advantageous (you are better nourished), but the same trait is a disadvantage if you live in a settled context. It’s not hard to see why. Nomadic Ariaal, with short attention spans and novelty-seeking tendencies, are probably going to have an easier time making the most of a dynamic environment, including getting more to eat. But this same brief attention span would not be very useful among the settled, who have to focus on activities that call for sustained focus, like going to school, growing crops and selling goods.

In other words, it's not a disease at all, but a part of the normal spectrum of the human condition.

Staff on psychiatric wards at risk for violent abuse

As seen in this news item

In the Italian psychiatric facilities, there are more than 1,000 cases a year of violence against health care workers. And in twenty years 8 of them were killed. The victims are usually doctors and nurses that, in this country, take care of over 3.5 million patients. Very often they are drug addicts who do not have a specific mental disorder, but access these health services because they are the only ones available to the public. This is the complaint of the SIP (Italian Society of Psychiatry), launched for the First National Day of health and safety of the health workers to the care of psychiatric patients, which takes place today in Bari.

Given the admitted inability of Psychiatry to provide any cures, and with this evidence that they cannot rehabilitate people, why would anyone want to join a failed profession?

Leading Harvard Psychologist criticizes efforts to replicate experimental findings: "unsuccessful experiments have no meaningful scientific value"

As seen in this paper

On the emptiness of failed replications - by Jason Mitchell, Harvard University

Of note is the section entitled "Why the replication efforts are not science". This has raised the ire of a number of people because a fundamental of modern Science is the reproducible result.  If you can't reproduce it or replicate it, then the original results are in question.

The inability to reproduce scientific results has been a major problem for the social science in the past few years. Here we have someone whining that we should take them seriously even if someone else can't reproduce the research that the "conducted.

The paper was written by Jason P. Mitchell, principal investigator of Harvard University's Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. Mitchell received his B.A. and M.S. degrees from Yale University in 1997 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2003. He is currently an assistant professor in Harvard’s Department of Psychology. He was the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard
The Less Wrong community blog notes:

This is why we can't have social science. Not because the subject is not amenable to the scientific method -- it obviously is. People are conducting controlled experiments and other people are attempting to replicate the results. So far, so good. Rather, the problem is that at least one celebrated authority in the field hates that, and would prefer much, much more deference to authority.

Advocacy group for mentally ill denied access to Franklin County jail

As reported by the Tri-City Herald in Wisconsin (more information at the link)

Franklin County corrections officers did not allow an attorney with an advocacy group for the mentally ill inside the county jail on a visit this week.

Disability Rights Washington received a complaint about the conditions for two inmates in the jail and sent an attorney to check the facility Oct. 28, said David Carlson, the Seattle group’s director of legal advocacy. Federal law allows the private agency to visit any place that houses people with mental illness, including jails, psychiatric hospitals, homeless shelters and nursing homes.

But attorney Anna Guy was not allowed inside the cell pods and, instead, had to speak with inmates in the visitation area, Guy said in a Friday letter to county Deputy Prosecutor Tim Dickerson.

Officers told Guy when she arrived that jail Capt. Rick Long would not be able to speak with her because he was busy and she arrived at 10 a.m. for her scheduled 9:30 a.m. visit, she said. They told her to instead wait for Dickerson.

The agency likes to see inside the jail to get a better idea what conditions the inmates are living in, Carlson said.

Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim said Guy told the jail by email late Monday afternoon that she would be visiting Tuesday, giving jail staff little time to prepare. Tuesdays usually are busy because of inmate traffic to and from court. Sheriff’s officials referred the lawyer to the prosecutor’s office because the sheriff’s office didn’t understand what she was looking for.

“Basically, they were inconsiderate and rude and very unclear with what they wanted,” Lathim said.

Lathim questions the authority the group has to visit the jail.

“I’m sure the federal law doesn’t say you can show up at the busiest time and do what you want,” he said.

Disability Rights Washington sent an informal notice that it was coming because it has worked with the jail before, and it is not required to give any notice, Carlson said. The group received an email back Tuesday morning from Long saying the visit was OK.

“We don’t write really long lawyer letters every time we go someplace, especially if they know us,” he said.

Dickerson told Guy that he was unfamiliar with Disability Rights Washington, Guy said in her letter. He then told her that low staffing levels at the jail and pending litigation could affect the visit.

“I explained that pending litigation does not preclude DRW from accessing your facilities and inmates,” Guy said. “I also explained that DRW’s authority grants it unaccompanied access to facilities.”

An unrelated lawsuit, brought by Columbia Legal Services of Seattle, claims mentally ill inmates are subjected to inhumane and barbaric practices at the jail.

Dickerson continued to deny Guy access to the inmate holding and medical areas, Guy said. But he allowed her to see inmates in the visitation area.

You can find the Disability Rights Washington website here

Local Doctors Accused of Abusing Drugs, Alcohol and Over-Prescribing in Some Cases Killing Patients. California Prop 46 calls for Drug Testing for Doctors

As seen in this report

Local Doctors Accused of Abusing Drugs, Alcohol and Over-Prescribing in Some Cases Killing Patients

Of particular intere is California's propostion 46

Proposition 46 calls for random drug and alcohol testing of California doctors who work at hospitals or have hospital admitting privileges. It would also require doctors to submit to substance abuse testing if a patient under their care suffers medical harm.

Click here to see the complete voters guide on Proposition 46 from California’s Secretary of State Office.

Of course doctors are opposed to this.

there is a video report as well


What do you think?

Psychiatrist Howard Mahler Facing Rape Charges; He Also Saw Patients and Then Had Other Doctor Write The Prescriptions, according to DA

Just in time for Halloween we have this report from the Port Washington Patch

A Long Beach psychiatrist conspired with an ex-doctor from Sands Point to sell prescriptions for Adderall and Xanax, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office.

Howard Mahler, 62, of Long Beach, was charged with five counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance and fourth-degree conspiracy. He faces a maximum of five to 15 years in prison if convicted, the DA said.

Mahler is accused of selling prescriptions for addictive drugs to patients of former psychiatrist Marshall Hubsher, 64, of Sands Point, the DA said.

Hubsher was charged with third-degree rape in 2012 for allegedly having sex with a patient, the DA said. Despite having his license revoked, Hubsher kept meeting with patients in exchange for cash, the DA said. Hubsher would reportedly meet with patients in office hallways before they would go in to meet with Mahler, who wrote prescriptions based on information given to Hubsher, officials said.

Hubsher is charged with five counts of unauthorized practice of a profession and fourth-degree conspiracy, the DA said. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

In one instance, an undercover detective posed as a patient and confessed to Hubsher that he wanted higher doses of Adderall so he could sell them and buy Oxycodone, the DA said.

Long Island division DEA officials arrested Hubsher and Mahler in Hubsher’s office Wednesday, officials said.

Both Mahler and Hubsher are due back in court Nov. 3. Hubsher will also return to court Dec. 1 on the previous rape charge.

Related: Sands Point Psychiatrist Faces Rape Charges

Patient Files Lawsuit After Photo of Suicide Attempt Posted Online

As seen in this report

Last week, a Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center patient filed a lawsuit after a photograph of her failed suicide attempt was taken by a nurse and eventually posted to a "shock" website, Reuters reports.

In 2012, the patient tried to commit suicide by sticking pencils through her eyes. She was taken from the facility where the incident occurred and treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. An unidentified nurse took a photo of the patient's injuries and shared it. A person who received the picture posted it to an undisclosed website, where it has since received more than 192,000 views, according to the lawsuit.

The patient was left blind as a result of the injury. She later received psychiatric treatment and got "her life back on track," but she became depressed when the photograph was widely viewed online, according to the lawsuit.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Douglas Johnson -- the patient's lawyer -- asked the medical center and county officials, who administer the hospital, to have the picture removed from the Internet. According to Johnson, the officials could make such a request by exercising their copyright of the photo because it was taken in their facility.

Reuters reports

A nurse at a Los Angeles hospital took a photo of a woman who gouged out her own eyes with pencils, and the patient sued the hospital and its administrators after the picture went viral on the Internet, her attorney said on Wednesday.

[...]

The as-yet unidentified nurse took the photograph of the patient with the "intact pencils sticking out of her eyes," then shared the unauthorized picture with another person, who passed the image to Joshua Shivers, the lawsuit said.

Shivers, in turn, used his mother's computer to post the image to a "shock" website, the suit stated, adding that the photo has since been viewed more than 192,000 times. The specific website to which it was posted was not disclosed.

"Everybody knows that as soon as someone gets their hands on something like this, it goes viral and the harm is done," said Douglas, who specializes in privacy cases.

Much more at the Reuters' link

Here we have a nurse violating the patient's privacy for her own entertainment. Disgusting.