Rights of so-called mentally ill may be violated

I have been following House Bill 588, “Community Engagement Teams,” and I was surprised to see that our legislators have passed this piece of legislation.

House Bill 588 proposes that we send teams of mental health counselors and social workers into our communities to “link” those who are deemed mentally ill with mental health services. The bill supposes that such citizens are mentally ill and would be unlikely to live safely in the community without further treatment, though they may not need inpatient care.

This team of “experts” would convince them to go voluntarily to a mental health service facility for evaluation and treatment.

Just because HB 588 was amended to now be “voluntary” does not relieve the fact that people will be approached by these so-called “experts” to get medical treatment and convinced to go.

Dr. Allen Frances, psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force chairman, stated, “There are no objective tests in psychiatry-no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder. … There is no definition of a mental disorder.” Even the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV states that there is not a firm definition for mental disorder.

Yet we are all too ready to accept the word of the psychiatrist that a person’s mental disturbances are so-called disorders that require drastic treatment by mind-altering drugs and other barbaric methods which will put that person under control but certainly not helped.

And with the passage of HB588, we would slide further down that slippery slope by sending even less qualified “experts” as part of the teams to determine that your relative, your neighbor, your co-worker or you are mentally ill and would not be “safe” without treatment.

The fact of the matter is that psychiatric drugs create violence and suicide.

A study of 950 acts of violence committed by people taking antidepressants found 362 murders, 13 school shootings, five bomb threats or bombing, 24 acts of arson, 21 robberies, three pilots who crashed their planes and more than 350 suicides and suicide attempts.

There are many instances when an individual is suffering a great deal of mental disturbance which is caused by a real medical condition that stems from physical illness, not mental illness.

At a hearing before the U.S. Senate 95th Congress, “Diet Related to Killer Disease, V. Nutrition and Mental Health” Dr. Emanuel Cheraskin showed that people with symptoms of schizophrenia suffered from lack of good nutrition and vitamin B.

In fact, Dr. Carl C. Pfeiffer discovered that the feelings of “depression” as well as many mental and behavioral disturbances could be precipitated by vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

Perhaps the most disturbing concern caused by this kind of legislation is the basic right of informed consent. All too often patients seeking help in mental health service facilities are not aware of their right to refuse treatment or are not successful in maintaining that right.

Who is going to inform these individuals who are being approached in their own community where they live and work that they have a right to refuse treatment? The Community Engagement Team recommendations may be “voluntary” but if an individual becomes upset at being approached, what is to prevent enforcement by simply calling police to pick them up if they don’t cooperate?

There are far too many unanswered concerns with House Bill 588 for the governor allow it to become law. There are no protections within this legislation for the rights of the individuals it claims to be helping. And certainly if we are going to help those in need, the advice should not be coming from those who already admit failure in their own field of so-called expertise.