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Scientology Group Urged Veto of Mental Health Bill
An anonymous reader writes: According to records obtained by The Texas Tribune, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would have given doctors more power to detain mentally ill and potentially dangerous patients, after a Church of Scientology-backed group helped organize a campaign against it. "Medical staff should work closely with law enforcement to help protect mentally ill patients and the public," he said. "But just as law enforcement should not be asked to practice medicine, medical staff should not be asked to engage in law enforcement, especially when that means depriving a person of the liberty protected by the Constitution." The bill would have allowed doctors to put mentally ill patients on a four-hour hold if they were suspected of being a danger to themselves or others. The bill had the support of two of the nation's largest medical associations.
It feels weird agreeing with scientologists, but you know how it goes with a broken clock.
Doctors get an awful lot of trust, much of it deserved and most of it necessary, given what they do, but seeing a doctor shouldn't mean risking my freedom. Even temporarily.
...in Scientology should be held. Their beliefs defy all credulity.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
I don't think people who are mentally confused go to the doctor by their own will. They most likely were taken there by the police or other people.
There is a knee-jerk reaction of always standing on the other side of whatever Scientology says, but you need to be very careful in case of mental instiutions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I don't see it that far fetched that US government could classify fanatical suicide terrorism as mental illness in 2025 let's say. And then you don't need Guantanamo anymore - there is enough torture-like devices in hospitals to make life uncomfortable for people.
We have had very ugly case in Poland recently (and in theory, being part of EU, we are supposed to be 'first world' country). Some guy got cheated by mayor of small town, assaulted him in public and went for psychiatric observation. Chief doctor of the insitution was very good friend of the mayor... guy got diagnosed with mental illness, being dangerous and got locked away. He tried petitioning for cross-examination etc etc (he was ready to server small jail sentence for assault and then be able to go to civil court to get right for how he got cheated finacially by mayor), but all letters got stopped at hospital. They are allowed to do so, because some crazy people are writing conspiracy theory letters to police every day, so there is a law to stop 'aimless correspondence'. Here, chief doctor decided that all his appeals for crossexamination, freedom and accusing mayor of wrongdoings would upset authorities.
Fast forward 7 years.
Guy leaves hospital completely broken by heavy medication, homeless and to be honest, quite crazy now.
Another case - some guy claims other guy threatened to kill him. No process and instead of few months in prison for verbal threats, 8 years in closed ward.
(Opposite is also true. Guy drives car on pedestrian walk on purpose (there was no road nearby and he was driving for few km , hitting 23 people in process. Instead of going to jail, he got diagnosed as unstable, goes to hospital and can possibly go out after half year. He used to study psychiatrics and his father is very rich so...)
There are so many protections and possibilities to appeal built into judical system, but at same time, we want to give unlimited power without possibility of appeal to some doctors.
Isn't it true that most psychiatrist and psychologist are self-healers, ie they are a bit odd to begin with?
Psychiastrist and psychologist: "Aah, you don't seem to feel well. Aah. Locking you up. Yedi, Yoggo. Aah. Duggo. Jaaaammmaaa. Thetan. Xenu. Teegeeack. Sfgofgiaughaifh."
Something along those lines? I understand then that scientologists don't want that to happen.
You do realize that there are already provisions in the law to place a 72 hour hold on anyone who may be a danger to themselves or others.
The threat of a 4-hour hold will keep people from seeking mental health when they may need it most.
When the same sort of legislation was being pushed in Massachusetts, I personally delivered a speech against it before the Joint Committee on Mental Health. I was there with an army of other mentally ill people, their friends, their loved ones, and even some of their doctors, standing against this dangerous breach of our civil rights.
The speech is here, in the block-quoted portion, sandwiched in a more detailed discussion of the issue. Don't let anyone frame this as the agenda of some cult. I believe in psychiatry, I wouldn't be alive without it, but this legislation is abhorrent.
So if police believe you're a danger to yourself, they can shoot you all they want, but if you're doctor thinks you're a danger to yourself, there's nothing he/she can do. Yep, sounds like Texas. Disclosure: I'm a Texan.
Also, good to know we're following the U.S. standard of pushing mental healthcare to where it belongs: privately operated county jails and state prisons.
The Baker Act would already give them that fear.
The police are already called in on a regular basis to deal with patients whose guardians (be that family or whatever) have lost control of them, and frequently this has deadly results as handling psychiatric patients isn't something law enforcement does well or are trained to do. Substituting medical professionals, and having a four hour limit to prevent abuse, seems a fairly big improvement on the status quo.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
if everybody was mentally healthy, they wouldn't have any followers.
The mentally ill do need to be confined at times as do many alcoholics and drug addicts. We are losing millions of good people who could have been helped or cured because we can not break up the patterns of their illnesses.
Scientology is not a cult, it's a business.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
.... if it wasn't for the fact that L Ron Hubbard was mentally ill, which is why his "religion"/money making machine/fraud is so set against psychiatrists.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
I hope that sentiment of yours carries you through life if someone having a psychotic episode shoves a shotgun in the face of one of your family members and ventilates their skull. The Constitution doesn't demand we intervene... common fucking sense does. Alas, common sense isn't something that most people have.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Jade Helm truther, Scientology puppet... it is staggering to realize that Rick Perry was _not_ the worst modern-era Texas governor.
Nice try, but ebola -- which can be tested objectively -- isn't the issue. The issue is that doctors are being asked to subjectively evaluate people who may or may not be mentally ill, who may or may not have an inclination towards violence, and who may or may not have the will to actually exercise that inclination. In other words, they are being asked to perform "pre-crime" sentencing, which is in direct opposition to the principle of innocent before proven guilty.
Shame on the unthinking herd that modded this guy up. This strawman was dressed in blinking christmas lights and you STILL missed it.
This is the same governor who assigned some of the Texas National Guard to observe the Jade Helm military exercises in the southwest because he had been convinced that it might represent a threat to Texas. The idea was that Obama was using Jade Helm as a trial run for martial law before he declared himself President for Life. I wish I were making this up.
Indeed it is to any rational person with some insight into the problem. However we are talking about Scientologists who aren't rational and have no insight - according to them psychiatrists are routinely raping and killing people and are (as a group) worse than the Nazis.
Don't be silly. You should have had a free personality assessment and e-reading.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Stop making so much sense. It's Friday.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I suspect the main effect of the veto is to save millions of dollars in legal costs challenging the constitutionality of the law before it was struck down by a judge. Besides, police can always hold someone on something vague like Disorderly Conduct if they want to.
Maybe it's just because the Aurora, CO shooter was convicted this week, but I suspect people are looking for ways to prevent those types of tragedies, presuming there is no other way - there are plenty of ways to evaluate a person for psychological issues:
A parent can submit their child for evaluation
A friend or family member can ask the court to intervene
A judge can order an evaluation as part of a criminal trial involving the person
A school can petition for an evaluation
The Gabby Agiffords was know to be suffering serious mental problems by friends, family, classmates, his school administration and law enforcement event - no one wanted to intervene.
The Sandy Hook shooter had profound mental issues, but he mother tried to keep him 'out of the system' to protect her child from being stigmatized, she paid the ultimate price when her son killed her and stole her weapons.
And so on - the real challenge is people don't want to get involved in other people's problems, don't want to cause problems for their child, sibling, friend, or classmate that is struggling with mental issues.
Ken