On June 11, 2014 Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania asked for permission to address the United States House of Representatives for a few minutes to discuss the crisis within the mental health system in America:
“Mr. Speaker, last week, a gunman with a history of mental illness killed one and wounded two others at a Seattle university.
Just before Memorial Day, a young man known by his family and therapists to be mentally ill killed six people and himself in another awful episode of mass violence.
Before there was Elliot Rodger, there was Adam Lanza in Newtown; Jared Loughner in Tucson; James Holmes in Aurora, Colorado; and Aaron Alexis at the Washington Navy Yard.
There was Gus Deeds, another young man who was in a mental health crisis, but was denied extended inpatient care at a hospital before he killed himself and stabbed his father, a Virginia State senator.
All had untreated or undertreated serious mental illness. All spiraled out of control within a system that lacked the basic mechanisms to help. Many had parents who were pleading for more help.
How many more must die before we finally deal with our broken mental health system?
Violence amongst persons with mental illness is extraordinarily rare and is far more likely to be self-directed. Last year, there was 40,000 suicide deaths and almost 1 million attempts.
The mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of violence, robberies, beatings, rape, and other crimes. The mentally ill are also 10 times more likely to be in jail than a hospital. That is because the seriously mentally ill often encounter law enforcement after refusing medical care.
What makes these painful episodes so confounding is the reality that so many tragedies involving a person with mental illness is entirely preventable. For example, in 34 States, Elliot Rodger’s family would have been able to ask a court to order an emergency psychiatric evaluation, but in California the law says they cannot.
The families know when their loved one is in a mental health crisis and their condition is gravely deteriorating; but as our yearlong investigation performed at the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations revealed, families are shut out from being part of the care delivery system.
As revealed in our subcommittee review, for far too long, policymakers have been in denial about brain disease and serious mental illness as well as the need to address these medical issues in the policy arena. We pretend like it doesn’t exist and, therefore, don’t have policies in place to help families and patients in mental health crisis.
Congress has been more comfortable in the behavioral wellness realm than in confronting the difficult and painful reality that persons with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major clinical depression are more likely to end up homeless, in prison, or dead by suicide than in a meaningful health care treatment setting because of our failure to make courageous, substantive legislative changes.
We pretend that all the seriously mentally ill are fully aware of their symptoms and welcome treatment. The fact is many don’t. Forty percent of persons with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not even recognize their delusions and hallucinations aren’t real. They refuse treatment and don’t get better.
They have a right to get better, and don’t they have a right to get treatment?
Our investigation paved the way for the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. With nearly 90 cosponsors, my bipartisan measure fixes the shortage of psychiatric hospital beds, clarifies HIPAA privacy laws so families are part of the frontline care, and helps patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis. The bill has been endorsed by nearly a dozen publications, including The Washington Post, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Each day, I hear from families in crisis from across the country who are counting on our efforts to bring positive changes to the mental health system. We cannot let these families down. Lives are depending on it. We cannot wish this away, and denial is not a treatment.
I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort by cosponsoring H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. Please help, because where there is no help, there is no hope”, said Murphy (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov/).
Rep. Murphy also authored the Seniors Access to Mental Health Act, which ended the discriminatory practice of charging higher co-pays to seniors on Medicare seeking mental healthcare services. The legislation became federal law as part of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act on July 15, 2008. He is a staunch advocate for the mentally ill and patients rights.
See related video: Rep. Murphy talks about mental illness after shooting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lke0qwMvAM
See video: Congressman Murphy discusses need for mental health in the military http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2VdA_AawcI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjBxTNxYEs