Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Schools Consider Screening As Lifesaving Approach (Florida)
News story reprinted at the NAMI web site on TeenScreen, "...a test developed by Columbia University and used in 109 school districts in 26 states. TeenScreen testing has referred more than 4,000 teens for mental health treatment since 1999. Where TeenScreen has been tried, numbers of suicides have dropped."  
  

Group Sues FDA for Ban on Antidepressant
AP story reprinted at Yahoo - "A consumer advocacy group sued the government Monday, seeking to force a ban on sales of the antidepressant Serzone. The drug can cause deadly liver failure and is linked to 20 deaths — and it's impossible to predict which patient is at risk, said the consumer group Public Citizen. Serzone already has been taken off the market in Canada and Europe, and will quit selling in Australia and New Zealand in May, said Public Citizen's Dr. Sidney Wolfe..."  
  

Psychiatrist will run State Hospital (Oregon)
Story in The Oregonian - " The Oregon prison system's top psychiatrist will become superintendent and chief medical officer at Oregon State Hospital next month. Dr. Marvin Fickle will be responsible for about 700 patients and 1,200 employees at the mental hospital's campuses in Salem and Portland when he assumes his new job April 26. Fickle, 54, has been the chief psychiatrist for the Oregon Department of Corrections since 1999. Before that, he spent five years at Oregon State Hospital as chief medical officer and held that position in the early 1990s at Eastern Oregon Psychiatric Center in Pendleton."  
  

Report: prison system under 'tremendous stress' (Vermont)
Boston Globe story - "State actions and policies are partly to blame for the deaths of some of the seven people who have died in state custody in the past two years, an independent investigation has concluded. The report criticizes a ''culture within the department (of Corrections) that fails to embrace accountability. ... The report, released Tuesday, outlines problems in communication and supervision at individual prisons and in the system at large. Among them are easy access to illegal drugs, often smuggled in during visits from friends and relatives; a mixing of long-term and short-term detainees that leads to other problems in the prisons; and a failure to review the quality of mental health care treatment as required."  
  

Psychologists Recognize Rep. Jim Ramstad for Leadership on Mental Health Policy
PR Newswire press release at Yahoo - "U.S. Representative Jim Ramstad (R- MN) last night announced that it's time for Congress and the President to act and end discrimination against people with mental health disorders and pass mental health parity legislation. ... Ramstad was honored with the American Psychological Association's (APA) Outstanding Leadership Award for his strong commitment to mental health parity and other mental health issues. The award was presented at APA's annual State Leadership Conference in Washington, DC before an audience of practicing psychologists from the United States and Canada."