Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Medicaid Malpractice States Put Patient Recovery At Risk By Restricting Prescription Drugs
March 11 item from the NAMI web site - "The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today released a 10-point policy prescription for State Medicaid programs to ensure access to effective medications for people with severe mental illnesses-challenging moves by states to save money by restricting drug benefits."  
  

New drugs, social support offer hope
Chicago Tribune story reprinted at the Billings Gazette that provides an overview of current treatment for schizophrenia, noting that "at least 90 percent of schizophrenia patients can make a substantial recovery if they are treated early enough with a full range of drugs and "psycho-social" support."  
  

Risks from mental illness drug not adequately noted, some say
Baltimore Sun story on Zyprexa, which "has been linked in multiple studies in this country and abroad with diabetes and severe hyperglycemia, a related failure of the body's ability to process sugar. It can quickly lead to coma and death if not discovered and treated soon enough. Those studies, and actions taken recently by drug regulators in other countries, have prompted some U.S. physicians to call for more prominent warnings to doctors and the public about the potentially life-threatening side effects of this otherwise helpful medication."