Thursday, July 22, 2004

Falling through the cracks (New York)
Herald Online story - "Claiming that the case of the man who killed his mother had fallen through the cracks of the county's mental health system, John Tosner filed a civil lawsuit against Nassau County and the Nassau University Medical Center in March. Last week, despite arguments from both defendants to drop the case, State Supreme Court Justice William LaMarca ruled that the civil lawsuit can proceed. The wrongful death suit alleges that Peter Troy, then 34, was not given adequate psychiatric treatment for his diagnosed schizophrenia by the Nassau County Department of Mental Health and the medical center in the months before his murder of Tosner's mother."  
  

Help available to troops suffering from combat stress
American Forces Press Service press release - " The military member who goes to combat and the one who comes back are never the same person, the Defense Department's director of mental health policy said today. 'No one comes back unchanged,' said Army Col. (Dr.) Tom Burke in an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. Burke and other DoD health officials try to reach out to those returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be suffering from combat-related mental health problems or post-traumatic stress disorder, he said."  
  

Task force hearings on mental health and children continue through Friday (Illinois)
Story in the Illinois Leader - "As public forums continue this week throughout the state, more concerns are emerging as parents learn of a new mental health screening plan for Illinois' children ages zero through 18 and pregnant women. 'Children’s Mental Health: An Urgent Priority for Illinois,' the 53 page report in which The Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003 is based upon details a vast new bureaucracy which stresses intervention and treatment for all Illinois children from the womb and continues throughout adolescence, at age 18..." See also, at the same source, Illinois launches compulsory mental health screening for children and pregnant women and the full report (Adobe Acrobat format).