[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 129 (Thursday, September 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES

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                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 24, 1998

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the recent, sad events at the Capitol have 
drawn us together as a community as never before. Within these walls, 
there is something greater than a collection of strong-willed 
individuals going their separate ways. We are a part of the same 
community whether as individuals, we are the Speaker of the House, a 
janitor who cleans at the end of the day, a Congressman from Ohio, or a 
Capitol policeman. Our community has the specific goal of setting and 
refining the ground rules that guide our great country; ground rules 
that define the balance between the rights of the individual and the 
rights of the community.
  The balance between the rights of individuals and the rights of the 
community can be murky, especially when dealing with an individual's 
health and the safety of others in the community. Tuberculosis, for 
example, is a highly contagious disease. People who refuse treatment 
for this disease are a danger to themselves and others. The State of 
New York now legally mandates this treatment. This is an example of 
where the community has balanced the rights of the individual and the 
rights of the community and come up with a win-win situation. Both the 
community and the affected individual benefit from a successful 
treatment.
  What are the rights of the community when someone who suffers from 
schizophrenia refuses to take his medication or follow-up with a 
psychiatrist? Should others die so that an individual ill with the 
disease of paranoid schizophrenia can have the freedom to refuse 
treatment. Several States have enacted an outpatient commitment which 
requires the ill individual to take medication and follow the 
prescribed treatment or be committed to a hospital.
  As a Congress, we need to encourage more States to adopt outpatient 
commitment laws. In addition, we need to make more resources available 
to encourage the training of psychiatrists. One simple aid would be for 
the Department of Health and Human Services to designate psychiatry as 
a primary care speciality and actively encourage hospitals and medical 
schools to maintain and expand their psychiatry residency programs. 
Another impediment to training psychiatrists could easily be removed. 
It is not unusual for psychiatrists to have had some previous training 
in another field of medicine, before embarking on a psychiatry 
residency. Current Medicare regulations often reimburse these residents 
at 50% of the rate of other residents. This disincentive needs to be 
removed.
  Although we can never eliminate the possibility of a recurrence of 
the recent tragedy at the Capitol, these measures can reduce the 
chances of such a recurrence. If the deaths of Officers Gibson and 
Chestnut have helped many of us realize the importance of community, 
then their deaths will not be entirely in vain.

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