[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17275]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO WAYNE S. FENTON, M.D.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Wayne S. 
Fenton, M.D., Director of the Division of Adult Translational Research 
and Associate Director for Clinical Affairs at the National Institute 
of Mental Health who was tragically murdered on September 3, 2006.
  Dr. Fenton was a man truly passionate about working with the most 
severe mentally ill population. He was a compassionate and tireless 
advocate for people with mental illness and the families so desperately 
trying to help them. He went above and beyond the call of duty and 
continued a private practice outside of his work at the National 
Institute of Mental Health. In his private practice, Dr. Fenton readily 
treated patients with the most severe mental illnesses, very often ones 
that other psychiatrists refused to see. These are the patients who are 
most likely to commit horrific crimes when they do not take necessary 
medication.
  Just last week, I participated in a panel discussion regarding 
whether the State of New Mexico should enact an assisted outpatient 
treatment, AOT, program that requires a court ordered treatment for 
those who are severely mentally ill. It is time we focus on this issue 
at a State and national level. Dr. Fenton's death should not be in 
vain; we cannot continue along a path that not only does not help the 
suffering, but continues to hurt the community. This is a challenging 
topic to take on and a hard discussion to have but we must start 
addressing the link between untreated mental illness and violence or we 
run the risk of seeing more horrific deaths.
  Outside of his work and private practice, Dr. Fenton worked with many 
groups including the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, the 
American Psychiatric Association, and the World Psychiatric 
Association. He served as Deputy Editor of Schizophrenia Bulletin and 
as a consultant to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. On 
numerous occasions he was nominated as one of the Best Doctors in 
America. He was a leader in the field of mental health research, 
particularly relating to the study of schizophrenia. Dr. Fenton 
authored many textbook chapters and more than fifty scientific papers 
on diagnosing, treatment, and mental health service methods for 
individuals who suffer from schizophrenia. His central goal was to 
create a treatment system to allow even those suffering from the most 
severe mental illness to become functioning members of society.
  Dr. Fenton's death truly is a great loss to the mental health 
community. In the words of Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of NIMH, ``It is 
difficult to grasp such a tragic, shocking loss; a loss not only for 
his many friends and family but for people with serious mental illness 
everywhere.'' As advocates for people with mental illness, and mental 
health policy, my wife Nancy and I had the pleasure to work with him 
over the years. I am extremely saddened by his tragic death. I want to 
extend my thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, and coworkers at 
this time. It is my hope they remember the great impact he made during 
his time with us. I express my deepest sympathy to them.

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