[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9914]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              HELPING FAMILIES IN MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last week, a gunman with a 
history of mental illness killed one and wounded two others at a 
Seattle university.
  Just before Memorial Day, a young man known by his family and 
therapists to be mentally ill killed six people and himself in another 
awful episode of mass violence.
  Before there was Elliot Rodger, there was Adam Lanza in Newtown; 
Jared Loughner in Tucson; James Holmes in Aurora, Colorado; and Aaron 
Alexis at the Washington Navy Yard.
  There was Gus Deeds, another young man who was in a mental health 
crisis, but was denied extended inpatient care at a hospital before he 
killed himself and stabbed his father, a Virginia State senator.
  All had untreated or undertreated serious mental illness. All 
spiraled out of control within a system that lacked the basic 
mechanisms to help. Many had parents who were pleading for more help.
  How many more must die before we finally deal with our broken mental 
health system?
  Violence amongst persons with mental illness is extraordinarily rare 
and is far more likely to be self-directed. Last year, there was 40,000 
suicide deaths and almost 1 million attempts.

                              {time}  1030

  The mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of violence, 
robberies, beatings, rape, and other crimes. The mentally ill are also 
10 times more likely to be in jail than a hospital. That is because the 
seriously mentally ill often encounter law enforcement after refusing 
medical care.
  What makes these painful episodes so confounding is the reality that 
so many tragedies involving a person with mental illness is entirely 
preventable. For example, in 34 States, Elliot Rodger's family would 
have been able to ask a court to order an emergency psychiatric 
evaluation, but in California the law says they cannot.
  The families know when their loved one is in a mental health crisis 
and their condition is gravely deteriorating; but as our yearlong 
investigation performed at the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on 
Oversight and Investigations revealed, families are shut out from being 
part of the care delivery system.
  As revealed in our subcommittee review, for far too long, 
policymakers have been in denial about brain disease and serious mental 
illness as well as the need to address these medical issues in the 
policy arena. We pretend like it doesn't exist and, therefore, don't 
have policies in place to help families and patients in mental health 
crisis.
  Congress has been more comfortable in the behavioral wellness realm 
than in confronting the difficult and painful reality that persons with 
schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major clinical depression are more 
likely to end up homeless, in prison, or dead by suicide than in a 
meaningful health care treatment setting because of our failure to make 
courageous, substantive legislative changes.
  We pretend that all the seriously mentally ill are fully aware of 
their symptoms and welcome treatment. The fact is many don't. Forty 
percent of persons with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not even 
recognize their delusions and hallucinations aren't real. They refuse 
treatment and don't get better.
  They have a right to get better, and don't they have a right to get 
treatment?
  Our investigation paved the way for the Helping Families in Mental 
Health Crisis Act. With nearly 90 cosponsors, my bipartisan measure 
fixes the shortage of psychiatric hospital beds, clarifies HIPAA 
privacy laws so families are part of the frontline care, and helps 
patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis. 
The bill has been endorsed by nearly a dozen publications, including 
The Washington Post, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall 
Street Journal, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  Each day, I hear from families in crisis from across the country who 
are counting on our efforts to bring positive changes to the mental 
health system. We cannot let these families down. Lives are depending 
on it. We cannot wish this away, and denial is not a treatment.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort by cosponsoring H.R. 
3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. Please help, 
because where there is no help, there is no hope.

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