Mental Illness in Congress

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National Review:

Mental Illness in Congress

Earlier this month, mentally ill Kyle Odom shot pastor Tim Remington in Idaho because he “knew” the pastor was a Martian. In his untreated delusional state, Kyle then flew to the White House and started throwing his possessions over the fence to get the president’s attention so he could inform him about all the other Martians in government, including Senators Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Roger Wicker, and Patty Murray.

 

Congress should learn from episodes like that. Yet at the same time Kyle went on his mission, Senators Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D., Wash.) went on theirs. They revealed a discussion draft of their Mental Health Reform [sic] Act of 2016, which is perhaps the worst mental-health bill ever conceived. It is a rudderless hodgepodge of studies, reports, commissions, and added bureaucracy that would do nothing to help people like Kyle.

 

John Snook, of the Treatment Advocacy Center, an organization focused on improving care for the seriously mentally ill, told Modern Healthcare, “If this were to pass as is, it would be of no benefit to [people with] severe mental illness.” Mental-illness-policy advocate, blogger, and former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley wrote, “The Senate has now set a low standard.”