Federal Disability Program Induces Child Drugging In Low-income Families

NewsTarget) A $10 billion federal disability program gives low-income parents a strong financial incentive to have their children diagnosed with behavioral disorders and prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs. This is the core finding of a recent Boston Globe in-depth investigation.

Congress created Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 1974 to aid the aged, blind and severely physically disabled, such as children with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Yet per the Globe, half of today's SSI recipients are children diagnosed with mental disorders such as ADHD and bipolar. But to qualify, those children really need to be on prescription drugs. Per the SSI associate commissioner's own words, "medication helps confirm a diagnosis."

In 1990 only 8 percent of children received SSI funds for behavioral issues; by 2009, that percentage had soared to 53 percent. Shockingly, children under 5 form the fastest-growing segment of this steep trend.

The article's author, Patricia Wen, reports this has, "created, for...

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Professional Athlete Disability Insurance – Petersen …

Whether participating in a team sport or an individual sport, Professional Athletes’ careers expose themselves to countless possible injuries, and illnesses. A minor disability may become career-ending for a professional athlete. With the risk so high, most insurers will not underwrite disability insurance plans for athletes. Petersen International Underwriters provides high limit coverage for professional athletes to financially protect against temporary and/or permanent disabilities. Each sport has unique underwriting challenges as incomes may come from a variety of sources including team contracts, signing bonuses, endorsements and purse winnings. Each sport commands unique contract features including guaranteed income to a player. Some contracts are fully guaranteed while others allow the team to waive the contract as they see fit. A variety of flexible solutions are available to protect a professional athlete’s.

Types of Coverage

Draft Protection

Young athletes have pursued lifelong commitments to reach the big leagues in their respective sports. Before a...

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Manipulating Disability, Accommodation, And Outcomes: Peer Perceptions Of Accommodation Unfairness

Abstract

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that some disabilities be accommodated to provide equal opportunity for workers with disabilities. However, if accommodations are seen as unfair, coworkers may refuse to cooperate with the accommodation recipient or may cause other problematic outcomes for that person or the organization, thereby jeopardizing the goals of the ADA. A study was conducted to determine how perceptions of unfairness were related to type of accommodation, disability, and possible task outcomes. The study results indicated that there were perceptions of unfairness when persons with disabilities were accommodated, particularly when the accommodation was viewed as reducing the inputs of the persons receiving it and when the accommodated person subsequently won the task. As expected, the interaction between receiving a useful accommodation and having the accommodated person subsequently win was also significant in producing even greater perceptions of unfairness.

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PERSPECTIVES: The Reservation Wages of Social Security Disability Insurance Beneficiaries

Background

In the economics literature, the term "reservation wage" has been used with two different meanings. In the job search literature, the term refers to the lowest wage a person would accept if the person has to pay a positive sum to gain another job offer from a wage distribution (Mortensen 1986). In the labor supply literature (Killingsworth 1983), it has been used as the lowest wage at which a person will work, which has also been referred to as the "asking wage." In this article, the reservation wage is not used within the context of the job search literature given that most DI beneficiaries do not search for jobs (Hennessey and Muller 1994). Instead, the reservation wage is used in the same sense as that of the labor supply literature, as detailed below.

In the standard labor leisure choice model of the labor supply literature, individuals,,,

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To Combat Disability Hate Crime, We Must Understand Why People Commit It

After the Equality and Human Rights Commission 2011 report on disability hate crime, Hidden in Plain Sight, the government agreed to publish perpetrator analysis. Yet despite repeated requests it has not. So the Disability Hate Crime Network, a voluntary group campaigning against the crime, carried out a small, online survey of 100 disabled people last month to ask them more about the perpetrators of hate crimes. We asked about the gender, race and age of the attackers, location of the incident, whether the attacker acted alone or in a group, and about perceived motivation.

More than half of respondents (57%) said they were attacked on the street, and one-fifth on public transport. A quarter of incidents occurred at home. Other people were attacked in pubs and shops, with some mentioning social media. Perpetrators were overwhelmingly white.

Around half (49%) of all attacks were group based...

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Access To The Courts For Persons Subject To Lps Commitments

This handout outlines the methods of obtaining access to the courts for persons subject to mental health commitments under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act.

I. 72-Hour Hold (Welf. & Inst. Code [WIC] §§5150 et seq.):

A. Habeas Corpus -- there is no specific statutory right to a writ of habeas corpus for persons detained on 72-hour holds.

However, all persons retain their fundamental constitutional rights to petition the courts for a writ of habeas corpus. Calif. Const., art.1, §11; U.S. Const., art.1, §9, cl.2. And, any person committed to a state hospital has a statutory right to a writ of habeas corpus. WIC §7250. In addition, every person unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of his or her liberty under any pretense whatsoever may bring a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the legality of the detention. Penal Code §1473.

Note: The above writ provisions are applicable to all mental patients, regardless of the length of the...

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What Exactly is a Mood Stabilizer?

Two decades ago, there was 1 drug in the mood stabilizer category: lithium carbonate. Carbamazepine was used in refractory cases and in a small number of specialty clinics. Valproate was entering the scene as a novel and effective mood stabilizer. Since then, it seems that every new anticonvulsant is evaluated for its mood-stabilizing properties. More recently, the atypical antipsychotic drugs have emerged as promising treatments for bipolar disorder, and the evidence supporting their efficacy rivals that of anticonvulsant medications. Other agents, such as calcium-channel blockers, have also been evaluated but have shown little evidence of mood-stabilizing properties. Guidelines for the treatment of bipolar disorder now focus on lithium, a selected number of anticonvulsants and an increasing number of atypical antipsychotic drugs as the principal agents. How does the finding that seemingly disparate classes of medication have a common domain of efficacy shape our definition of what constitutes a “mood stabilizer” and our understanding of their mechanisms of action?...

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“Switching” of Mood From Depression to Mania With Antidepressants

Bipolar disorder often presents initially with one or more episodes of major depression, and an episode of mania or hypomania may first occur during treatment with an antidepressant, stimulant, or other agent with mood-elevating effects. Such “switching” of mood into mania, a mixed-state, or psychosis can be dangerous. This switching is particularly prevalent among juveniles and young adults exposed to treatment with an antidepressant or stimulant for a depressive, anxiety, or attention disorder.1 Such pathological shifts of mood and behavior may represent adverse drug actions or a manifestation of undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

DSM-5 now considers that mood elevation with antidepressants justifies the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, whereas earlier editions considered it a drug-induced reaction. Before the development of modern psychopharmacology, distinctions between recurrent unipolar depression and bipolar disorder within a broad “manic-depressive” concept may not have been critical. Currently, however, the diagnostic distinction has considerable clinical significance for prognosis and...

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Deviance and Mental Illness

Deviance and mental illness often go hand-in-hand. While not all deviants are considered mentally ill, almost all mentally ill persons are considered deviant (since mental illness isn not considered "normal"). When studying deviance, then, sociologists also often study mental illness.

The three main theoretical frameworks of sociology regard mental illness a little differently, however they all look to the social systems in which mental illness is define, identified, and treated.

Functionalists believe that by recognizing mental illness, society upholds values about conforming behavior. Symbolic interactionists see mentally ill persons not as "sick," but as victims of societal reactions to their behavior.

Finally, conflict theorists, combined with labeling theorists, believe that the people in a society with the fewest resources are the most likely to be labeled mentally ill. For instance, women, racial minorities, and the poor all suffer higher rates of mental illness than groups of higher social and economic status....

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Poverty and Mental Health

There is a growing contribution of mental health problems to the global disease burden - neuropsychiatric disorders now account for about 13% of the total.[1]

The link between individual poverty and mental health is well known.[2]The relationship between poor mental health and health inequality within neighbourhoods is, however, more complex.

One study found that living in neighbourhoods with the highest levels of income inequality was significantly associated with better mental health. The authors forwarded several explanations for these somewhat surprising findings. These included an increase in social capital (the collective value of social networks) in areas with low deprivation and a reduction in the risk of stress experienced by persons living in deprived areas.[3] The 'social capital' concept is supported by a study which found that older people in Hertfordshire, UK, who had a strong sense of cohesion within their neighbourhood and reported fewer neighbourhood problems, had higher levels of mental well-being.[4]

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Drug-Induced Liver Injury

Drug-induced liver injury is an injury of the liver that may occur when you take certain medicines.

Other types of liver injury include:

• Viral hepatitis • Alcoholic hepatitis • Autoimmune hepatitis • Iron overload  • Fatty liver • Causes   The liver helps the body break down certain medicines. These include some drugs that you buy over-the-counter or your health care provider prescribes for you. However, the process is slower in some people. This can make you more likely to get liver damage. Some drugs can cause hepatitis with small doses, even if the liver breakdown system is normal. Large doses of many medicines can damage a normal liver.

Many different drugs can cause drug-induced hepatitis.

Painkillers and fever reducers that contain acetaminophen are a common cause of liver injury, particularly when taken in doses greater than those recommended. People who drink alcohol to excess are more likely to have this problem...

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An Empirical Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief

Abstract

Context The stage theory of grief remains a widely accepted model of bereavement adjustment still taught in medical schools, espoused by physicians, and applied in diverse contexts. Nevertheless, the stage theory of grief has previously not been tested empirically.

Objective To examine the relative magnitudes and patterns of change over time postloss of 5 grief indicators for consistency with the stage theory of grief.

Design, Setting, and Participants Longitudinal cohort study (Yale Bereavement Study) of 233 bereaved individuals living in Connecticut, with data collected between January 2000 and January 2003.

Main Outcome Measures Five rater-administered items assessing disbelief, yearning, anger, depression, and acceptance of the death from 1 to 24 months postloss.

Results Counter to stage theory, disbelief was not the initial, dominant grief indicator. Acceptance was the most frequently endorsed item and yearning was the dominant negative grief indicator from 1 to 24 months...

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Fratricide: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective

Abstract

Analyses of fratricide rates based on national homicide data have provided some general information pertaining to offenders and victims of sibling homicide but are limited by data constraints to examining a few major variables. Exploring fratricide from a forensic psychiatric perspective could uncover other related factors and provide insight into why some individuals murder their siblings. In a retrospective study of data from coroners' files on domestic homicide pertaining to individuals killed by their siblings over a 10-year period in Quebec, Canada, we identified several specific offender and victim characteristics and circumstances surrounding offenses. The impact of mental illness and substance abuse on fratricidal behavior is indicated, underscoring the importance of identifying existing psychopathology. From a forensic psychiatric perspective, we identify characteristic patterns and discuss potential dynamics operating in fratricide. We raise some issues relevant to treatment and prevention, including the fact that most cases are alcohol-related, impulsive, and unpredictable until the moment they occur...

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Amateur Versus Professional Does The Recovery Of Forensic Evidence Differ Depending On Who Assesses The Crime Scene?

Abstract

Volume crime offences such as domestic burglary are commonly assessed for forensic opportunities by the first attending officer present at the scene. Conversely, less serious volume crime offences such as thefts from motor vehicles are very frequent and are routinely assessed for forensic opportunities by the victim talking to the police over the telephone. It is not clear whether this difference in attendance policy leads to differences in the types and quantity of forensic material recovered. The current study explored whether there was a benefit to evidence recovery for attended as opposed to non-attended assessments. Five hundred thefts from motor vehicles offences recorded by Northamptonshire Police (UK) between 14 January 2010 and 28 February 2011 were analysed; 250 were attended forensic assessments and 250 were non-attended assessments. Significant differences were found between the two scenarios, with attended assessments more likely to yield DNA, property and trace substance material. Conversely, fingerprints were more likely...

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Scene-of-Crime Analysis by a 3-Dimensional Optical Digitizer: A Useful Perspective for Forensic Science

Abstract

Analysis and detailed registration of the crime scene are of the utmost importance during investigations. However, this phase of activity is often affected by the risk of loss of evidence due to the limits of traditional scene of crime registration methods (ie, photos and videos). This technical note shows the utility of the application of a 3-dimensional optical digitizer on different crime scenes. This study aims in fact at verifying the importance and feasibility of contactless 3-dimensional reconstruction and modeling by optical digitization to achieve an optimal registration of the crime scene.

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The Forensic Expertise Of Cadavers Of Females Suspected To Be Victims Of Sexually Motivated Homicide.

Abstract

According to the author's independent observations, the criminal, as a rule, strangles his victim in sex-related murders. In cases of suspected sex-related murders of women, the female urogenital system needs to be examined as an anatomically whole preparation. It was proven that the spermatozoid structure (in the cadaveric vagina, whose condition was optimal) began to change from week 2 with almost all their heads being destroyed by the end of week 6. When cadavers are found in 1.5-2 months after the event, there is no reason to give up examinations of the sperm from cadaver.

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