Tag: Newtown

Presidential Executive Orders in Mental Health: A History of Failures

Written by Sheila Matthews on December 26, 2013. Posted in Lawmaking.

Numerous Presidential Executive orders and millions in appropriations for Mental Health in Connecticut have produced nothing but failure and may actually be harmful. Hundreds-of-millions more tax dollars have been promised with no hope of real change. Despite the enormous amount of money being funneled into mental health, the big return seems to be little more than semantics – merely changing words rather than policy.

The State of Connecticut was one of 13 States to receive a federal “mental health transformation” grant under President Bush. The grant was issued as an executive order to “transform” the broken mental health system and was funded through 2010. And, what was the return on the investment? Connecticut suffers the largest mass murder/suicide in United States history within years of this “new improved mental health delivery system.”

Patricia Rehmer, the Commissioner of Mental Health in Connecticut, touts on her resume the fact she had oversight of the $13.7 million granted to Connecticut to then revamp the mental health delivery system. Ablechild participated in all the committee hearings on that grant and called for disclosure to the consumer on the link between the increased risk of suicide, violence and psychiatric drugs. Ablechild encouraged the State to educate the public on the MEDWATCH program, and to provide alternatives to psychiatric drugs and forced mental health services. Ablechild also wrote to then Governor Rell requesting an accounting of how the funds were distributed and whether the public would be advised of the results. The Governor denied Ablechild’s request.

Despite tens-of-millions poured into the State’s mental health system with little or no accountability as to how those funds were spent, in the wake of Sandy Hook, President Obama has promised another $100 million thru an executive order to “make it easier to access mental health services.” That’s great. But what happened to the $13.7 million from President Bush’s grant?

Are you doing the math? Are you following the insane process?

On December 20, 2012, within weeks of the Sandy Hook shooting, Senator Scott Frantz stated on WCBS to Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau that mental health providers will get a “slight boost” in the wake of the shootings and will have no funding cuts despite the fact that, “it has not been determined if there was direct connection between that and the massacre.”

Recall that Lanza’s mental health, educational records, and full toxicology report are being withheld from the public by the state of Connecticut.

The push, apparently, is to use this $100 million dollars to improve access to mental health services. However, according to the Hartford Courant’s article of June 20, 2013, Adam Lanza’s Medical Records Reveal Growing Anxiety” Lanza did have access to mental health services for many years. Lanza had been “screened” and released as not being a harm to himself or others.

Ablechild is taking the lead in calling for Lanza’s records to be made public, which will be crucial during the upcoming Connecticut legislative session. The goal is to protect public safety and stop the mismanagement of taxpayer funds. Is the increased mental health helping or hurting the public? Not everyone is convinced that more money spent on mental health access will have a positive effect – at least, to date, the State cannot prove that the tens-of-millions spent so far has shown any improvement.

For example, Dr. Hank Schwarts, psychiatrist-in-chief of the Institute of Living in Hartford said in regard to mental health issues, “to write a report now, with what we have, would almost be embarrassing.”http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-state-police-drag-feet-on-newtown-report-20131224,0,6056179.story

NEWTOWN ONE YEAR LATER, THE MISSING LINK

Written by Sheila Matthews on December 13, 2013. Posted in Sandy Hook.

In one of a long string of mass murders ending with the killer committing suicide, Sandy Hook, Newtown grabbed the attention of the entire world on December 14, 2012 when yet another mental health client went on a killing spree.

President Obama went to Newtown, Connecticut during the time families were mourning the loss of their children and before their burials. The President took to the stage at the Newtown High School blocks from the deadly killings and delivered a powerful, moving heartfelt speech where he began to launch a very targeted campaign. The President said, “We as a nation, we are left with some hard questions.”

As Steve Peoples from the Associated Press writes in his article, Year after Newtown, Gun control Groups keep hope”, “A divided Congress denied President Barack Obama’s calls for change.” The Associated Press article describes the movement being led by President Obama. What is not mentioned in the article, this political movement is being built on the backdrop of mourning parents, a failed investigation, a State unwilling to release the shooter’s mental health and special education records, with an incomplete release of a toxicology summary.

The AP report discloses a battle plan of a national operation backed by an alliance of well-funded organizations set up to pressure Congress ahead of next fall’s elections. The groups are sending dozens of paid staff into key states, enlisting thousands of volunteer activists preparing to spend tens of millions of dollars against politicians who stand in the way of their goals.

As the Cofounder of Ablechild, during a Fox News interview with Douglas Kennedy in the aftermath of the Red Lake massacre, Douglas Kennedy asked me, “What do you want?” I responded, “A federal hearing into to link between psychiatric drugs and school shootings”.

We are not alone in asking the hard question. In Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s home district town hall meeting in Minnesota, again the same question, “What is the link to the shootings and the psychiatric drugs?”

The Congresswoman’s response is stunning. She said that the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, has a “rule” that prohibits the Congress from studying the link between psychiatric drugs and mass shootings. (video 39.30).

Is that true? No.

The CDC is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. It certainly doesn’t have the power of “rule” making over Congress.

Ablechild reached out for clarification to her office regarding her comments on this CDC rule. We received back an article about President Obama and gun control that had nothing to do with our quest for clarification on the CDC rule. We were asked to put our request in writing; we did and as of yet have not received a response.

Congresswoman McCollum’s home State of Minnesota on March 21, 2005 suffered a killing spree called the “Red Lake Massacre” that occurred in two places on the Ojibwa Red Lake reservation.

A 16 year old, Jeffrey Wiese killed his grandfather, a tribal police officer and his grandfather’s girlfriend at their home, before going to Red lake Senior High School where he killed seven people, and wounded five others, then committed suicide.

According to relatives the teenager was taking the antidepressant Prozac, 20 milligrams 3 times a day.

Congresswoman McCollum has a great opportunity to respond to her district and push for federal hearings on mass murders and their link to psychiatric drugs.

Ablechild will continue to push for these federal hearings. We plan to participate in the upcoming Connecticut February short legislative session to ensure the toxicology panels at the medical examiner’s office are updated and include clinical trial drugs, as well as to obtain a transparent policy regarding toxicology reports, mental health records, and the associated link to mental health treatments in the aftermath of mass murders and suicides.

This type of legislation will ensure the public has the compelling data that already exists allowing the public to fully participate in the legislative process and to produce life saving public policies.

We agree with President Obama, it is time to ask hard questions. We, however, don’t think it is a time to build a political movement, pass executive orders giving more funding to an unregulated and unaccountable mental health industry without asking the hard questions. This is a vital pubic health and safety issue.

We encourage Congresswoman McCollum along with her district voters to help us obtain those federal hearings and welcome her response on our inquiry.

“How many canaries: thoughts provoked by a recent school shooting.” published by Ablechild Board of Director, Dr. Tebbs

Written by Sheila Matthews on October 21, 2013. Posted in Violence.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN GERMANY by DR. TREVOR TEBBS, Ph.D., ABLECHILD BOARD OF DIRECTOR

Tebbs, Trevor J. “How many canaries: Thoughts provoked by a recent school shooting.” Labyrinth ( Deutche Gesellschaft fur das hochbegabte Kind e.V.) 34, no. 117
(August, 2013): 16-18

HOW MANY MORE CANARIES

– So who pulls the trigger……and WHY

ARTICLE LINK: Canaries

BACKGROUND: Board of Director – Trevor James Tebbs, Ph.D.

Dr. Tebbs’ interest in Ablechild springs from his direct experience of dysfunctional young people battling against a labeled and “medicated” history from their early years in school. Convinced of a more holistic approach in which personal engagement and informed decision-making contributes to healthy educational and emotional development, he views “medication” as the primary means of treating various “disorders” both troublesome and potentially unhealthy. He believes we are in the midst of a cultural phenomenon of young people, and their parents deserve to know more.

With almost 40 years experience and qualifications in art, special & regular education Dr. Tebbs has taught K – 16+ students in regular, special, art, gifted, primary, secondary, and post secondary educational settings in the both the UK and USA . His educational psychology doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut concentrates on gifted education and counseling. He studied with Dr. Joseph Renzulli at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

ABLECHILD’S APPEAL FOR NEWTOWN SHOOTER’S MEDICAL RECORDS & TOXICOLOGY REPORT GOES TO FULL CT FIO COMMISSION

Written by Sheila Matthews on October 11, 2013. Posted in Sandy Hook.

Within the last few days, Ablechild submitted to the full Freedom of Information Commission our objections to the hearing officer’s proposed final decision. It is our plan to follow every legal procedure and avenue to secure the critical information being denied to the public relating to the mass murderous actions and suicide of Adam Lanza and their link to psychiatric drugs, which have been shown to increase the risk of violence and suicide. In fact, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to establish this link. There is an obvious growing increase in mass murders and suicides throughout this nation, and yet the public remains in the dark. We are all probably aware that a large part of this is due to the pharmaceutical industry giant, a profit driven machine with many vested interests, one of which is in keeping us uninformed.

“Toxic relationship have been long established between big pharma, mainstream media, and government. What is perfectly clear is that all of the conflicts of interest that result from these relationships play a direct role in compromising our health and safety.” Says Patricia Weathers, Cofounder of Ablechild.

Despite this obstacle, Ablechild has and will continue fulfilling its mission of full informed consent because it strongly believes that the public HAS THE RIGHT TO KNOW. It is simple, without the public given the information they are left being unable to make informed decisions.

This disclosure of information is shown to be never more critical when we watched the impulsive, immediate legislative reaction of the State of Connecticut in the aftermath of the mass murders and suicide in Newtown, which was its push for more mental health screening and psychiatric drug treatment for children despite its obvious lack of information and facts. Wrongful and improper legislation will continue to have dire consequences on our children health and the publics as a whole. This is just one more reason why we continue to rally for our right to full informed consent, and of course our children’s safety!

Docket No. FIC 2013-197

Ablechild Notice Submission
Ablechild Objections
Ablechild Original Appeal to FOI

CT Hearing on FOI, Sandy Hook – October 9, 2013

Written by Sheila Matthews on October 10, 2013. Posted in Sandy Hook.

FOI TASK FORCE USES VICTIMS TO AVIOD DISCLOSURE OF CRITICAL INFORMATION NEEDED TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC

The task force that met Wednesday night was created as part of a law that State legislators rushed through the Capitol to block the release of some records from the shootings.

This law was passed without public notice, or a public hearing. Citizens should be very concerned by this growing foreign style of government and the journalists who endorse it. It is not a law, if it doesn’t follow due process, and open hearings for the people to participate in the passing of that law. The Connecticut Post and other papers seem to validate this “task force” and gloss over the lack of authority and massive amounts of “conflicts of interest” the members of this task force hold.

According to the Connecticut Post article, Parents, others plead for privacy, the panel co-chairman, Don DesCesare, indicated that task force members would likely begin writing their final report in November. “He said that he believes they will have enough time to make recommendations for changes in state law, rather than simply giving approval to the law that is already on the state’s books. If it was our intent to second the legislature, we would not have all these meetings,” he said.

This obviously is an attempt by the State to backdraft their lack of public hearings, and public notice on the law they claim is on the books now.

Ablechild followed up with reporter on our concerns relating to the initial law that was passed without due process, we didn’t seem to get an argument there. However, when we asked why our testimony wasn’t a part of his article, we were told quite frankly that it was “to complicated” and all the task members had “blank faces” after we testified.

Honestly, requesting the toxicology and medical records of the school shooter doesn’t seem that complicated. We encouraged the reporter to read our FOIA docket case and educate himself.

It was so sad to see these victims used by the State of Connecticut so that the State can continue to avoid answering questions relating to their role in the psychiatric and drug treatment of Adam Lanza prior to his mass murders and suicide.

Of course, the public doesn’t want to put these families through any further hardship and neither do we. It is the State that uses them for emotional impact to pass unconstitutional laws. These laws do not serve the public but serve to protect special interest groups i.e. the drug companies and psychiatric industry that are donating to these bloated politicians filled with their own sense of importance.

Nothing the State will ever do with bring those children back to their parents. I believe the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy would be shocked to learn the role the State played in the path of Adam Lanza prior to that deadly day.

The fact that the Mayor of Bridgeport, Bill Finch, considers the first amendment right a “maturation” is obviously a statement we fully disagree with and most Americans would as well.

Ablechild Releases FOI Post Hearing Documents

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 13, 2013. Posted in Sandy Hook.

Both the State of Connecticut and Ablechild have submitted final documents in post hearing briefs as requested by the FOI Commission. See links below.

2013-9-12 – AbleChild Post-Hearing Brief

STATESLASTSUB

Ablechild’s mission is Informed Consent. Our goal is to ensure that every parent, caregiver, and decision maker has all the information before placing their children or child onto mind-altering drugs, and to ensure they are told as part of the “reality” of informed consent that psychiatric disorders are subjective in nature – a fact the State of Connecticut seems to want to ignore and seems filled with shame to disclose.

The famous, renowned medical doctor and former Ablechild board member put it best into words.

Dr. William Glasser, “Clearly to diagnose a mental illness such as those described in the DSM-IV, one of the basic tenets of the medical model is completely ignored. In those instances, mental illness is diagnosed from symptoms alone and no supportive pathology is required. This misuse of the medical model has led to the present ever-increasing assortment of diagnoses and treatments, none of which even comes close to meeting the requirements of medical science.”

Reference: Defining Mental Health as a Public Health Issue, A New leadership role for the helping and teaching professions, William Glasser, M.D.

Immediately after the Newtown, Sandy Hook mass murder/suicide, Ablechild was contacted not only by parents within Sandy Hook, Newtown, Connecticut but throughout the Country urging us to obtain valuable information to ensure that this type of senseless loss of life never happens again.

Seeing beautiful young babies snubbed out, we committed ourselves to that task. The post hearing briefs linked within are historical and will forever be within the records of history. We dedicate our efforts to all parents and children. We will continue to keep you updated on our efforts.

Sincerely,
Ablechild.org

Was Connecticut Shooter, Adam Lanza, on Psychiatric Drugs? Medical Examiner Snubs Official Request for Toxicology Report

Written by Able Child on May 16, 2013. Posted in Sandy Hook.

March 15, 2013
By Kelly Patricia O’Meara

Click image to read the official toxicology records request to Connecticut Medical Examiner, H. Wayne Carver II, M.D.

While state and federal lawmakers frantically push for massive mental health reform and sweeping gun control laws, two Connecticut mothers recently took to the streets of Newtown, connecting with local residents and gathering signatures on a petition that asks a simple but essential question.

Did prescription psychiatric drugs play a role in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting?

Seems like an easy and obvious question that, remarkably, has escaped the consideration of legislators who seem hell-bent on legislating increased mental health services without first having all the necessary information to make thoughtful, fact-based decisions.Sheila Matthews, co-founder of AbleChild, a national parents rights organization, and Newtown resident, Patricia Sabato, went one-on-one with local residents to collect hundreds of signatures requesting the release of the complete autopsy/toxicology results and medical/psychiatric records of alleged shooter, Adam Lanza. To back up the need for full disclosure of Lanzas records, the petition points out certain undisputed facts, such as, at least 31 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 162 wounded and 72 killed.

Sheila Matthews has appeared on TV numerous times, including on CNN, NBC and Fox. She has been interviewed on many talk radio programs and has been featured in major newspapers and magazines. The Petition further points out that 22 international drug regulatory warnings have been issued on psychiatric drugs causing violent behavior, including mania, psychosis and homicidal ideation. Additionally, between 2004-2011, there were nearly 13,000 reports to the FDAs MedWatch system of psychiatric drugs causing violent side effects, including homicide, mania and aggressive behavior. Both Matthews and Sabato were gratified by the communitys support. The vast majority of the people were really supportive of our efforts, says Matthews. They were really engaged, continued Matthews, and they wanted, and felt like, they had a right to know if Lanza was on drugs. Sabato mimics Matthews sentiments. A lot of people, says Sabato, actually congratulated us for doing the petition. The people of Newtown, explains Sabato, know there is more to this story and, though they are tired of hearing Lanzas name, they still want to know everything that may have played a part in his actions.

Sheila Matthews with former Congressman Ron Paul, who stated, Too many children are suffering from being prescribed psychotropic drugs for nothing more than childrens typical rambunctious behavior. The mothers sent the petition to lawmakers and hand-delivered a letter to the States Medical Examiner, H. Wayne Carver II, M.D., requesting that Lanzas autopsy/toxicology and medical/psychiatric history be publicly released. The request literally cites two full pages of federal and state law supporting the request. Despite the fact that, under Connecticut law, Carver is statutorily required to respond to the request, to date, the Medical Examiner has refused to even acknowledge receipt of the request, let alone release the requested information. Certainly there are a number of questions that come to mind as to why the Coroner would refuse to release the information, but interfering with the on-going criminal investigation is not one of them. In fact, Carver already has released selective information about Lanzas autopsy, which begs the question what is in the autopsy that obviously has put the Medical Examiner on the wrong side of Connecticut law and the wishes of Newtown residents? In the end, its a simple question posed by those who lived through the nightmare. Was Adam Lanza on or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs at the time of the shooting? The information is available. Whats the secret?

Kelly Patricia O’Meara is an award winning investigative reporter for the Washington Times, Insight Magazine, penning dozens of articles exposing the fraud of psychiatric diagnosis and the dangers of the psychiatric drugs including her ground-breaking 1999 cover story, Guns & Doses, exposing the link between psychiatric drugs and acts of senseless violence. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, “Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills that Kill“. Prior to working as an investigative journalist, OMeara spent sixteen years on Capitol Hill as a congressional staffer to four Members of Congress. She holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Maryland.