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From: Harvey Rosenthal <harveyr@nyaprs.org>
Date: Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 7:31 AM
Subject: [NYAPRS Enews] Alert: Call Albany Today! Buffalo News, Gannett Op Eds Vs Kendra's Law Expansion
NYAPRS
Note: With only two weeks left in this year’s NYS Legislative session,
we need another round of calls to make clear to our state leaders the
level of opposition that exists to proposals to expand Kendra’s Law and
make it permanent. Advocates continue to make their voices heard in
local opinion columns across New York (see today’s columns below): Please Join Their Efforts and Generate Hundreds of Calls Today!
PLEASE MAKE THE FOLLOWING 3 CALLS TODAY!
GOVERNOR CUOMO AT 518-474-8390
ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SILVER AT 518-455-3791
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER DEAN SKELOS AT 518-455-3171
and leave the following message
“I’m a registered voter calling from (your locality) urging you to oppose proposals to expand Kendra’s Law
or make it permanent and to instead support true service improvements”
Another Voice: Less-Costly Options Exist Than Expansion of Legislation
By Maura Kelley and Harvey Rosenthal
Buffalo News June 12, 2012
We
take issue with several of Lynne Shuster’s assertions in her recent
piece on the controversy over expanding Kendra’s Law. Fourteen leading
statewide mental health and disability advocacy groups join Phil Endress
and the Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors in opposing such
an expansion.
Joined
by a number of family advocates, our groups oppose these proposals not
because, as was suggested, we want to avoid serving our most vulnerable
but because we are united in seeking better, more affordable,
strategies.
These
include several proposals developed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid
Redesign Team and approved by state legislators, like Regional
Behavioral Health Organizations that are making sure that hospitals come
up with better discharge plans and Medicaid Health Homes that require
teams of providers to follow up closely to help avoid relapse-related
crises.
These
approaches are fully paid for, some with 90 percent federal funding,
and will reach 1 million vulnerable people statewide while the Kendra’s
Law expansion would almost double the program’s $32 million cost to
reach a very small fraction.
Further,
the person who caused Kendra Webdale’s tragic death was not avoiding
care and requiring court-ordered treatment. He had repeatedly sought
help that never came – help that is now available through these new
“feet on the street” approaches that are getting thousands of at-risk
individuals the help they need. Court-ordered care has yet to be
scientifically demonstrated to be the reason for improved results
associated with Kendra’s Law.
That
is one of the reasons why lawmakers have shied away from expanding
Kendra’s Law or making it permanent three times since its 1999 passage.
Studies have yet to compare court-ordered and voluntary care even though
28 upstate counties have had great results favoring a voluntary
approach rather than relying on court orders.
Finally,
we must object to violent depictions used by proponents to gain support
by presenting Kendra’s Law as a public safety measure. Despite lurid
front-page coverage of rare tragic events, the facts are that people
diagnosed with major mental illnesses are actually 11 times more likely
to be victims of violence. We deserve more and better directed
treatment, not more involvement with judges and police who are already
overburdened with their primary duties.
We
hope that lawmakers will continue to withhold support for Kendra’s Law
expansion and instead continue to focus on smarter, stronger solutions.
(Maura
Kelley is a recipient of mental health services, Director of Mental
Health Peer Connection of the Western New York Independent Living, board
member of NYAPRS. Mental Health Empowerment Project, and the New York
State Independent Living Council.
Harvey Rosenthal is a
member of New York’s Medicaid Redesign Team, executive director of the
New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) and
a person diagnosed with a mental illness who has been a NY based
provider and advocate for the past 36 years.)
-----------------------
Guest Viewpoint: Kendra's Law Violates Rights of Mentally Ill
Written by Myra Kovary, Steven Periard and Larry Roberts
Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin, Ithaca Journal June 12, 2012
The
May 18 Guest Viewpoint by DJ Jaffe titled "Changes to Kendra's Law
would aid more who need it" makes a case for a new piece of legislation
called Kendra's Law Improvement Act. It which would allow courts to
mandate programs for people diagnosed with mental illness whose court
mandate under existing law has expired, the individual has moved away
beyond the court's jurisdiction, or is released from incarceration and
placed back in the community. The existing law, called Kendra's Law,
allows courts to mandate treatment for people who are diagnosed with a
mental illness as a requirement to remain in the community.
If
one is able to look beyond the stereotypes of the so-called "mentally
ill," one might see the existing law — and its proposed extension — as a
clear violation of an individual's civil rights, and one would be
right.
But
Jaffe doesn't see it that way. To him, and those like-minded, this is a
matter of protecting the individual from harming himself or herself
and/or the community. A noble cause, to be sure, were its foundation not
built on the unsteady ground of fear and ignorance.
First,
Jaffe's knowledge of people diagnosed with mental illness is relegated
to antiquated stereotypes. To quote: "As a result of their untreated
illness, they don't 'think' they are the Messiah — they 'know' it." He
might as well have included an illustration of a crazy person dressed
like Napoleon to support his argument. It would have been equally
baseless and ignorant.
Second,
Jaffe asserts that the new law would help people stay in treatment, an
argument that supposes a person diagnosed with a mental illness cannot
recover and will need treatment long-term, perhaps for the rest of his
or her life. Even the existing law, obviously somewhat more informed,
proposes a time limit on the mandate.
Third,
Jaffe cites statistics to support his argument for countering violent
behavior under Kendra's Law, though he does not offer sources for these
statistics. Instead he uses the obligatory phrase "a recent study found
..." If fear of violence is the impetus for this new law, its logic runs
counter to a recent article published on the National Institute for
Mental Health's (NIMH) website, which states that "Most people with SMI
[Severe Mental Illness] are not violent, and most violent acts are not
committed by people with SMI. In fact, people with SMI are actually at
higher risk of being victims of violence than perpetrators." The article
goes on to state that "those with SMI are 11 times more likely to be
victims of violent crime than the general population."
As a result of policies
enacted through Kendra's Law and legislation that supports it, we are
also more likely to lose our civil rights in the guise of protecting
ourselves and the public.
We
don't presume to speak for Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, the New York
State Office of Mental Health, the Conference of Mental Hygiene
Directors, and a total of 16 organizations who oppose the bill. But if
they do not see this as a civil rights violation, then certainly they
must at the very least view this legislation as counterproductive and
not worthy of their support.
Kovary, Periard and Roberts are members of the Ithaca Mental Patients Advocacy Coalition (IMPAC).
