L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 289, September 19, 2004 Today International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Mandatory Mental Health Screening Threatens Privacy, Parental Rights
Special to TLE On September 9th, the 'Ron Paul Amendment' was defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 95-315. The Amendment would have prevented the funds sought by an appropriations bill (HR 5006) from being used for the mandatory mental-health screening of Americans, including public schoolchildren. Rep. Paul (R-Texas) a practicing physician for over 30 years -- campaigned against the new program on the grounds that it negates parental rights and would encourage the over medication of children. Prior to the House vote, Rep. Paul had vehemently denounced mandatory mental-health screening in a letter to fellow Congressmen. Paul wrote, "[P]sychotropic drugs are increasingly prescribed for children who show nothing more than children's typical rambunctious behavior. Many children have suffered harmful effects from these drugs. Yet some parents have even been charged with child abuse for refusing to drug their children. The federal government should not promote national mental-health screening programs that will force the use of these psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin." The idea of nationally screening school children for mental health stems from the establishment of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in 2002. Its mission is to "promote successful community integration for adults with a serious mental illness and children with a serious emotional disturbance." The Commission conducted a "comprehensive study of the...health service delivery system" which found mental health problems to be under-diagnosed. A 2004 progress report outlines the government's plan to assist those with disabilities, including mental health problems. The government intends to use government agencies and services -- such as transportation, housing, and education "to tear down the remaining barriers to full integration [of the disabled] into American life" Thus, as WorldNetDaily reports, the Commission's panel "recommended comprehensive mental health screening for 'consumers of all ages,' including preschool children... Schools, the panel concluded, are in a 'key position' to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools." The public schools would address "the mental health needs of youth in the education system" through "prevention, early identification, early intervention, and treatment. Many practical objections have been offered to the mental screening of the 52 million students and the 6 million adults at schools.
Critics also raise matters of principle. First and foremost is the question of parental rights. It is not clear what rights if any -- parents preserve over the medical treatment of their children. Will they be threatened with the removal their child if they refuse to place a son or daughter on Ritalin? Will children who resist medication be expelled from a school that their parents support through taxation? If so, the government seems to be telling parents that education is a privilege for which parents must not only pay but for which they must also surrender medical control over their children. And what of medical privacy rights? It defies credibility that psychiatric records on tens of millions of school children would be covered by anything resembling patient-doctor confidentiality. Public school records that include intimate details of medical history may well follow children into adulthood. Accusations have also been voiced: specifically, that the program is driven by a political-pharmaceutical alliance that benefits drug companies. Critics point to the fact that the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) has been used as a model program. But, according to whistleblower Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, TMAP promotes "a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab." The bill has moved onto the Senate where it will be heard before the end of the year. Even for those who advocate the medication of problem children, this measure contains too many uncertainties and possibilities of abuse. Hopefully, the Senate will find a champion to call out for an amendment similar to that proposed by Ron Paul.
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