Viewpoints: In Rush Not To Add Stigma To Mental Illness, We’re Missing Its Clear Link To Mass Shootings
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Actually, There Is A Clear Link Between Mass Shootings And Mental Illness
"Repeat after me: Mass shooters are not disproportionately mentally ill." This is the opening line of a meme that's been circulating in the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Fla. But this and other efforts to downplay the role of mental illness in mass shootings are simply misleading. There is a clear relationship between mental illness and mass public shootings. At the broadest level, peer-reviewed research has shown that individuals with major mental disorders (those that substantially interfere with life activities) are more likely to commit violent acts, especially if they abuse drugs. (Grant Duwe and Michael Rocque, 2/23)
Sacramento Bee:
California's Gun Violence Restraining Orders Can Save Lives
Rather than wait until the man acted on his impulses, San Diego police turned the information over to San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott, whose deputies used a relatively new California law to obtain a court-imposed gun violence restraining order requiring the man to turn over his gun last month. Legislation pending in roughly other 18 states would follow the lead of California, Washington and Oregon by authorizing gun violence restraining orders. (2/20)
The Mercury News:
Look Past Trump’s False Choices On Gun Controls
In the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school massacre, the nation should look past President Trump and the gun lobby’s false narrative of competing alternatives. Making the country safer doesn’t require keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill rather than banning assault weapons. It requires doing both, and recognizing the latter is a much bigger issue. It doesn’t mean restricting bump stocks, which convert semi-automatic weapons to function like machine guns, rather than raising the age to purchase weapons. It means both. (2/23)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Close To Home: Cuts In Mental Health Are A Chilling Setback For County
The county behavioral health team is responsible for taking care of the sickest psychiatric patients, along with patients in times of a psychiatric crisis. As a resident physician at Sutter Santa Rosa Medical Center, I am often forced to discharge a hospitalized patient suffering from severe mental illness directly to jail. I am unable to send such a patient to an inpatient psychiatric hospital for the higher level of care needed due to lack of such psychiatric facilities in Santa Rosa. In fact, the largest psychiatric facility in our county is now the Sonoma County jail, a facility that is not designed to provide comprehensive mental health treatment. Still, every year larger numbers of people with mental illness end up there. (Jacqueline Abdalla, 2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
The Trump Administration Wants To Cut Premiums For The Healthy At The Expense Of The Sick. Again
Despite the Trump administration's best efforts to undermine and bad-mouth Obamacare, it is not collapsing, as the president often claims. The state exchanges where insurers sell policies to Americans who don't get health benefits at work are stabilizing, and enrollment remained about the same last year even after administration actions drove up premiums, slashed marketing efforts and shortened the sign-up period. Yet the White House and congressional Republicans are undaunted, and their efforts to lay waste to Obamacare are continuing. They've taken a series of steps in recent months aimed at helping healthier people cut their spending on insurance. But in each case, their approach would rob Peter to save some bucks for Paul, shifting costs from the healthy onto those who need comprehensive health coverage. (2/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Yes, Obamacare Is Too Expensive For Some Buyers, But Trump's 'Fix' Would Make Things Even Worse
The Trump administration got one thing right in its proposal to loosen Affordable Care Act regulations so insurers could sell skimpier health plans that don't offer the full range of ACA-mandated benefits. It's true, as the White House says, that Obamacare plans can be too expensive for some buyers — those with household incomes exceeding 400% of the federal poverty level, or $48,560 for an individual and $100,400 for a family of four. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/21)
Los Angeles Times:
500-Pound Man's Doctor Says He'll Die Without Surgery. His Insurer Shrugs It Off
Norwalk resident Shawn Alvarado started packing on the pounds as a teenager, gradually becoming one of millions of Americans whose sedentary lifestyle made him a statistic in the country's obesity epidemic. By the age of 24, Alvarado weighed 300 pounds.By the age of 31, he weighed 400 pounds. Today he tips the scale at almost 500 pounds. (David Lazarus, 2/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Will Coffee In California Come With A Cancer Warning?
How do you like your cup of cancer in the morning? I take mine with fake sugar and skim milk. Lame, I know. But there's no accounting for taste in carcinogens. Or, in this case, coffee. You've probably seen the bemused headlines: "Coffee in California may soon come with a spoonful of cancer warnings." There's wacky California, doing its liberalism-through-regulation schtick again. (Alexander Nazaryan, 2/18)
San Jose Mercury News:
Make Farmers Do Their Part To Conserve Water
The State Water Resources Control Board should approve the permanent rules for urban users when it meets next month. The board should also impose a similar set of rules on farmers, including penalties for irrigating low-value crops in dry areas of the state. (2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Facebook Needs To Kill Its New Chat App For Kids
The benefits of this product to Facebook are clear. Instilling brand loyalty in young users is a way to ensure that they continue to use the social network as teenagers and adults. ... What's also clear is how bad the app could be for children. A growing body of research shows that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens. Time spent on social media has been linked to adolescent depression and dissatisfaction with appearance, family and life in general. Teens who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are more likely to report being unhappy than kids who spend less time on social media, while kids who spend more time with friends in person are more likely to report being happy. For pre-teen girls in particular, time on social media is linked with idealizing thinness and discontent with their own bodies. (Susan Linn, 2/21)
Mercury News:
Investigate 3-Year-Old Foster Child’s Meth Overdose Fatality
A 3-year-old girl dies in foster care after overdosing on methamphetamine for the second time in 13 days. How could this happen? How did little Mariah Sultana Mustafa end up with meth in her system? How could she be returned to the same foster home after the first overdose? The painful story, detailed last weekend by Bay Area News Group reporters Matthias Gafni and David DeBolt, reveals a broken foster care system and officials who display no inclination to fix it. (2/13)
Sacramento Bee:
Is Sacramento Creating Its Own Cannabis District?
Indeed, according to the Power Inn Alliance business group, there are dozens of dispensaries and cultivation startups tucked between Power Inn Road to the west, Fruitridge Road to the north, Elder Creek Road to the south and Watt Avenue to the east. Of the 160 applications submitted to the city for permits, at least 80 are for this swath of south Sacramento, eying 2.5 million square feet of space. (Erika D. Smith, 2/20)