domingo, 20 de agosto de 2017

Psychiatry becomes political weapon in US

Psychiatry becomes political weapon in US



Psychiatry becomes political weapon in US
     
Congressional Democrats have approached outspoken Yale University psychiatrist Dr Bandy Lee about forming an expert panel to offer advice on President Donald Trump’s mental health.

Dr. Lee – who told the media earlier this year that psychiatrists have “an obligation to speak about Donald Trump’s mental health issues” – says she has talked with several members of congress or their staff about convening psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals to review the president’s health.

Lee told a STAT reporter that she would meet Democratic representatives in September to discuss the proposal. Democratic senators have already tabled a bill in Congress that invokes the 25th Amendment and seeks to establish “a commission on presidential capacity”.

In October Lee will release a book entitled The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump that summarises the views of 27 psychiatrists on Trump’s worrisome psychological state.

Recently BioEdge reported on an influential psychiatric association’s decision to abandon the decades old Goldwater Rule – a professional maxim that psychiatrists should refrain from offering their expert opinion on public figures whom they have never seen as patient


Bioedge

Saturday, August 19, 2017

President Donald Trump was elected because he promised to break moulds and drain swamps. “And now for something completely different” was basically the platform on which he campaigned. And something completely different is what Americans got.
Now is this difference due to mental illness or to a combination of personality and cunning political strategy? Yale University psychiatrist Dr Bandy Lee believes that it is the former. Trump is both bad and mad. In fact, not only Trump. In an interview with Salon, she said that the Administration and the Republican Party have lost touch with reality.
Is it a good idea for a psychiatrist to politicise her profession? The American Psychiatric Association asks its members to abide by the “Goldwater Rule” which forbids them from making public comment on the health of public figures whom they have not examined. It’s a good rule and Dr Lee is breaking it by publishing a book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump in October.
It’s a good rule because it protects the profession. Although half of Americans probably think Trump is mad without the benefit of Dr Lee’s input, the other half, including some psychiatrists, doesn’t. Inevitably many voters will think that Dr Lee is just a shill for the Democrats and that psychiatrists’ opinions can be bought.
What do you think? 


Michael Cook
Editor
BioEdge



NEWS THIS WEEK

by Michael Cook | Aug 19, 2017
Very little ethical push-back exists

by Michael Cook | Aug 19, 2017
Unfortunately, the answer seems to be No

by Xavier Symons | Aug 19, 2017
Policy analysts are proposing controversial solutions.

by Michael Cook | Aug 19, 2017
It's an increasingly common practice in the Netherlands, it seems

by Xavier Symons | Aug 19, 2017
Pressure is mounting on Catholic Healthcare providers to abandon their opposition to MAiD.

by Michael Cook | Aug 19, 2017
Warning shot across the bow of Catholic dissidents

by Xavier Symons | Aug 19, 2017
There is much debate about the link between religion and mental health.

by Xavier Symons | Aug 19, 2017
Democrats may convene an expert panel to profile Trump’s mental health.

by Michael Cook | Aug 19, 2017
"Heavy-handed genetic counseling" to blame, says leading local geneticist
IN DEPTH THIS WEEK

by Londa Schiebinger | Aug 19, 2017
Doctors used slaves to test primitive cures for tropical diseases
BioEdge
Suite 12A, Level 2 | 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | Australia
Phone: +61 2 8005 8605
Mobile: 0422-691-615
Psychiatry becomes political weapon in US

No hay comentarios: