Suicide, Warning Signs And Issues Faced By Friends And Family

Medical News Today

A study focusing on the family and friends of people who were suicidal has highlighted the main challenges they face when trying to judge whether a person is in danger and decide what they should do about it.

The research was carried out by Dr. Christabel Owens from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, supported by Devon NHS Partnership Trust and funded by the UK Medical Research Council. The findings are published in the British Medical Journal on 22nd October 2011 (online 19th October 2011).

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The findings of the research show that relatives and friends did not always receive clear and unambiguous warning signals from the suicidal individual, and that, even when it was obvious that something was seriously wrong, they could not always summon the courage to take action.

Family members and friends of those who may be contemplating suicide are confronted by powerful emotional blocks, particularly fear. They may be afraid of intruding into another person's emotional life or afraid of damaging a cherished relationship by 'saying the wrong thing'. The whole situation is emotionally charged, and that affects the way in which people respond.

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Dr. Owens: "It is sad that, in the course of our research, we have repeatedly come across examples of people who did go to their GP, were given a cursory risk assessment and sent home with little or no support, and subsequently killed themselves. In other cases, a relative has taken their concerns to a GP and asked for advice, and has been told that the case cannot be discussed with them for reasons of patient confidentiality and that the person must visit the GP themselves."

The entire study can be found here.

Recognising and responding to suicidal crisis within family and social networks: qualitative study

BMJ 2011; 343:d5801 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d5801 (Published 18 October 2011)

Cite this as: BMJ 2011; 343:d5801

Ohio Teacher Convicted of Sex with Students

Stacy Schuler

LEBANON, Ohio — A high school teacher was convicted Thursday of having sex with five students, some of them football players, after a judge rejected an insanity defense that argued the teens took advantage of her.

Stacy Schuler was sentenced to a total of four years in prison for the encounters with the Mason High School students at her home in Springboro in southwest Ohio in 2010. She can ask a judge to free her from prison after six months.

The 33-year-old Schuler, who could have faced decades in prison, cried as she was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.

The five teens testified that Schuler, a health and gym teacher, had been drinking alcohol at the time of the encounters and was a willing participant who initiated much of the contact. The teens were about 17 at the time. The age of consent in Ohio is 16, but it's illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student.

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Testimony from a defense psychologist had suggested that Schuler's medical and physical ailments, combined with her vegan diet and use of alcohol and an antidepressant, helped impair her ability to tell right from wrong.

A psychologist for the prosecution rebutted that testimony, saying that the use of alcohol does not meet the state standard for an insanity defense and that willingly getting drunk is not a legal defense for a crime.

The entire story can be found here.

More Schools Take Action to Stem Anti-Gay Bullying

By Christina Hoag
Los Angeles, Associated Press
Published on October 22, 2011

A history teacher amends his lessons on the civil rights movement to include the push for gay equality.  A high school removes Internet filters blocking gay advocacy websites. Six gay students sue their district, saying officials failed to protect them from bullies.

After anti-gay bullying led to a spate of teen suicides last year, school districts across the country are stepping up efforts to prevent such incidents, while more students are coming forward to report bullies.

"It's an issue that has taken over the public consciousness since last fall," said Jill Marcellus, spokeswoman for the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. "People realize it doesn't have to be this way. We can make it better."

Awareness of anti-gay bullying is increasing as acceptance of gay people has grown in society. Gay marriage is legal in several states, gays are now permitted to serve openly in the military and, in California, schools will soon have to teach gay-rights history.

Kids, even as young as middle school age, feel more emboldened to openly express their sexual or gender orientation, but many are not prepared for a possible backlash, gay-rights advocates say.

According to a 2009 survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, 85 percent of gay teens reported harassment at school within the previous year and two-thirds felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation. The problem also extends to boys perceived as effeminate and girls deemed masculine.

A lot of people have the idea that coming out as soon as possible will make themselves feel more comfortable," said Raymond Ferronato, a 16-year-old gay junior in Antioch, Calif. "I tell them come out when you're ready to come out, and only do it when you're safe."

Schools became aware last year of how unsafe it can be.

Five gay teens, ranging from middle school to college age, killed themselves in California, Indiana, Minnesota, Texas and New Jersey, after being bullied, in some cases for years. Last month, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself in Buffalo, N.Y., after years of homophobic harassment.

The rest of the story can be read here.

Nonrational processes in ethical decision making

By Rogerson, Mark D.; Gottlieb, Michael C.; Handelsman, Mitchell M.; Knapp, Samuel; Younggren, Jeffrey

American Psychologist, Vol 66(7), Oct 2011, 614-623.

Abstract

Most current ethical decision-making models provide a logical and reasoned process for making ethical judgments, but these models are empirically unproven and rely upon assumptions of rational, conscious, and quasilegal reasoning. Such models predominate despite the fact that many nonrational factors influence ethical thought and behavior, including context, perceptions, relationships, emotions, and heuristics. For example, a large body of behavioral research has demonstrated the importance of automatic intuitive and affective processes in decision-making and judgment. These processes profoundly affect human behavior and lead to systematic biases and departures from normative theories of rationality. Their influence represents an important but largely unrecognized component of ethical decision making. We selectively review this work; provide various illustrations; and make recommendations for scientists, trainers, and practitioners to aid them in integrating the understanding of nonrational processes with ethical decision-making.

Ethics Non Rational

Sandusky arrested, AG charges against 2 top Penn St. officials

By Myles Snyder and Megan Healey

WHTM News

Jerry Sandusky

Penn State's legendary assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested Saturday on child sex abuse charges, as state prosecutors announced charges against two top university officials who apparently knew of at least one incident on the campus and did nothing about it.

Attorney General Linda Kelly said Timothy Curley, Penn State's director of athletics, and Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business, are charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse. Schultz's position includes oversight of the university's police department.

"This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys," Kelly said in a news release Saturday. "It is also a case about high-ranking university officials who allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury that was investigating a series of assaults on young boys."

Kelly said the attorney general's office and state police began the investigation when a young boy reported that Sandusky had sexually abused him while the boy was a house guest at Sandusky's home near State College.

According to evidence presented to an investigating grand jury, the boy was 11 or 12 years old when he first met Sandusky at a camp for The Second Mile program, a charity for at-risk children founded by Sandusky.

Sandusky used expensive gifts to keep in touch with the boy - including trips to professional and college sporting events, golf clubs, a computer, clothing and money - and used the overnight visits at his home to perform sex acts on the boy, according to the grand jury.

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"The failure of top university officials to act on reports of Sandusky's alleged sexual misconduct, even after it was reported to them in graphic detail by an eyewitness, allowed a predator to walk free for years - continuing to target new victims," Kelly said.

"Equally disturbing is the lack of action and apparent lack of concern among those same officials, and others who received information about this case, who either avoided asking difficult questions or chose to look the other way."

Kelly said that despite the false testimony and "uncooperative atmosphere" by some Penn State University and Second Mile officials, the grand jury eventually identified a total of eight young men who were targets of sexual advances or assaults by Sandusky, starting in 1994 and continuing through 2009, after meeting him through Second Mile activities.

The grand jury findings can be found here.

The entire story can be read here.

The two Penn State Administrators are now stepping down, after an emergency meeting by Penn State's Board of Trustees.  The story can be found here.

Psychiatrist Acquitted Quickly due to Insufficient Evidence

Judge Smith

In a very rapid process, United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith acquitted Dr. Richard Kaye of charges due to "insufficiency of the evidence".  While the details provided in the article below appear intriguing, the facts of the case will not be heard.

The very short judgment by Judge Smith can be found here.

Thanks to Ken Pope for this information.

Psychiatrist faces federal charges in HIPAA case

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot

A psychiatrist faces trial in federal court on charges of illegally disclosing medical information of a Virginia state trooper who had been in his care after being held hostage and raped over three nights.

Prosecutors said this could be the first prosecution nationwide of a physician for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, which went into effect in 2003. The act prohibits disclosure of health records unless the patient gives consent.

Dr. Kaye

Jury selection and testimony began Tuesday in U.S. District Court, where Dr. Richard Alan Kaye, the former medical director of psychiatry at Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk, faces three counts of wrongfully disclosing an individual's health information.

Kaye was working at Obici in 2007 when the female trooper came to him for treatment. Kaye diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the attack in her home several months earlier.

But the trooper wasn't happy with the way Kaye was treating her and left after 16 days. She filed a complaint with the hospital and, according to federal prosecutors, he lost his job as a result. The Virginian-Pilot does not disclose the identity of rape victims.

The entire story can be read here.

Weight Loss Surgery Benefits Entire Family

By Anahad O'Connor
The New York Times - Health

Having gastric bypass surgery has a ripple effect that causes family members to lose weight, eat better and exercise more, a new study shows.

The research found that spouses, relatives and even the children of patients who underwent the procedure dropped significant amounts of weight, doubled their activity levels and had other improvements that were still evident a year after the surgery. The findings suggest that doctors who perform gastric bypass operations may want to look at the procedure as a way to bring about change in entire families in need of help with their weight and exercise habits, said Dr. John Morton, the director of bariatric surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine and an author of the study, which appeared in The Archives of Surgery.

“If you have a committed and involved family,” he said, “you’re going to have better outcomes for the patient, and also by the same token, the family members can have a collateral benefit.”

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“Obesity is a family disease,” he said, “and we do need to treat everyone involved and start thinking about bariatric surgery as a platform for change.”

The entire story can be read here.

Many Don't Believe Their Obesity is Unhealthy

By Jenifer Goodwin
Health Daily Reporter
MedicineNet.com

Many overweight and obese patients seen in hospital emergency departments don't believe their weight poses a risk to their health, and many say doctors have never told them otherwise, a new study finds.

Researchers asked 450 randomly selected patients who were seen in the emergency department at Shands at the University of Florida two questions: Do you believe your present weight is damaging to your health, and has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that you are overweight?

Of those who reported that their weight was unhealthy, only 19% said they'd ever discussed it with a health care provider. And only 30% of those who reported being told by their health care provider that their weight was unhealthy agreed with that opinion, according to the study.

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Ryan recommends that patients leave the ER with referrals to dieticians and other weight-loss specialists, and that primary care doctors make sure to take the time to broach the issue with patients.

Gans agreed. Though emergency room physicians are pressed for time, when patients are sick and worried about their health may be an opportune moment to encourage changes.

"Unfortunately nothing happens until a patient becomes fearful," Gans said. "I see that all too often. I'll ask them, 'Do you need to wait until you have diabetes until you start to lose weight? Do you need to suffer a heart attack? And some people will actually say 'Yes.'"

The whole story can be read here.