Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary : Shots

Psychiatrists joined other groups of public health, calling for the removal of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as a Minister of Health.

Two psychiatric organizations – South California Psychiatric Society and recently formed lower Committee for Protection of Public Mental Health – They published statements that stated that the actions of the leader of the Ministry of Health and Social Services increased the stigma, caused fear and affected access to mental health and drug addiction.

“As doctors committed to caring for the actual basis, we were alarmed by the direction of HHS in accordance with secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”, the Committee for the Protection of Public Mental Health He said in a statementField

HHS answers

“Kennedy secretary is still firmly committed to fulfilling the promise of President Trump to make America healthy again, dismantling the failed status quo, restoration of public trust in healthcare institutions and ensuring transparency, accountability and decision-making for which the Americans voted,” wrote Emily Hillard, a representative of the Federal Department of Medical Service, wrote NPR in an email.

The South California Psychiatry Society represents more than 1000 clinicians; The Committee for Protection of Public Mental Health has a little more than 50 members.

In recent years, the federal government has taken on a leading role in financing efforts to combat serious mental illness and the use of psychoactive substances using the administration of abuse of psychoactive substances and the SamHSA administration, notes. Dr. Stephen SharfsteinFormer President of the American Psychiatric Association and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at John Hopkins University.

These efforts began to pay off, he adds. “There was great progress in reducing the number of deaths in the country as a result of these initiatives,” he says.

But the dismissal of personnel in SamHSA in the beginning of this year and the efforts of the Minister of Health to liquidate the agency damaged these efforts, says Sharfstein, who is also the founder of the Committee on Protection of Public Mental Health.

“Rfk Jr. Trying to eliminate the Federal Agency, which is responsible for the support of the states and settlements with the prevention of an overdose, ”says he says Dr. Eric Rafla-Juan, A psychiatrist from San Diego and a member of the Committee for Protection of Public Mental Health. “This is completely opposite to the direction in which we must move.”

Psychiatric drugs underwent the question

Both organizations are also concerned about the attacks of the Minister of Health on psychiatric drugs, including in the strategy of “making our children healthy”, which is also known as the report of Mach

Mach's report “In particular, it distorts data on psychotropic drugs, really ignoring the full composition of scientific literature,” says Dr. Emily Woodco -chair of the Psychiatric Association of Southern California. “And he calls for various ways to limit access to psychiatric drugs, which is extremely worried, since these are drugs that are crucial for many people with depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, ADHG and many disorders.”

“This distortion of the representation increases the stigma, spreads fear and may not let people seek help when they need it the most.” According to the statement Psychiatric Association of Southern California. “The report uses these inaccurate statements as the basis for taking measures to limit access to critical services that facilitate suffering, restore functioning and prevent suicide.”

Dr. Sharfstein says that he is also concerned about the influence of abbreviations on Medicaid on people with serious mental illness (SMIS), which includes states such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, almost 6% of adult Americans live with SMI. Given the exhausting nature of SMIS, patients are usually poor, the scarfstein explains.

“They cannot afford medicines,” he says, “and Medicaid is what they rely on. But this is not only medicines. This is outpatient treatment. This is access to acute inpatient assistance. ”

Since the reduction of Medicaid will unfold, access to the care of mental illness and dependence will become more “compromised,” says scarfstein. “And we will see a kind of rolling crisis.”

His group calls on legislators to replace Kennedy with someone who is trained in public health and care on the basis of actual data. “In order to protect patients, protect scientific integrity and restore public trust, we join our colleagues calling for the president to remove the secretary Kennedy and, without delay, appoint a qualified leader guided by evidence.”