Helping mentally ill

The following editorial appeared in the Providence Journal. T he U.S. House of Representatives voted 422 to 2 this month to pass a bill that overhauls our approach to mental illness. It was encouraging to see both parties come together for the good of the country.

The bill could empower family members, who are on the front lines of the efforts to deal with mental health issues but have been hamstrung in their efforts to get information. If the bill passes the Senate and is signed by President Obama, it could give families access to critical medical information about the treatment of adult family members struggling with mental illness: What’s the treatment plan? When is the next appointment? What support does he (or she) need?

That kind of information is currently withheld because of patient privacy laws. But the House, in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has recognized the need to provide support to the people who may not be capable of helping themselves, as well as to their family members.

Consider the case of Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat.

Deeds was nearly stabbed to death by his bipolar son, Gus, who then committed suicide.

The consequences can be tragic when family cannot get the information it needs to help a loved one.

Deeds had tried to encourage his adult son to help himself, but he had no access to his son’s medical records, and most of his son’s doctors wouldn’t discuss the case with him.

Deeds became a powerful advocate for the mental health bill. To critics who assailed the bill’s incursion into the privacy of adults with mental illness, Deeds told CNN, “Your choice is not to die. Your choice is not to watch your children die or watch your family members die.”

While the House showed overwhelming support for the bill — which also would allocate money to fight serious mental illnesses and alter Medicare reimbursements for some mental health patients — its fate in the Senate is uncertain.

The Senate should not miss its moment. It should seize on the rare unity demonstrated by the House and pass its own mental health bill.

Families struggling to care for loved ones who are mentally ill deserve no less.