Monday, May 14, 2012

Another proposed resolution...

                                   RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Systematic review has been undertaken over the past decade at national, state and local governmental levels, and in collaboration with private and not-for-profit research, regarding strategies to address potential incidents that could have large-scale health consequences including disease outbreaks, natural disasters and terrorist attacks; and

WHEREAS, The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, after conducting its own review of these issues, published a National Health Security Strategy of the United States of America in December, 2009; and

WHEREAS, The 2009 HHS Strategy is replete with statements recognizing an overarching necessity to convince the people to trust and independently cooperate, at the individual, family and community levels, with organized efforts by authorities in the amelioration of any significant health incident; and

WHEREAS, Contrary to these overarching security needs for broad trust and cooperation, notable social trends now exist toward increasing public doubt and cynicism, especially with regard to medical science and health care; and

WHEREAS, An example of such doubt and cynicism was a New York Times book review in 2009, which characterized Americans' recent love affair with modern psychiatry as a sub-prime crisis waiting to happen; and

WHEREAS, Over the last several years, the American Psychiatric Association and the world community of mental health professionals have been in an uproar regarding the general validity of psychiatric diagnosis, as evidenced by incessant protests over the new paradigm of "dimensional" definitions of mental disorder to be established in 2013 by the publication of the fifth revision of the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); and

WHEREAS, Endemic, spectacular and increasingly frequent media stories of health care fraud and falsified medical studies are not conducive to pubic confidence in and cooperation with authority on issues of health; and

WHEREAS, An ultimate security threat might entail a catastrophic failure of confidence in authority and cohesion in the face of disaster; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE, That a fundamental distinction shall be recognized: between practical and empirically-proven medical science and clinical health care practices, as opposed to popular or academic scientism embodying mere theories or wishful thinking about easy solutions to human behavior and magic pills for all unpleasant life experiences; and be it further

RESOLVED, That our government shall refrain whenever possible from forcing, coercing or deceiving families or individuals into health care solutions which they do not choose themselves by fully informed consent; and be it further

RESOLVED, That human emotions and complex behavior are not realistically a subject for, and may never be amenable to, medical management, especially such management as should ever be attempted by any state medical or mental health bureaucracy; and be it further

RESOLVED, That fundamental and vital principles of any health security strategy shall be free and honest information, open dialogue, and collaboration with the people.

No comments:

Post a Comment