Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Effort To Reduce Military Suicides Doesn't Include Gun Purchase Limits
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a number of improvements in access to mental health care on Thursday to reduce suicides in the military, but held off on endorsing more controversial recommendations to restrict gun and ammunition purchases by young troops, sending them to another panel for study. An independent committee in late February recommended that the Defense Department implement a series of gun safety measures, including waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by service members on military property and raising the minimum age for service members to buy guns and ammunition to 25. (Copp and Baldor, 3/17)
As lawmakers and mental health advocates wrestle with how to stop the avalanche of suicides by firearm in this country, some are looking to a novel idea at work in a handful of states: Register yourself as a suicide risk so you can’t buy a gun on a whim. (Henderson, 3/16)
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In other mental health news —
One of the largest operators of ketamine clinics in the country abruptly closed its facilities this week, leaving patients in the dark and out of treatment for depression and other chronic conditions. (Cueto, 3/16)
It’s well-known that COVID-19 protocols caused financial hardship — particularly among lower- and middle-class families — and now a new study highlights the toll those struggles took on children’s mental health. A new study led by researchers from Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine, both in New York, suggests that family economic hardship was the biggest driver of "stress, sadness and COVID-related worry" among kids. (Rudy, 3/16)
Olivia Lubarsky showed up to Towson University her freshman year in 2017 shouldering the weight of high-functioning depression stemming from an immobilizing fear of failure. Acknowledging it, she said, made her feel as if she were finding a way to justify her shortcomings as a college gymnast. Her sport became her outlet — a way to ignore her worsening mental health. (Cohn, 3/16)
When it became clear Tuesday that there was strong opposition to the bill, one of its co-authors expressed shock at the impending result. State Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, said he thought the bill would easily pass "because there's nobody who's going to be for corporal punishment on students with disabilities." "I apologize to the author, because apparently I was wrong," he said. Moore also noted that research by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that children who experience physical punishment are at increased risk for negative behavior, cognitive psycosocial and emotional outcomes. (Denwalt, 3/16)
