The San Diego Union-Tribune (2/14, Steele) reported “momentum in the battle against suicide” among veterans “with several bills pending in Congress.” One measure, “which applies to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, addresses the higher suicide rate among female veterans and the mental health care needs of vets privy to classified material.” Meanwhile, there is still ongoing “tension between medical privacy rights and family involvement.” Privacy between a physician and a patient “is a basic principle of medicine.” American Psychiatric Association president Renee Binder, MD, “said there are exceptions to confidentiality, including an emergency. But otherwise, the best a psychiatrist or therapist can do is encourage a patient to include loved ones, she said.”

Related Links:

— “Congress considers veteran suicide bills,” Jeanette Steele, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 14, 2016.

The Military Times (2/11, Kime) reports, “A scientific panel has concluded that the Veterans Affairs Department should stop searching for links between environmental exposures in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and veterans’ illnesses and instead focus on monitoring and treating those who have health problems related to deploying 25 years ago.” In their report, Institute of Medicine researchers “said Gulf War veterans are at increased risk for developing some physical and psychological health conditions like post-traumatic stress, anxiety, Gulf War illness and chronic fatigue syndrome, but other diseases like cancer, respiratory illnesses and most neurodegenerative conditions do not appear to occur at higher rates in these former troops.”

Related Links:

— “Panel to VA: Stop studying causes of Gulf War illnesses, focus on treatment,” Patricia Kime, Military Times, February 11, 2016.

STAT (2/10, Thielking) reports that new data (pdf) from the CDC indicate that approximately “8.4 percent of women smoke during pregnancy, despite the risks for the developing fetus.” The agency “warns that smoking while pregnant raises the risk of premature deliveries, low birth weight, and certain birth defects.”

Related Links:

— “More than 8 percent of women smoke while pregnant, despite risks,” Megan Thinking, STAT, February 10, 2016.

The Hill (2/10, Sullivan) reports on “partisan tensions over gun control” that emerged yesterday during a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee while members took up a mental healthcare reform measure from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Cornyn’s bill “seeks to increase treatment for” people with mental illnesses “as an alternative to imprisonment – a bipartisan goal.” Democrats, however, contend that “other sections of the bill would make it easier for” people with mental illnesses to “get guns.” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said, “That is the opposite direction from which we should be moving.”

Related Links:

— “Gun politics stymie mental health push,” Peter Sullivan, The Hill, February 11, 2016.

HealthDay (2/10, Preidt) reports, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens who experience severe harassment can suffer from serious mental health problems,” a study published online Jan. 21 in the American Journal of Public Health suggests. After following some “250 LGBT youth in Chicago for four years,” researchers found that adolescents at highest risk for “lasting mental health problems – such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder – were those who suffered moderate harassment (such as having things thrown at them) that increased over time and those who had continuously high levels of harassment (such as physical or sexual assault)” while the study was going on.

Related Links:

— “Lasting Damage Seen in LGBT Teens Who Suffer Harassment,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 10, 2016.