The Hill (2/27, Sullivan) reports that that earlier this week, “Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.)…outlined plans to introduce a pair of mental health reform bills next month, amid a push that began in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.” According to the Hill, “Rep. Murphy, a longtime champion of mental health reform, plans to reintroduce a version of a bill he pushed in the last Congress, he said at a mental health event hosted by The Hill.” Meanwhile, “Sen. Murphy said he would introduce a bill that has ‘some differences’ but is ‘substantially similar’ in the Senate around the same time.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers to ramp up mental health push,” Peter Sullivan, The Hill, February 26, 2015.

The AP (2/25) reports the case of Eddie Ray Routh, the former Marine convicted of killing “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and another man, “illustrates the difficulty of succeeding with” mental illness defenses. One factor is that jurors don’t know that a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity means the defendant will be sent to a mental hospital for life, unless “the state could no longer establish that he had a severe mental illness and was likely to harm another person if he didn’t receive inpatient treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Experts: Insanity case as in ‘American Sniper’ hard to win,” Associated Press, Washington Post, February 25, 2015.

HealthDay (2/25, Preidt) reports that research published in BMC Public Health suggests that homeless individuals who have a mental illness may face a high risk of heart disease. Investigators “found that they have a 24.5 percent risk of heart attack, fatal or nonfatal stroke, or sudden cardiac death over 30 years.” The study indicated that “the risk of cardiovascular disease in homeless people with mental illness was highest among men and those with substance abuse disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness, Homelessness Linked to Heart Disease in Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 25, 2015.

The Washington Post (2/25, Paquette) “Wonkblog” reports that the “mental health impacts of unemployment can be devastating.” For example, “a CDC study found suicide rates rise and fall with the economy.” What’s more, depression appears to be “higher among long-unemployed Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll: About one in five reported having depression.”

Related Links:

— “How unemployment warps your personality over time,” Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

USA Today (2/25, Leger) reports that a study from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicates that “deaths from prescription narcotic painkillers have soared as the opioid drugs became more popular and powerful.” The data indicated that “four out of five people who used a prescription narcotic painkiller in 2011 to 2012 took pills equal to or stronger than morphine.” The investigators also found that “the percentage of people who took painkillers stronger than morphine, which include such drugs as fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone and oxycodone, grew from 17% in 1999 to 37% in 2012.”

Related Links:

— “CDC: Deaths soared as narcotic painkillers grew popular,” Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today, February 25, 2015.