Healio (3/31, Gramigna) reports, “Patients at risk for suicide should be prevented from accessing” medications “with high case fatality rates,” investigators concluded after analyzing data on “421,466 poisoning suicidal acts that resulted in 21,594 deaths.” The findings of the “cross-sectional study” were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Restricting suicidal patients’ access to drugs with high case fatality rates vital to suicide prevention, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 31, 2020

Psychiatric News (3/30) reports that last week in a 6-3 ruling (pdf) in favor of the state in Kahler v. Kansas, “the US Supreme Court ruled…states can prevent criminal defendants from pleading insanity without violating their constitutional rights.” Both “experts in psychiatry and the law said that the decision could have significant consequences.” Paul Appelbaum, MD, “a member of APA’s Committee on Judicial Action,” said, “The most immediate impact of the case is on Kansas and the four other states that have elected to effectively get rid of their insanity defenses. Their laws will remain valid.” Meanwhile, “Debra Pinals, MD, chair of the APA Council on Psychiatry and Law,” stated, “Persons with serious mental illness who engage in criminal behavior living in states with narrower criteria for insanity, or in states with no insanity defense, will likely be found guilty and sentenced.”

Related Links:

— “Supreme Court Upholds States’ Rights to Nullify Insanity Defense, Psychiatric News, March 30, 2020

CNN (3/29, Holcombe) reports the US extended “its set of social distancing guidelines until April 30, President Trump said in a news briefing at the White House on Sunday.” President Trump “said he hopes the country will be on its way to recovery by June 1.”

Related Links:

— “US coronavirus cases top 139,000 as Trump extends social distancing guidelines until April 30, “Madeline Holcombe and Dakin Andone, CNN, March 29, 2020

The Hill (3/28, Moreno) reported that on Saturday, the number of deaths from coronavirus in the US passed 2,000 meaning the death toll in the US “doubled in the span of two days.” Meanwhile, “the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. now stands at over 120,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said that an infant who tested positive for coronavirus has died marking the first coronavirus-related death of an infant in the US.

Related Links:

— “Confirmed coronavirus deaths in US hit 2,000, doubling in two days, “J. Edward Moreno, The Hill, March 28, 2020

Psychiatric News (3/27) reported that on March 27, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) “praised Congress for approving a $2 trillion stimulus aid package to provide fiscal relief for Americans and businesses in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the bill “includes many provisions supported by APA that will enable psychiatrists and mental health care professionals to better respond to the pandemic.” Trump signed the measure. APA President Bruce Schwartz, MD, said, “This stimulus bill will strengthen our ability to help the millions of Americans with existing mental illnesses or substance use disorders, and more with emerging mental health issues as the pandemic unfolds.” APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, stated, “As we respond to one of the largest public health threats facing our country in decades, funding for behavioral health initiatives and expanding telemedicine is critical.”

Related Links:

— “APA Praises Mental Health Provisions in COVID-19 Stimulus Aid Package, Psychiatric News, March 27, 2020