The Baltimore Sun (1/29, Rector) reports that as “law enforcement officials and politicians push new gun control measures, mental health providers say they feel caught in the middle and warn that some proposals would endanger their relationships with patients.” The Maryland General Assembly is presently, considering legislation, based on the state “task force’s work, to require mental health professionals to report patients who make verbal or physical threats of suicide or serious violence” and to allow law enforcement to use such “information to investigate and potentially seize” guns owned by the patients. But Dr. Paul Appelbaum, “past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said such efforts strip away the discretion of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to decide the best course of action after hearing a troubling statement from a patient.”
Related Links:
— “Psychiatrists, mental health advocates uneasy with gun policy prescriptions, “Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun, January 28, 2013.