Mutant registration act (aka database for crazy people)

[Sinestro]

Borrowing from the Marvel comic X-men, there's a idea/proposal being tossed around in NY of creating a data base for Tracking mentally ill people in the community as a result of recent events sentationalized in the media. Regardless if you had multiple episodes or one, your name would be on this registry if you are diagnosed with having a mental illness.

I can understand the rational behind this, so that people don't get lost in the cracks of the system and get services needed to prevent episodes such as those seen in the news of "crazy people" harming others. Why is it when something bad happens, the first thought that the person might be mentally ill?

Would this list be considered an invasion of one's privacy?

Should a person have the choice to seek their own treatment or not?

Does it reinforce the stigma of people being diagnosed with having a mental illness?

Do people have to "hide" their condition from big brother like the mutants in X-men?

What do you think about this issue?

Would you want people to know that you have a mental illness outside of the mental health profession?

What are the repercussions if this were to happen? What's next?

[jonyrotn]

I think they should make crazy people trading cards..
With all their nutty stats on the back each one..

[Slumbag]

If it came with there phone numbers, I would call them all, and pretend to be Morpheus from The Matrix.

[DonInNC]

There's already a LOT of mild to moderately mentally ill people not seeking treatment because of the perceived stigma. People will mediacte themselves with alcohol or drugs instead. It would be a disaster.

[DarkHippie]

Half the fucking country is diagnosed with anxiety, or depression, or hyperactivity. that proposal is fucking crazy

[K.C.]

Horrible idea...gross invasion of privacy.

[booster11373]

Crazy people have super powers?

[PapaBear]

On the one hand, I agree that it's a terrible idea and an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, how can we enforce laws that prohibit people with mental problems from getting guns? By law, the guy who shot up Va Tech wasn't allowed to own or buy guns. But all he had to do was say he hadn't had a poor mental history.

It's a MOOORAL CONUNDRUM!

[donnie_darko]

i'd love to know what ESD would think of papa bear's icon.

if there were a list i'd like dave fez and earl to be on it.

[PapaBear]

i'd love to know what ESD would think of papa bear's icon.

if there were a list i'd like dave fez and earl to be on it.

I haven't heard all of today's show. What's the deal with Dave and babies that use bananas as phones?

[Thebazile78]

An act like that violates both doctor-patient confidentiality AND HIPAA.

As I understand it, doctor-patient is only null when the patient is an imminent danger to himself and/or others.

HIPAA goes even further to protect patients ... it's part of the reason why you're no longer using your SSN as your health insurance ID number, among other things.

Who sets the standard of imminent danger in these cases? (It's similar to Oliver Wendell Holmes's "clear and present danger" standard.)

Whose diagnosis is legally viable? A state shrink? The patient's own shrink? A team?

How can one evaluate the situation when it could change based on meds, therapy, etc., on a daily basis?

This is madness, dude, madness.

[DiabloSammich]

Gvac would be great at this.

[Ritalin]

To what degree is mental illness defined, and where do you draw a bright line between people who are put on the list and those who are not.

I have ADHD. Does that make me a bigger threat to society? I say no, but what's to stop some politician or bureaucrat from deciding that since untreated ADHD has a component of extreme impulsively that it would be best if I were put on a list.

Should it keep me from getting a gun legally? I don't want to, but that's beside the point. Why should I be kept on ANY specialized database?

(If this does go through and I'm put on the mutant list, my XMen name is going to be Interrupter)

[mdr55]

I was at a training a couple of weeks ago and somebody brought this up but I didn't pay attention to it. I wish I would have because it sounds very intriguing. Can it actually be done? I don't know. I'm sure groups like NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) are going to fight tooth and nail to prevent this from happening. I can see the good and no good points of the formation of such a list. But I feel that when something bad happens that involves a mentally ill person, the over-hype dramatization of the media machine will tilt towards the pendalum of the creation of a list. As someone mentioned the VA Tech shooter ability to bypass a law of somewhat to obtain a gun.


If I was a mutant, my mutant name would be mdr55.

[Captain Rooster]

Where do we all sign?