Mental Health Watchdog Offering Continuing Education Course on the Baker Act
The virtual course for mental health professionals will help them identify the basic human rights impacted by the Baker Act and its unintended consequences. The mental health law in Florida, known as the Baker Act, allows for individuals of all ages, including...
Profiting from Misery: National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month
Mental health observances feed a $795 billion-dollar industry and are more about profit and less about helping those in need. Each year the month of October is touted as National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month with the stated purposed to “bring awareness...
Tens of Thousands of Children Sent for Involuntary Psychiatric Examination in Florida
Each year on October 10th World Mental Health Day is observed for the stated purpose of raising awareness on mental health issues. This year the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a watchdog organization, hosted a seminar on mental...
Reliance on Risk Assessments Questioned as Suicide Awareness Month Ends
September is nationally recognized as Suicide Awareness Month and the stated intention of this campaign is to “inform and engage health professionals and the general public about suicide prevention and warning signs of suicide”. [1] Each year one solution offered up...
Watchdog CCHR to Host a Baker Act Rights Seminar for World Mental Health Day
During a meeting of the Children’s Baker Act Task Force, it was revealed that a significant number of children sent for an involuntary psychiatric examination did not meet the criteria to be taken into custody. Unfortunately, this is not new information. The mental...
Almost 410,000 Reached in a Campaign to Protect Children and Parental Rights
Viewed as a statewide problem, the number of children sent for involuntary psychiatric examinations, called a Baker Act, has been steadily climbing for almost two decades and with many parents only finding out their child has been taken into custody after the fact, it...
Mental Health Watchdog Applauds Call for Independent Enquiry into Electroconvulsive Therapy
According to a post published in Psychology Today by John Read, Ph.D., a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, “forty experts (including researchers, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals” have written the Minister for Health...
Evidence Points to Misuse of the Baker Act with Devastating Results for Children
As reported in multiple news stories, a recently released 85-page study found that “the Baker Act is increasingly being used on school children who make jokes, act out, exhibit normal manifestations of a known disability, or express ordinary sadness.” This same study...
Watchdog Calls into Question Reliance on Risk Assessments During Suicide Awareness Month
Each year September is recognized as Suicide Awareness Month with September 6th through the 12th observed as National Suicide Prevention Week. The stated intention of these campaigns is to “inform and engage health professionals and the general public about suicide...
Watchdog Campaign to Restore Parental Rights Reaches Over 370,000
Recognized across the state for helping parents whose children have been taken to a psychiatric facility for involuntary examination under Florida’s mental health law, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) launched a public information campaign earlier this...
Florida Psychiatrist Convicted of Disability Fraud and Tax Evasion
Evaded Paying Taxes on Over $1.6 Million in Income Earned While Claiming to be Disabled Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs – Tuesday, April 30, 2019 “A South Florida doctor residing in Hobe Sound, Florida, was sentenced to 51 months in prison...
Florida Getting $3.7 Million Following a Multistate Health Care Investigation
By FLORIDA DAILY – 07.24.20 “On Thursday, state Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that Florida will receive millions of dollars following a massive multi-state health care fraud investigation. Florida, along with 49 states, territories and...
Staffer sexually abused 19-year-old at Tampa Community Hospital, lawsuit says
The woman, who was not named in the lawsuit, was admitted on June 3, 2018 to undergo a mental health evaluation. She was then sexually groomed and abused by employee Frank Lasso during her five-day stay, according to the lawsuit. It was filed in Hillsborough Circuit...
Mental Health Fraud Exacts High Human and Financial Costs
Mental Health Fraud Exacts High Human and Financial Costs March 11, 2016 Andria Jacobs, RN, MS, CEN, CPHQ “The United States loses approximately $100 billion to healthcare fraud annually. Up to $20 billion dollars are due to fraudulent practices in the mental...Contact CCHR Florida
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