E-News From Congressman Murphy

Press Release

BREAKING: Murphy to Discuss Landmark Mental Health Bill on CNN's State of the Union Sunday

Congressman Tim Murphy will appear this Sunday at 9AM on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley to discuss the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 3717) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the wake of the Fort Hood shooting.

With grassroots and congressional support growing for Murphy's landmark mental health reform bill, on Thursday the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health convened a legislative hearing on his legislation to make available needed psychiatric, psychological, and supportive services for individuals diagnosed with mental illness and families in mental health crisis. The hearing was covered by the New York Times and Post-Gazette.Rep. Murphy recapped the hearing for CNN's New Day on Friday morning.

A key provision of the Murphy legislation ensures those experiencing an acute mental health crisis have access to inpatient treatment for psychiatric care. The number of available psychiatric beds has fallen from 550,000 in 1955 to fewer than 40,000 today, which has led to those with severe mental illness not having critical inpatient care and instead ending up elsewhere in the system, like homeless shelters or jails.

Another main point reviewed at the hearing was how to break down barriers for caregivers to help those who can't help themselves.

Witnesses at the hearing testified how federal privacy laws are being misinterpreted and actually preventing family members from being able to communicate with the patient's medical team. The issue is especially problematic when the person with serious mental illness is suffering from paranoia and hallucinations.

"I believe in self-determination for those who are capable, but we must recognize that there is a small group of people, like my mother, who are too ill to self-direct their own care," testified Sylvia Thompson, who serves as the president of the National Alliance of Mental Illness Westside Los Angeles.

Ms. Thompson, who discussed her experience trying to find care for her mother who had experienced many psychiatric breaks in her lifetime, also expressed support for provisions in the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act to allow courts to require a person with serious mental illness and a history of violence, hospitalizations, and arrests into outpatient treatment. Currently, patients can only be committed to treatment if they are an imminent danger to themselves or others.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board for the second time weighed in on H.R. 3717, praising the bill for "reorganiz[ing] government to make it more effective and accountable" and delivering evidence-based medical care to those most in need of it: persons with serious mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The WSJ editors criticized existing federal efforts, writing that "SAMHSA is in the vanguard of the legal-advocacy and anti-psychiatry movement that sprang to life in the 1980s, and it continues to waste taxpayer dollars on programs that undercut efforts to help the world's Adam Lanzas." Read the full editorial here. Murphy's bill makes significant reforms to federal policies and SAMHSA programs to ensure resources are reallocated to those most in need of care can receive it in inpatient and outpatient settings.

Dr. Murphy, a clinical psychologist with thirty years' experience, authored the bipartisan Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 3717) following a year-long investigation into the nation's broken mental health system. Nationwide support for his legislation to grow from newspaper editors, physicians, and parents of children with mental illness.

Two major components of the Murphy bill were adopted by the House of Representatives last week, and signed into law on Monday.

Murphy Demands Answers on Why Safety Process Failed

General Motors CEO Mary Barra appears before Chairman Murphy's Subcommittee
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), held a hearing on Tuesday with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman to investigate the GM ignition switch recall and why it took over a decade to announce the recall after red flags and warning signs first surfaced.

The Subcommittee launched a bipartisan investigation three weeks ago, after reports revealed both GM and NHTSA received safety complaints related to stalling, ignition switches, and airbag non-deployment but failed to take action. In response to the committee's letters, GM and NHTSA have provided over 235,000 documents and the productions continue. The Subcommittee's findings so far suggest there were many missed opportunities over the years to identify the defect and protect drivers.

"We know this: the red flags were there for GM and NHTSA to take action -- but they didn't," said Murphy, who appeared on NBC's Today Show, as well as Fox, CNN, Bloomberg TV, Fox Business, and other stations to discuss his investigation.

At a four hour long hearing, GM's Barra was repeatedly questioned about what the company knew of safety issues, when they knew it, and why they failed to take immediate action. Murphy referenced an internal email from 2005 discovered by the committee that acknowledged the ignition switch problem, and stated, "Cobalt is blowing up in their face." While Barra apologized for the lives lost and the past safety failures, she was not able to provide answers on how and why action to fix the problems was not taken sooner.

Questions were also directed toward NHTSA's Friedman as to why NHTSA chose not to open an investigation after receiving complaints that air bags were not deploying. Documents revealed that the agency considered investigating airbags in Cobalts in 2007, but ultimately decided there was not a trend and did not pursue further action.

"I think NHTSA has been sloppy in handling this… they considered airbag non-deployment, but didn't looked at the ignition switch problem," said Murphy. "This investigation is open and ongoing, and we are not done by a long shot," Murphy told the Washington Post.

Local Advocates for Kids Cystic Fibrosis Urge FDA Action

Nearly 1,500 people in Pennsylvania and 30,000 people in the United States suffer from cystic fibrosis (CF), a chronic and debilitating respiratory disease usually diagnosed in children. In the 1950s, children with cystic fibrosis lived only a few short years, but recent advances in therapies and medications have extended life expectancy by 30 to 40 years or more.

This week, Pennsylvania representatives of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation came to Washington to meet with Rep. Tim Murphy to recount the many success stories from both children and adults managing their condition as a result of promising new medications currently in clinical trials through the Food and Drug Administration. These medications are helping patients improve from less than 70% lung function to as much as 90-100% lung function. The group commended Dr. Murphy for his continued support of CF research at the National Institutes of Health, and his successful legislative effort in 2012 to push the FDA to quickly to approve these life-saving treatments. The FDA reform bill included legislative language authored by Rep. Murphy to statutorily require the FDA to include CF advocates and research experts in the clinical trial design process.

Last year, thousands of concerned Pennsylvanians were moved to act on behalf of Southeastern PA resident Sarah Murnaghan, a 10-year-old girl suffering from cystic fibrosis who was been prevented by an archaic federal rule from receiving the adult lung to save her life. Rep. Murphy helped to lead congressional efforts on the "Save Sarah" campaign, calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to change the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) regulations, which at the time prohibited individuals under 12 years old from being eligible for an adult lung transplant. Following swift congressional action to put an end to the life threatening regulations, Sarah underwent transplant surgery and is getting better each day. She has resumed her schooling and even recently took a bike ride.

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