Dear Source:
Amen Ms. Lotz-Felix! Let me tell you, your outrage is something I can relate to from my desk in a state psychiatric hospital on the mainland where, in my state, the mentally ill are treated no better. Right now, the US Congress is considering a bill to finally fix the mental health "parity" bill from the 90's that was so full of holes it only made the situation more complicated (it would force insurance to cover mental health as well as it does physical health – as if mental health is somehow not physical health (?!?!). It has passed the house and awaits passage in the senate. Of course, just like when I reside in the USVI, I have no congressman that can vote because I live in DC. But I encourage everyone who does have a senator on the mainland to call them, write them and beg for mercy for the tens of thousands of mentally ill persons who are suffering and dying unnecessarily.
Also, I hope everyone is aware that the USVI senate put on hold or stopped a bill that would allow doctoral level Clinical Psychologists with an additional MS degree in pharmacology the ability to prescribe medication to the mentally ill – which would add many more practitioners to the situation – which could only help. Write your senators and tell them to stop listening to self-serving physicians and allow the bill to go forward (No offense intended to the selfless physicians out there who truly want what is best for the people of the USVI!).
Sidney W. Binks III
Washington, D.C.
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