House Public Health Committee members heard testimony on three measures — House Bill 2466, House Bill 2604 and House Bill 2135 — that would aim to increase access to postpartum depression screenings and treatment for mothers.
mental health
Posted in
Health care
House approves bill focused on mental health insurance benefits
Texas House members approved a bill that would prevent health insurance companies from offering mental health benefits differently from medical benefits.
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Criminal Justice
Texas executes Fort Worth man who killed a father and an infant
The state carried out its fourth execution of the year, putting to death 61-year-old James Bigby. He was convicted in the 1987 murders of his friend and a 4-month-old during a killing spree in Fort Worth.
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Criminal Justice
Bill to bar death penalty for mentally ill faces uphill battle
State Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, has filed long-shot House Bill 3080, which would prevent offenders proven to have had a severe mental illness at the time of their crime from being sentenced to death in a capital murder case.
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Health care
Lawmaker wants to give Texas psychologists power to write prescriptions
A bill from state Rep. Dustin Burrows would let some Texas psychologists write prescriptions. Supporters say the move would ease a shortage of psychiatrists, currently the only mental health doctors allowed prescription privileges.
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Demographics
Houston police chief urges better mental health care for officers
Art Acevedo, the newly hired head of the police force in Texas’ largest city, acknowledged at a Tribune symposium on Saturday the difficulty of finding new funding for the effort but argued for its importance.
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Health care
House panel warns of “peril” in Texas mental health system
In a report released Thursday, Texas House Select Committee on Mental Health members wrote that mental health “is absolutely one of the most critical areas of concern” facing the state.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on Rick Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund, Aguliar on the DOJ’s Joe Arpaio problem, Galbraith on the uncertainty about Texas’ electric grid, Grissom and Schwartz of The New York Times on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton on the first leg of Perry’s Iowa bus tour, Murphy and McLain unveil our new campaign finance database, Ramsey et al. go live with the first round of our 2012 election brackets, Root on a GOP rival’s queries about Perry’s pension play, M. Smith contrasts the various school finance lawsuits and Tan, Dehn and Murphy on a shortage of mental health professionals: The best of our best content from December 19-23, 2011.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Root’s scoop on Rick Perry’s working retirement, Aaronson maps poverty in Texas, Aguilar on a voting rights warning shot from the U.S. Attorney General, Galbraith on the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking operations, Grissom on the drop in executions, Hamilton and M. Smith on UT-Austin President Bill Powers’ rough year, Murphy and Tan and Dehn on the shortage of psychiatrists and Ramshaw on the federal refusal to exclude operators like Planned Parenthood from family planning programs: The best of our best content from December 12 to 16, 2011.
Posted in
Health care
Video: Texas’ Critical Shortage of Psychiatrists
The Tribune’s Thanh Tan speaks with a Texan living with anxiety and depression, the executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at UT-Austin, and the head psychiatrist for Austin Travis County Integral Care to find out the reasons behind the state’s shortage of mental health providers.
