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Bipolar News
December 17, 2004
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Extended-release
carbamazepine approved for bipolar disorder
Medical News Today - UK
... FDA approval for extended-release carbamazepine capsules (Equetro)
for treatment of acute manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar
disorder, which ...
Matchmakers
won't leave gay guy alone
Biloxi Sun Herald - Biloxi,MS,USA
... She is not a bully nor was she abused. She has a neurological
condition called early onset bipolar disorder. Most people think bipolar
means up-and-down moods. ...
Sarason
Liebler for VillageSoup Times: The Maine brain drain
Knox Village Soup - ME,USA
... for about $150,000, 99 brains were shipped to The Stanley
Medical Research Institute in Maryland, which focuses on studying
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. ...
NSW:Psychiatric clinic operator fined $70,000
over nurse attack
AAP General News (Australia); 12/15/2004
By Samantha Baden, Industrial Reporter
SYDNEY, Dec 15 AAP - The operator of a Sydney psychiatric clinic has
been fined more
than $70,000 over an incident in which a mental patient attempted to
strangle a nurse.
Suzanne Moroney, a registered nurse employed by Ramsay Health Australia
at the Evesham
Clinic in Cremorne, was attacked by the patient on March 11, 2001.
WorkCover took the case to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC)
saying Ramsay
had failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all its
employees, and
in particular Ms Moroney.
It also said Ramsay failed to provide and maintain a system of work for
managing psychiatric
patients that was safe and without risk to health.
Ramsay entered a guilty plea to both charges.
Ms Moroney's attacker, who can be referred to only as EG, had been
admitted to the
clinic on five previous occasions with a clinical history of bipolar
mood disorder complicated
by drug and alcohol abuse, Justice Wayne Haylen said in his judgment.
The hospital progress notes showed that at various times, EG was
verbally abusive and
physically aggressive towards staff.
On the night of March 11, EG tried to strangle Ms Moroney, who lost
consciousness for
a short time.
The patient then scratched Ms Moroney's head, face and neck and hit her
head against
the wall, according to the judgment.
Ms Moroney, who was never instructed to wear a personal alarm by her
employer, then
backed into a treatment room where she found four panic alarms which she
activated.
Three colleagues came ot her aid and she was taken to hospital.
Justice Haylen said it was not enough for Ramsay to have a policy
concerning duress
alarms if it had fallen into disuse.
"The evidence before the court demonstrates that the defendant had
a number of safety
systems in operation but almost inexplicably the policy in relation to
the use and operation
of duress alarms and the orientation of new employees was not
followed," Justice Haylen
said.
But he noted that following the incident, Ramsay had taken a significant
steps to reduce
the dangers to staff exposed by the attack.
As a result, Justice Haylen reduced the penalty for breach of the
Occupational Health
& Safety Act (OH&S) by 10 per cent and a further 25 per cent
because the company had pleaded
guilty.
Ramsay was fined $74,750 and ordered to pay WorkCover's legal costs.
© 2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
MAN WHO THREATENED BUSH FOUND INSANE
Wisconsin State Journal; 12/14/2004; Kevin
Murphy Correspondent for The Capital Times The writer retains the
copyright for this article
Federal jurors found a man who, while at the Dane County Regional
Airport, threatened to kill the president of the United States not
guilty by reason of insanity after a one-day trial.
Brian F. Ray, of Madison, told Transportation Security Administration
employees on Dec. 17, 2003, that he needed help to get "to the
White House" and that there "would be a murder there,"
said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil. Ray later told Dane County
deputy sheriffs that he was "going to take down the
president," Vaudreuil said.
Ray's "delusional" speech and grandiose statements made it
apparent to the deputies that he was having a bipolar episode, Vaudreuil
said.
Ray was indicted for making a threat against the president and
hospitalized for a psychological evaluation, which indicated he wasn't
criminally responsible for his offense. A psychologist hired by the
defense came to the same conclusion.
With the facts not in dispute, "jurors were basically asked to
confirm" the diagnoses, Vaudreuil said.
District Judge John Shabaz set a Jan. 20 hearing to determine whether
Ray remains a danger to himself or others and should remain in custody,
or if he qualifies for supervised release.
(Copyright (c) Madison Newspapers, Inc. 2004)
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