Politics and Mental Health Part I.

I've deliberated for a week about posting this because I only have words to substantiate my claim and no legitimate proof. Ever the science teacher, I don't like to shoot of facts unless I can back up what I say. I have been cornered in life with no fighting words to defend me once to many so I've learned never to run my mouth unless I can document, document, document what I say. For this reason alone, my spouse rarely hears me say "I was wrong" because I don't say stuff unless I know I'm right. On the occasion that I may have erroneous information, I always preface my opening statements with "I'm not sure but..." I might feel bad for my hubby that I'm always right if I wasn't always right with a respectable margin of error of only +/- 1%.

That said, and with an insane morning of crashing and burning of services and support for Sissy because of a psych eval faxed to Sissy's therapists yesterday in which PDD-NOS is Axis I, I can't hold my tongue anymore. I'll elaborate further on our current woeful state of ZERO support effective immediately when the shitstorm settles and I can survey the carnage and determine if there is anything of value left on the ground.

For now, I want to talk about politics and mental health but because I can not substantiate what I know to be truth with links, a bibliographical index, foot notes and citations, I will speak in rhetorical generalizations. The information I'm about to share I've gleaned over the past several years by attending local and state mental health parent support groups and forums, by being a board member of a local support group for SpEd families, by listening to the stories of persons that work in medicine in any capacity, by being an advocate for parents of challenged kids which includes the occasional long email, cup of coffee or late night phone call in which people tell their sordid tales, by asking provocative questions of the-powers-that-be in a demure way that garners me the answers I'm looking for (anyone like a good fishing expedition?) and by keeping one ear tuned in to the politics of government that never make headline news, that would be, the REAL state of politics.

Regardless, dear readers, you'll still get the point: politics plays an enormous role in mental health and the subsequent availability of services for families and consequently, the overall quality of life for persons living with these diagnoses and their families or caregivers. It behooves us to advocate for our children and ourselves by keeping our foot in the door of local, state and federal politics. But fear not, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, just a keen observer with a photographic memory and astute listening skills. Anyone will tell you anything or show you anything, if you're willing to wait long enough for them to feel safe to tell their tales.

I'll start with a rhetorical conversation I had several months ago with an "imaginary" NICU nurse that resigned from her profession for what she deemed as ethical concerns. Imagine with me that this nurse was employed by a state hospital that served the local community's indigent patients. Here's how this scene could have unfolded:

The nurse told story after story of strung-out women delivering infants that had been pickled in whatever chemicals their birthmothers ingested during pregnancy. Most of the mothers would just show up on the hospital doorsteps in labor and then leave after recovery, signing away rights to their infants. Social services would always be involved of course and the NICU and maternity ward nurses kept numbers and contacts of adoption agencies, private homes waiting for placements and doctors that could get these babies into homes, bypassing the system altogether. She had just as many tales of teen moms on medicaid, taking their babies home or women being given "one more chance" by social services to prove their abilities as mothers and therefore their right to raise their children.

In all of these stories there was one common thread, medicaid. I listened intently and then her story stopped abruptly. She bit her lip and said in a hushed tone, "I really can't tell you the rest but I feel like I can trust you." She went on to explain that she had resigned from her position because of what she was asked to do to the medicaid babies. A state mandate, medicaid infants were given a different form of the standard vaccinations and in some cases were given extra, experimental vaccinations. She went on to say that the mothers would have papers passed under their noses to sign, documents indicating that they were giving the hospital the right to administer the vaccinations and that the risks were explained. However, these papers were usually passed and signed after vaccination or when the mothers were occupied and didn't have the time to truly review the documents accurately.

She concluded by saying that this procedure had been occurring for many years and that when she went snooping through files, discovered that the introduction of the vaccination practices directly coincided with the increase in autism and other mental health diagnoses in children. She asked one too many questions of the charge nurses, was told that no harm or danger would befall the infants and then was asked to either resign or be fired.

She looked at me to gauge me for my response. She had known before she told me the story that all three of my children were born as medicaid babies to a medicaid mother who was not mentally well enough to make informed decisions about the best possible care for her infants. I nodded my head. Two children received their vaccinations in the hospital before being released. Those same two have profound mental health and developmental delays. WG does not. I was there for WG's delivery. I took WG home, assuring the nurses at discharge that I would follow up with the pediatrician at home to make sure she got all of her vaccinations. WG is neurotypical.

If I extrapolate this nurse's account correctly, this vaccination process goes beyond the thimerosal claims people have made over the years, supposing that it is what has caused the rise in autism. The CDC staunchly rebuffs the thimerosal accusations and furthermore, it holds no water as that chemical has long since been removed from inoculations. As I understand it, this was an experimental vaccination process for our state alone, specifically targeting medicaid infants because "they are the easiest to track into adulthood." In other words, the statistics of the progression of those infant's mental health and development can be linked directly to the induction of the vaccination experiments. They are, as it is called in FISH testing for genetics, "flagged".

But of course, all of this is rhetorical generalizations. It could be any NICU nurse, in any state talking about any infants getting any vaccinations and getting any kind of gag-order or forced resignation. This could just be my attempt at writing a sci-fi novel. Maybe I lied and I'm a conspiracy theorist after all. Maybe it was late and I don't remember all the facts correctly, I did say I have a margin of error of +/-1%...

I'll let you sit on this for a day. If you liked part I, you'll LOVE part II.