Gary McKinnon
16 January, 2012.
Theresa May is preparing to abandon efforts to rewrite the Government’s extradition treaty with the US despite claims that it is unfair to British citizens.
The Home Secretary is understood to have concluded that altering the way that the law is written would have little practical effect.
Insiders say that she also accepts that the treaty, which was introduced in 2003, is not unbalanced and that critics’ accusations about flaws in the legislation are largely misplaced.
Mrs May’s decision follows the publication last year of a government-commissioned report on extradition law by the former Court of Appeal judge Sir Scott Baker.
It found that the “widespread perception” that arrangements with the US were unfair was “not justified” by the facts.
Despite the conclusions, a series of high-profile cases, including that of London computer hacker Gary McKinnon, have continued to prompt calls for reform.
The Home Secretary, whose party joined criticism of the legislation before the election, has concluded, however, that Sir Scott’s findings have shown that the law does not need significant changes.
Sources say that ministers acknowledge that they will have to “take a few hits” politically because of the decision, but that they feel bound to accept the former judge’s verdict because of the detailed way in which he conducted his analysis of the law.
The most crucial finding in Sir Scott’s report was that although different language is used in the legal tests applied by British and American courts, the hurdle that prosecutors must clear to secure extradition is equally high in both countries.
Read in Full:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24028163-mays-u-turn-on-us-extradition-treaty.do
Previous Updates
Gary McKinnon Update: David Cameron and Barack Obama’s Press Conference: The Main Points:
Caullum, pictured with his mother Lynne and a defibrillator, which gives the heart an electric shock in cases of cardiac arrest
- *Callum Massey stopped breathing after fight
- *Doctors detected life-threatening heart condition and fitted him with pacemaker
Last updated at 5:19 PM on 18th January 2012
A schoolboy has revealed how a playground fight that left him unconscious, helped to unearth a life-threatening heart condition.
Callum Massey, 13, stopped breathing when he was punched by a fellow pupil and paramedics rushed to his rescue.
Unable to revive him fully for two days, doctors discovered he had an irregular heartbeat and he was fitted with a pacemaker-style device.
After a three month recovery Callum is now well enough to return to lessons although his illness has yet to be diagnosed.
His school has been given a mobile defibrillator by the British Heart Foundation, which can be used to give the heart an electric shock in during cardiac arrest.
His mother Lynne, 35, from Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, said: ‘The playground fight was what helped us find out that Callum had this condition in a strange kind of way.
‘It was a nightmare when it happened. It shows how fragile life can be.
‘I had a phone call saying there had been an accident. When we got to the school gates it was so terrifying.’
After the incident Callum was rushed to King’s Mill Hospital, and then transferred to Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, where he spent more than three weeks being treated.
During that time doctors found Asperger’s Syndrome sufferer Callum had a potentially fatal heart condition which had previously been undetected.
He was fitted with an internal defibrillator to shock his heart if anything should happen again and prescribed with a daily dose of beta-blocker drugs, which are used to treat irregular heart conditions.
Hospital check-ups are also required every three months and his family have been warned it is a life-long condition.
Mother-of-three Mrs Massey, said she and her husband, Andrew, 35, were thankful for the actions of school staff.
The school’s caretaker and teaching assistant were among those who came to Callum’s aid.
Read in Full:
Posted:Â January 18, 2012 – 11:04am
By
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The parents of a 3-year-old New Jersey girl say she’s being denied a kidney transplant because of her mental disabilities, but experts caution the situation may be much more complex.
The girl’s mother, Chrissy Rivera, last week posted a blog entry that described an encounter she claimed happened at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She said she was there to discuss treatment for her daughter, Amelia, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare genetic defect that can cause physical and mental disabilities.
Rivera wrote that a doctor, whom she did not name, told her and her husband, Joe Rivera, that Amelia wouldn’t be eligible for a transplant because of her quality of life and her mental condition.
“I put my hand up. ‘Stop talking for a minute. Did you just say that Amelia shouldn’t have the transplant done because she is mentally retarded. I am confused. Did you really just say that?'” she wrote. “I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded.”
Rivera’s story was seen by Sunday Stilwell, the mother of two severely autistic boys, and she began an online petition last Friday, demanding that the hospital give a transplant to the girl. By Wednesday morning, nearly 25,600 people had signed it.
“I read Chrissy’s original blog post, and I just cried. I couldn’t believe it,” said Stilwell, whose boys are 6 and 9. “I shared it on Twitter with all my followers and on Facebook.”
Children’s Hospital said in a statement that it “does not disqualify potential transplant candidates on the basis of intellectual abilities.”
“We have transplanted many children with a wide range of disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities,” it said, adding that it is “deeply committed” to providing the best possible medical care for all children, including those with disabilities.
The hospital did not comment further, citing patient confidentiality laws, but noted the debate on its Facebook page.
“We’re listening. We hear your concerns and take seriously your posts, emails and phone calls,” it wrote, adding, “Please know that you have been heard and that your feedback is appreciated.”
Read in Full:
“Depression is an illness that requires a good deal of self-care,†writes psychologist Deborah Serani, PsyD, in her excellent book Living with Depression: Why Biology and Biography Matter along the Path to Hope and Healing.
But this might seem easier said than done, because when you have depression, the idea of taking care of anything feels like adding another boulder to your already heavy load. Serani understands firsthand the pain and exhaustion of depression. In addition to helping clients manage their depression, Serani works to manage her own, and shares her experiences in Living with Depression.
If you’re feeling better, you might ditch certain self-care habits, too. Maybe you skip a few therapy sessions, miss your medication or shirk other treatment tools. According to Serani, as some people improve, they get relaxed about their treatment plan, and before they know it are blinded to the warning signs and suffer a relapse.
Because skimping on self-care is a slippery slope to relapse, Serani provides readers with effective tips in her book. As a whole, the best things you can do to stave off relapse are to stick to your treatment plan and create a healthy environment. I’ve summarized her valuable suggestions below.
1. Attend your therapy sessions. As you’re feeling better, you might be tempted to skip a session or two or five. Instead, attend all sessions, and discuss your reluctance with your therapist. If changes are warranted, Serani says, you and your therapist can make the necessary adjustments.
Either way, discussing your reluctance can bring about important insights. As Serani writes:
Personally, the times I skipped sessions with my therapist showed me that I was avoiding profound subjects — or that I was reacting defensively to something in my life. Talking instead of walking showed me how self-defeating patterns were operating and that I needed to address these tendencies.
2. Take your meds as prescribed. Missing a dose can interfere with your medication’s effectiveness, and your symptoms might return. Alcohol and drugs also can mess with your meds. Stopping medication altogether might trigger discontinuation syndrome. If you’d like to stop taking your medication, don’t do it on your own. Talk with your prescribing physician so you can get off your medication slowly and properly.
Serani is diligent about taking her antidepressant medication and talks with her pharmacist frequently to make sure that over-the-counter medicines don’t interfere. With the help of her doctor, Serani was able to stop taking her medication. But her depression eventually returned. She writes:
…At first, it was upsetting to think that my neurobiology required ongoing repair and that I’d be one of the 20 percent of individuals who need medication for the rest of their lives. Over time, I came to view my depression as a chronic condition — one that required me to take medication much like a child with diabetes takes insulin, an adult with epilepsy takes antiseizure medication, or someone with poor eyesight wears glasses…
3. Get enough sleep.  Sleep has a big impact on mood disorders. As Serani explains, too little sleep exacerbates mania and too much sleep worsens depression. So it’s important to keep a consistent sleep and wake cycle along with maintaining healthy sleeping habits.
Sometimes adjusting your medication can help with sleep. Your doctor might prescribe a different dose or have you take your medication at a different time. For instance, when Serani started taking Prozac, one of the side effects was insomnia. Her doctor suggested taking the medication in the morning, and her sleeping problems dissipated.
For Serani, catnaps help with her fatigue. But she caps her naps at 30 minutes. She also doesn’t tackle potentially stressful tasks before bed, such as paying bills or making big decisions.
(If you’re struggling with insomnia, here’s an effective solution, which doesn’t have the side effects of sleep aids.)
4. Get moving. Depression’s debilitating and depleting effects make it difficult to get up and get moving. Serani can relate to these effects. She writes:
The lethargy of depression can make exercise seem like impossibility. I know, I grew roots and collected dust when I was anchored to my depression. I can still recall how getting out of bed was a feat in and of itself. I could barely fight gravity to sit up. My body was so heavy and everything hurt.
But moving helps decrease depression. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, start small with gentle movements like stretching, deep breathing, taking a shower or doing household chores. When you can, add more active activities such as walking, yoga or playing with your kids or whatever it is you enjoy.
It might help to get support, too. For instance, Serani scheduled walking dates with her neighbors. She also prefers to run errands and do household chores every day so she’s moving regularly.
5. Eat well. We know that nourishing our bodies with vitamins and minerals is key to our health. The same is true for depression. Poor nutrition can actually exacerbate exhaustion and impact cognition and mood.
Still, you might be too exhausted to shop for groceries or make meals. Serani suggests checking out online shopping options. Some local markets and stores will offer delivery services. Or you can ask your loved ones to cook a few meals for you. Another option is Meals-on-Wheels, which some religious and community organizations offer.
6. Know your triggers. In order to prevent relapse, it’s important to know what pushes your buttons and worsens your functioning. For instance, Serani is selective with the people she lets into her life, makes sure to keep a balanced calendar, doesn’t watch violent or abuse-laden films (the movie “Sophie’s Choice†sidelined her for weeks) and has a tough time tolerating loud or excessively stimulating environments.
Once you pinpoint your triggers, express them to others so your boundaries are honored.
7. Avoid people who are toxic. Toxic individuals are like emotional vampires, who “suck the life out of you,†according to Serani. They may be envious, judgmental and competitive. If you can’t stop seeing these people in general, limit your exposure and try having healthier individuals around when you’re hanging out with the toxic ones.
Read in Full:
“Mary Moe,†a mom with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in Massachusetts, hasn’t had a great past few months. In October, she showed up at a local hospital emergency room and was found to be pregnant. Mary Moe is on medication for her psychiatric concerns. Doctors who examined her in the E.R. concluded that taking her off the medication would be risky for her, given her pregnancy.
But unlike a lot of people with psychiatric disorders, Mary Moe apparently didn’t have the same freedoms you and I take for granted. Such as the freedom to decide what to do with our own bodies.
Or whether to give birth if we’re pregnant.
In Mary Moe’s case, the state Department of Mental Health intervened on behalf of Mary’s parents. They filed a petition to have the woman’s parents named as guardians. Why?
So the parents could give their consent for an abortion.
Then it got even more scarier when the case ended up in a local Massachusetts courtroom and the judge sided with the parents. And went one step further…
Mary Moe (a pseudonym) has been pregnant twice before. In the first pregnancy, she had an abortion. In the second she gave birth to the boy. The boy is now in her parent’s custody.
According to the report in The Boston Globe, at some point “between her abortion and the birth of her son, she had a “psychotic break’’ and has since been hospitalized numerous times for mental illness, court records say.â€
Once you get into the public mental health system in this way, things can go downhill quick when it’s not just your life in the balance.
Norfolk judge Christina Harms, now retired, had to decide this gut-wrenching case. I would assume she might take into account Mary Moe’s wishes about wanting to keep the baby:
[Mary Moe] described herself to court officials as “very Catholic,’’ and said she would never have an abortion. When asked about an abortion at a December hearing, she replied that she “wouldn’t do that.’’
So what did Judge Harms rule?
Read More …
ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2012) — A team of Australian researchers has come a step closer to unlocking a mystery that causes epileptic seizures in babies.
Benign familial infantile epilepsy (BFIE) has been recognised for some time as infantile seizures, without fever, that run in families but the cause has so far eluded researchers. However clinical researchers at the University of Melbourne and Florey Neurosciences Institute and molecular geneticists at the University of South Australia have discovered a gene.
BFIE is a disorder that occurs in previously healthy infants who are developing normally. Seizures commence when a baby is about six months old and stop by the age of two years. BFIE is a rare form of epilepsy with the Australian researchers having studied about 40 families from around the world. Some of the children with this gene abnormality develop an unusual movement disorder later in childhood or adolescence called Paroxysmal Kinesigenic Choreoathetosis (PKC).
This movement disorder causes sudden, brief stiffening or twisting of their muscles as the person starts to move, for instance, people with this condition often have difficulty crossing the road when the traffic lights change to green. While this condition can be easily controlled by medication, it impacts on quality of life and may prevent people from participating in some activities.
Families with this condition have now been found to carry a variation in a gene called PRRT2, which may cause the protein the gene encodes to form incorrectly. The function of this gene is not yet known nor is it understood how the changes in this gene cause an infant to have seizures. This gene discovery provides valuable opportunities for learning more about brain function and what causes seizures.
Read in Full:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120117145459.htm
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 10, 2012
A new study has found that two-thirds of teenagers with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) are currently driving or plan to drive.
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies note that the rate of children diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder has increased over the past decade, which means that more of these kids are approaching the age to drive legally.
“Little is known about how HFASDs affect a person’s ability to drive safely,†said lead author Patty Huang, M.D., a developmental pediatrician at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). “Car crashes are the number one cause of death for teenagers, so it is important that we understand how HFASDs impact driving and how to develop appropriate educational and evaluation tools.â€
In a first step to better understand the issue, researchers surveyed almost 300 parents of teens with HFASDs and discovered a handful of predictive characteristics among teens who are likely to become drivers, including: Being at least 17 years old; enrolled full-time in high school; planning to attend college; holding a paid job outside the home; having a parent who has taught another teen to drive; and including driving-related goals in his or her individualized education plan (IEP).
Read in Full:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/10/when-are-autistic-teens-ready-to-drive/33493.html
Jan
18
One of the most common manifestations of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the need for reassurance. “Are you sure it is okay if I do this or that?” “Are you sure nobody got (or will get) hurt?” “Are you sure something bad won’t happen?” “Are you sure, are you sure, are you sure?”
While the above questions are obvious appeals, they are not the only way that OCD sufferers seek reassurance. Indeed, the very nature of OCD centers around making certain that all is well. The disorder is characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead the sufferer to engage in repetitive thoughts and/or behaviors (compulsions). Obsessions are always unwanted and cause varying degrees of stress and anxiety, and compulsions temporarily alleviate these feelings. Compulsions are always, in some way, shape, or form, a quest for reassurance; a way to make everything okay.
A good example is the case of someone with OCD who is obsessed with a fire starting because they left the stove on. The compulsion of continually checking the stove is a recurring attempt to reassure oneself that the stove is indeed off and nobody will get hurt. Another OCD sufferer may fear germs (obsession) and wash his or her hands until they are raw (compulsion). The compulsion of hand-washing is an effort to make sure that his or her hands are clean enough so that there will be no germs.
Read in Full:
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=45743&cn=6