Saturday, December 17, 2005

Recognize mental health needs

With regard to the recent spate of murders, I would like to point out that, unfortunately, our health care system does not value mental health care services.

Mental health issues are treated disparately by insurance companies, as most will only pay 50 percent of the charges and one is generally subject to a process of pre-certification before one is allowed to obtain services, along with any deductibles and co-pays, and with limitations on the number of visits available.

Throw in the additional costs for medications (not inexpensive and frequently changed to new ones) and regular follow-ups and one will find that the average individual is unable to afford to obtain mental health services. The wealthier just pay for services, and the poorest obtain Medicaid, while the middle are just out of luck.

I think as a country we are far behind in recognizing the need for a good universal health care plan that will cover all citizens for their basic mental and physical health care needs, as in the long run, we all pay the costs of human suffering.Companies are decreasing or finding ways to eliminate health insurance.

People are unable to afford the costs of insurance, or are between jobs or unemployed with no insurance. Until we, as citizens, come to some agreement on the basic health care needs of all citizens, with regard to both mental and physical health care, people will continue to suffer.

Please express to your elected representatives that disparate health care for mental health services is unacceptable and push for insurance changes, so that those who need mental health care can receive the help they need. It could save a life.

www.heraldtribune.com

Business leaders urge EU to save WTO talks

ET Business leaders joined Saturday in urging the European Union and other governments to push ahead with trade reforms and salvage World Trade Organization talks that appeared on the verge of failure.

"As world business leaders, we are very concerned with the lack of progress in Hong Kong," said a statement released by World Business Leaders for Growth, one of many business coalitions lobbying for progress, especially on lowering tariffs and other limits on foreign manufactured goods and services.

Business and farm leaders in the United States and a number of other countries expressed frustration over the apparent lack of progress toward setting a global trade deal that would conclude WTO negotiations launched in 2001 in Doha, Qatar.

Delegates to the 149-member WTO were under pressure to finalize a weakened compromise deal by Sunday, or face seeing the effort fail. Negotiators reported virtually no progress in any area, with agricultural trade proving the major obstacle.
"The world demands movement from its leadership," said Harold McGraw III, chairman of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Failure "runs the risk of degrading the whole world trading system," he said. "The penalties of failure, the economic consequences are very real. The political consequences are very real."
The executives accused officials of holding back for the sake of domestic political reasons.
"There's a lot of spin going on here to try to protect peoples' political reputations when they go home," said John H.W. Denton, chief executive officer of the Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

"If the trade ministers fail, this matter must be raised to the heads of government," he said.
High-powered business delegations from America, Europe, Canada, Japan and many other countries were in Hong Kong lobbying trade negotiators alongside other nongovernment groups seeking to influence the outcome of the talks.
"The voice of business has got to be loud," McGraw said.

The executives were so busy lobbying trade delegates that earlier in the week WTO director general Pascal Lamy appealed to them to "try to allow the ministers enough time to negotiate."

www.businessweek.com

Cambridge technology chief shot near MIT

John J. Donovan Sr., a well-known former technology and business professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chairman of a Cambridge consulting company, was shot multiple times last night in the company's parking lot adjacent to the MIT campus, police said last night.

Donovan, who has a 68-acre farm in Hamilton, was listed in serious condition late last night at Massachusetts General Hospital, where police said he was undergoing surgery.

Donovan was apparently shot during a dispute in the parking lot of his business, Cambridge Executive Enterprises, police said last night. He called State Police from his cellphone after the shooting and was conscious when paramedics arrived, Cambridge police said.

''This did not appear to be a random act," said Frank Pasquarello, Cambridge police spokesman. ''We're still trying to piece everything together."

Donovan, who liked to be called ''Professor Donovan," was embroiled in a family feud and contended his children were trying to force him out of his home. His fortune is estimated at $100 million.

In a Globe story that ran in 2004, Donovan called himself a ''visionary." The New York Times called him the Johnny Carson of the executive training circuit. Over the years, he started at least a dozen companies.

''Right now, we are looking at anyone who could be a suspect," Pasquarello said. ''Friends, ex-friends, enemies, relatives, employees, anyone."

Donovan spent three decades teaching electrical engineering and management at MIT before he retired to focus on private business.

Cambridge Executive Enterprises ''is a leading provider of executive education programs," according to an archived company website from 2004.
On the dust jacket of one of his books and on a corporate website, Donovan referred to his ''five wonderful children."

But relations with his family reached a nadir in 2002, when allegations of sexual molestation were made by one of his daughters.

In an affidavit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the daughter alleged, ''My father, Donovan Sr., abused me sexually when I was a child. The sexual abuse by my father has caused me tremendous pain, psychological trauma, and anguish, which continues to this day." (The Globe is omitting her name, in keeping with its policy of not identifying alleged sexual abuse victims.)
Donovan, in an affidavit, called the allegations ''absolutely false."

As police investigated the scene last night, investigators cordoned off the parking lot of Cambridge Executive Enterprises.
The Vassar Street lot where the shooting took place, is located near a towering dormitory.
As police milled about the area MIT students walked by. Many said they were shocked by the shooting, noting that violent crime rarely occurs in the area.

''I walk here a lot at night, and I always feel safe," said MIT freshman Olay Oyebode, 17.
Cambridge police said no suspects had been arrested last night.
Police in Hamilton, where Donovan has relatives, said they were dispatched in Hamilton to assist with the case.

www.boston.com