Rep. Murphy Hopes Mental Health Bill Will Prevent Future School Tragedies
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Police in Connecticut have released thousands of pages of documents from the investigation into last year's school massacre in Newtown.
Meanwhile, U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy, R – Upper St. Clair, is talking about a mental health bill he hopes will help prevent future tragedies.
The bill he has introduced comes after a year-long investigation in which he talked with people, including those affected by the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Adam Lanza, 20, had an Asperger's diagnosis and also isolated himself.
Evidence shows he covered his bedroom windows with black garbage bags, was obsessed with mass murders and played violent video games.
Twenty school kids and six adults were killed inside Sandy Hook.
Congressman Murphy says his bill aims at dealing with mental illness issues and the shortfalls he sees in our current mental health system.
"One of the mothers from Newtown whose daughter died said to me, 'By the time someone has a gun, or is dealing with a gun issue, it's too late,'" said Murphy. "You've got to deal with the underlying mental illness."
Among other things, his bill would adjust information privacy laws in some cases.
"In some situations, that parent has a right to give and receive some information. Not all cases. It still limits it," said Murphy. "This is where I don't know how much information Adam Lanza's mom was able to sit down with a psychiatrist – psychologist. I don't know if she did at all."
He says it could also allow a judge to have information to determine that someone needs help.
Congressman Murphy talked about his bill during a taping of the KD-PG Sunday Edition which airs this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KDKA-TV.
Murphy was a psychologist for 30 years.
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