Jul 8, 2015 2 min read

As someone with a family member suffering from serious mental illness, I thank U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy for introducing the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

It would help the seriously mentally ill get better care and ensure federal funds are only spent on evidence-based treatments. Rather than address how the bill would help the seriously mentally ill while keeping the public, police and patients safer, Paul Denton cast aspersions on Murphy’s motives in a Friday letter by suggesting he introduced the bill because pharmaceutical companies would stand to benefit. Maybe they will. But would Denton have us deny better care for persons with serious mental illness because those providing the medicines would make a profit?

For the record, largely because of his integrity, Murphy ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2014, so he had little need for donations from anyone, including the pharmaceutical industry, which gave very little to him and far more money to 60 other members of Congress. The bill should pass on its merits, not die because of false innuendo.

D.J. Jaffe

New York

Jaffe is the executive director of the Mental Illness Policy Org.