Greater Boston is a PBS daily news show (WGBH-TV Boston Channel 2) hosted by Emily Rooney. On Tuesday March 21, 2006 Mary Lou Sudders, former Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, was a guest. Sudders is now President and CEO of the Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

She was joined by Michael Grodin, Boston University School of Public Health. He described himself as a medical ethicist for 25 years. The subject they discussed was the decision of the Mass Dept. of Social Services to pull the plug on a child who was in a coma.

Not Dead Yet, the national disability rights group, is calling for an investigation into the shoddy medicine that led to a court order for the removal of life-support from Haleigh Poutre just days after her admission to Massachusetts' Baystate Medical Center with a severe brain injury.

She is now responsive and interactive four months after being declared "virtually brain dead" and in an "irreversible coma." If the court order had not been appealed, Haleigh Poutre would now be dead.

Sudders said that the failure by Massachusetts Department of Social Services occurred because not enough money was appropriated for mental health services. She said the total Health and Human Services budget for Massachusetts was increased by $300 million. But the mental health services increase was only $1 million. She argued that with sufficient money for psychiatry, that would not have happened.

Is this exploiting negligence by a state agency to promote more funding for psychiatry? Or is Sudders simply a cheerleader for the omniscience of psychiatrists? How do they know the future? A third item is the case of the Florida teacher Debra Lafave, 25, charged with rape of a 14-year-old student. A CNN report at about 8:30 PM on Tuesday March 21, 2006 said that the charge was dismissed by the judge because Lafave was having treatment for her "bipolar disorder."

This suggests that bipolar disorder causes rape. Is this another distortion of the mental illness defense to crime? It is why so many prosecutors, police and lawyers persuade civilians through media reports that anyone accused of psychiatric illness is dangerous. This report promotes the idea that psychiatric illness causes crime.

An earlier report by Associated Press said that the judge rejected the plea agreement. "Accepting Debra Lafave’s plea agreement would undermine the credibility of the criminal justice system and erode public confidence in our schools, Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil wrote."

The prosecutor dropped the charges because he did not want to subject the victim to the intense media scrutiny. Is that all it takes to have criminal charges dropped? Why not hire PR firms to generate intense media scrutiny of all victims?

Media reports suggest the charges were dropped because Lafave is getting treatment for her "bipolar disorder." Psychiatry not only destroys minds and lives, but also it thwarts the Constitution, the courts and the laws of the country. And it generates fear of persons accused of psychiatric illness at the same time.

Showing that the drug companies still control the FDA, an advisory committee recommended against a strong warning for use of Ritalin for ADHD. Ritalin is known to destroy brain matter of children.