Bedlam: Greed, Profiteering, and Fraud in a Mental Health System Gone Crazy (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this powerful, scathing indictment, Sharkey ( Above Suspicion ) exposes profound venality and criminally actionable practices in today's psychiatric industry. He ascribes soaring medical health costs (more than $125 billion in 1991) to a conspiracy involving the biopsychiatric profession, for-profit mental and addiction facilities, drug and insurance companies. He further charges that many in the psychiatric profession have abandoned the severely mentally ill while private, investor-owned hospitals offer bounties of up to $1500 to clergy, teachers, police and "crisis counselors" for recruiting--one Texas legislator uses the term "body-snatching"--troubled adults, adolescents and children covered by insurance policies that pay up to $30,000 for inpatient care. In 1993, the fraud practiced by Medicare- and Medicaid-subsidized hospital chains such as National Medical Enterprises, with 86 psychiatric hospitals and revenues of $1.74 billion in 1991, was revealed by the FBI. The psychiatric industry, Sharkey warns in this chilling, well-documented account, is lobbying for a large slice of the health reform pie and continues to "create mental illness with advertising."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Journalist Sharkey (Above Suspicion, LJ 12/93) focuses on the abuses that developed in some large for-profit mental health hospital corporations throughout the 1980s. As an increasing number of health insurance providers began covering costs for in-hospital mental health treatment, some corporations exploited this coverage by basing admission and discharge decisions solely on insurance. Some hospitals used questionable or totally unethical marketing practices, going so far as to pay bounties to clergy, school personnel, and family counselors for referrals. A few of these corporations went bankrupt as legislatures and insurance agencies tightened control, but most continue to operate. Healthcare reform remains a hot topic, and Sharkey adds a piece to a much larger puzzle of what needs fixing in the healthcare field. For most public libraries.
Marguerite Mroz, Baltimore Cty. P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312104219
• ISBN-13: 978-0312104214
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,795,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Corruption of Psychotherapy, January 15, 2004

By A Customer

This is a truly shocking book. In terms of content, it could be said that there is nothing new under the sun: the psychotherapy industry is greedy and corrupt. Plenty of writers from Masson onwards, have revealed to us the real motivating factors for many mental health professionals: greed and narcissism. But even the harshest cynic will be horrified by the details contained in this work. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written. Excellent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unparalleled wordsmithing at its best, January 14, 2006

By	D. W. Castellano Hoyt (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reviewer Charles Hannasch is correct in his observation about the swift publication of Sharkey's book. I am not aware that other books or publications of this story were hurt thereby. However I wish that Sharkey had interviewed me about some details since I'm the one who initially trained Sector One personnel on mental health emergency detention warrants and because of that involvement assisted (then State Senator) Frank Tejeda's office in the investigation.

In my own book, Enhancing Police Response to Persons in Mental Health Crisis, Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, 2003, I give some additional detail about the background of Sector One and the alleged kidnappers and ability in those days of civilians to execute mental health emergency detention warrants.

If he were to write a sequel or second edition Sharkey might note that quite rightly (at least in my view) all charges against the so-called "bad guys" were ultimately reduced to misdemeanor status.

Mr. Sharkey's account is well-told; his word-smithing skills unparalleled.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An fascinating view into the world of insurence fraud., May 7, 1997

By A Customer

Joe Sharkey's view of the truth behind the medical insurance field is rivoting. I am proud to know this man