ms. thomas. ms. mcgraw for five minutes. >> i appreciate this opportunity and want to thank the chairman of the committee for focusing on these issues come which are clearly critical. i do have to hope ibc for a not profit public interest and advocacy organization that works on behalf of consumers. we like to think of privacy as playing an incredibly well and making sure people who are suffering and stigmatizing conditions like mental illness into treatment. many people express one out of six surveys consistently that if they didn't have some guarantee the confidentiality that they would not seek treatment and that's the reason we have privacy laws. they're not in the crate and obstacles necessarily, that create the treatment environment people to stigmatizing conditions want to be in. having said that, they are not absolute. they have lots of exceptions in the previous panel talked about then. it allows for notification of persons in the event of a serious and imminent threat and notification of fam

ms. thomas?> i can speak on behalf of the fact i'm a volunteer the in seat four community, and the threat of lawsuit, it prevents us even from feeling like we're able to tell direct family members conditions of patients that we transport. so either it's misunderstanding that that's what is emphasized in our training. >> ms. degraw, you said 70%, about 39 said they withhold information from health care providers due to worries about how medical information may be discussed. my understanding is that study was unsure health issues not mental health. mike wright? >> that's right. and the time i hav had to prepae for this testimony i look for more specific statistics on persons being held back from seeking treatment for mental health and i didn't have enough time to find something directly. i did find something on the national alliance on mental element website that talked about how about two-thirds of people with mental illness do not seek treatment for a number of reasons, lack of knowledge, fear of

ms. thomas. i remind members they have ten business days to submit question for the record. i ask the witnesses to promptly respond. with that the committee is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] last week house democratic represents edward mark key faced off in a final debate. here is a portion of that debate now. as the two members discussed apportion rights. >> when you a choice ensure that a woman on the military on a base oversees i had a right to access to that health care procedure inside a him tear hospital. you expwroafer voted to deny her that right inside global military. it's not thirty years ago. it's not twenty years ago. it's in the last few years you have done that, steve. that's why planned parenthood has endorsement. there's a difference between the two of us on the issue. >> response, please. >> the issue on the military base, those woman are in uniform. they're under command. they didn't just all wake up and decide to dress in green. they are on a military base. you don't salute each other. the idea for women to get an apportion on military base is a bad

ms. thomas' comments that she made earlier that the press has let the american public down in not more vigorously opposing the cusht war in iraq. do you believe that if the press did take a more vigorous stance in opposing the war that they would have crossed the line ethically and become an actor in the story and not just an observer? >> this could be for anybody. >> judy would you like to take that one on? >> i don't think the press should have expressed an opinion. and i don't think that's what helen is saying. but i'll let helen speak for herself. what i believe is that the press was to some extent cowed across the board in terms of presenting alternative points of view. and in going out and making an effort to interview people and to present the point of view of those who had doubt about the war in iraq, i don't think there was enough of that i think the country still was suff fused with -- i don't know whether you want to call it with a sense of hyper patriotism coming off of 9/11. and i think the bush administration successfully parlayed that into as it made its arguments for going to war

ms. thomas. we're going to recognize for five minutes. i want to make it clear, ms. levine had opinions in her testimony. you're not a licensed provider, am i correct? d not practicing therapist. >> not at all. >> is important because on page 10 of the written testimony, he said the doctors don't want to share information and is a convenient excuse not to tax families are listed to what they know about a patient. it's easier to avoid typical conversations about prognosis and treatment options. dr. martini, is that true? they don't want to talk to families of the typical? >> now, the vast majority positions are interested in sharing that information and very much want to involve families and care. we know for psychiatric patient their prognosis is improved at one of the ways i look at it if they see a patient at the most an hour a week in the family stood with individuals on an ongoing basis. any recommendation as a clinician is more likely to be successful if i'm able to get support of the family. >> just wrote briefly in a worker to, also from your stand point becau