Psychiatric services : a journal of the American Psychiatric Association
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This column describes federal and state laws to restrict access to firearms among people with mental illness. The contribution to public safety of these laws is likely to be small because only 3%-5% of violent acts are attributable to serious mental illness, and most do not involve guns. The categories of persons with mental illnesses targeted by the laws may not be at higher risk of violence than other subgroups in this population. The laws may deter people from seeking treatment for fear of losing the right to possess firearms and may reinforce stereotypes of persons with mental illnesses as dangerous.
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Comparative Study
End-of-life care for veterans with schizophrenia and cancer.
This study compared the quality of end-of-life care between veterans with and without schizophrenia who died of cancer in the northwestern United States. ⋯ On most measures, veterans with schizophrenia who died of cancer received comparable or better end-of-life care than veterans without mental illness.