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Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
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Lawyers are expecting a landslide
of abuse claims from former psychiatric patients. More than 200 claims, alleging
physical abuse in state-run institutions, are believed to be in the pipeline. Police have reopened the
36-year-old case of Clement Matthews, who was ruled to have died of pneumonia
at Kingseat psychiatric hospital, south of Former patient Stephen Lindsay
claims he saw the 11-year-old being attacked by a nurse hours before he died. A lawyer representing people who
were patients in the 1960s and 1970s, Roger Chapman, says abuses appear to
have been widespread in the mental health system of the time. He believes the Government should
order an inquiry. However, Roger Chapman says is not
the driving force for the former patients. He says
that while the amount of compensation they want varies, most want at least an
apology and an acknowledgement that the authorities were at fault. |
