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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Former mental hospital Kingseat is one of the institutions
where abuse has been alleged. The more than 200
former psychiatric patients claiming compensation for mistreatment should be
believed because of the sheer force of their numbers, a lawyer says. Sonja Cooper, who
represents more than half the claimants, said their credibility was
established by so many people recounting similar experiences. "It is the
significant numbers of people from disparate parts of New Zealand who have
never discussed their experience at Porirua Hospital and are telling us a
story we have heard over and over again." The Herald had asked
her whether the psychiatric history of her clients meant they would have
greater difficulty than anyone else in establishing their credibility before
a judge or Government inquiry. Ms Cooper said few of
her clients had been diagnosed with a mental illness, but most were suffering
things such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression because of the
mistreatment. A psychiatrist had
assessed one Kingseat Hospital and several of the 35 Porirua former patients
whose cases Ms Cooper had filed in the High Court. This was not to establish
their credibility, but to show why they could not have brought their claims
earlier and to prove the link between the mistreatment and their present
problems. The number complaining
to the lawyers of mistreatment in the 1960s and 1970s is growing steadily,
now topping 200. Over half are former patients of Porirua Hospital, near
Wellington. The rest were at
now-closed asylums from Auckland to Dunedin, including Oakley, Kingseat,
Tokanui and Lake Alice Hospitals. Mostly aged eight to 16
at the time, they allege beatings and sexual abuse by staff and patients,
inappropriate and excessive use of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), drugs
including paraldehyde and solitary confinement. Four ex-patients of
Ngawhatu Hospital in Nelson have lodged claims of abuse at the facility,
which closed in 2000/01, and a former nurse aide says patients underwent ECT
experiments. Nearly 70 of the claims
against the Crown have been filed in the High Court, each seeking up to
$500,000 compensation and exemplary damages approaching $50,000. Fifty more
are expected to be filed soon. "I'm taking this
very seriously," said Attorney-General Margaret Wilson. The Crown Law
Office has contracted extra workers, including psychiatrists, to assist in
the investigation of the claims, which in part involves going through old
medical files and finding witnesses. Ms Wilson said
investigating claims dating back 30 or 40 years was difficult. Many of the
hospital staff had left and some had died. Complete records were difficult to
obtain in some cases, she said. "It's also very
hard for people to remember particular events. Memories fade. In some cases,
allegations are made against people who aren't even named. "In the case of
people who have died, they can't answer allegations against them. It's tough
on surviving partners and families to have these come at them decades
later." People in mental
hospitals often arrived with a disturbed history, so decades later it was
hard to decide where to attribute liability: to before, during or after
hospital care. And allegations of
criminal offending were best dealt with promptly. "This sort of
complaint decades later throws up civil liberties problems." Ms Wilson said the
Government would decide, after investigating the court cases, whether to hold
an inquiry. She has also floated the idea of a representative test case. Ms Cooper favoured an
inquiry as it would be cheaper for taxpayers than running more than 100
lengthy court cases; it would spare her clients the trauma of being put on
trial; and it could deal with people lodging complaints about relatives who
had died in mental hospitals. Aucklander Chelton
Saunders, 69, spent more than a year in Porirua and Oakley Hospitals between
1955 and 1971. He said a Porirua nurse had knocked him out with a punch after
he refused drugs. He had refused because the nurse would not tell him what
they would do. Mr Saunders said
repeated ECT had damaged his brain and left him unable to cope with stress. A Kingseat trainee
nurse in 1972-73, Graham Ralls, said that while the hospital was generally a
good place for patients, he did witness two cases of abuse. He said a nurse punched
a brain-damaged young man who yelled in pain when the nurse shaved him with a
blunt blade razor. It appeared the nurse used this razor, rather than the
electric one preferred by the patient, to provoke a reaction. "The purpose of
this violence seemed to be the pleasure of the nurse inflicting it," Mr
Ralls said. He reported it and was told it was under control, but he saw it
happen again. Inquiries galore * More than 16
inquiries were held into Auckland mental hospitals between 1971 and the
landmark 1988 Mason Report. * Investigators
repeatedly lamented the failure of the then-Auckland Hospital Board to
improve treatment and staff numbers at Oakley. * The 1983 Gallen
Report on Oakley gave credence to at least one claim of assault by staff, but
found none passed the criminal-court test of proof beyond reasonable doubt. * The report also
criticised the overuse of drugs and solitary confinement. |
