Allegations of Abuse in Institutions
	Psychiatric Hospitals Index Jan-June 2004 Index
	The Press June 23 2004 Abuse victims call for Govt inquiry By Kamala Hayman A woman subjected to years of shock treatment and threatened with a lobotomy while a teenage patient at Christchurch's Sunnyside Hospital in the 1960s is seeking an inquiry. The woman, now aged 56, is joining more than 200 former child psychiatric patients nationwide taking legal action against the Government over alleged mistreatment during the 1960s and 1970s. Many were sent to psychiatric institutions because of behavioural difficulties but then treated as if they had serious psychiatric illnesses. Some were as young as eight. Allegations include physical and sexual abuse, long periods of solitary confinement and the use of electroconvulsive therapy as punishment. Two Wellington-based lawyers are representing the group now seeking damages for ill-treatment and abuse. They have filed nearly 70 cases in the High Court, seeking compensation of up to $500,000 and exemplary damages approaching $50,000 for each former patient. Another 40 claims are nearly ready to be filed. About half the complaints relate to treatment at Porirua hospital. A handful are from former patients of Sunnyside, since renamed Hillmorton Hospital. Other complaints come from the now-closed asylums of Cherry Farm in Dunedin, Nga Whatu in Nelson, Kingseat, south of Auckland, Oakley near Auckland, and Tokanui, near Te Awamutu. The claims are similar to those made by former Lake Alice Hospital patients, who got a secret payout from the Government for mistreatment. Lawyers Roger Chapman and Sonja Cooper are calling for a full inquiry into the allegations. "Our preference is not to have to put these people through the trauma of reliving it all in court. "If we did have to go to court over it we will but we think a responsible government should deal with it in a different way," Chapman said. His clients include a Christchurch woman admitted to Sunnyside's secure Stewart Villa after she began self-harming herself as a teenager. She was subjected to more than 70 electric shock treatments, deep-sleep therapy, and the threat of a lobotomy. Her brother, also a victim of sexual abuse as a child, was sent to Cherry Farm at the age of 10 when a foster home could not be found. Leeston man Tim Beswick was a former victim of child sexual abuse at St John of God Marylands school in Christchurch. He was sent to Sunnyside after he began lighting fires as a teenager. Once there he was heavily medicated, given ECT, kept in solitary for days on end and rewarded with cigarettes for good behaviour. Chapman said his clients included those whose parents had placed their children in psychiatric hospitals because they were too difficult to handle. "We know of one chap who seems to have been placed in Cherry Farm by his parents as a means of trying to separate him from his girlfriend." He said the allegations could not be dismissed as the unreliable tales of crazy people. "The reality is that quite a lot of them aren't crazy and never were." A number of stories appeared to corroborate each other, he said. "There are too many similarities and too many patterns just to dismiss this." Attorney-General Margaret Wilson confirmed the Crown was investigating 62 claims filed in the High Court concerning allegations made about treatment at various psychiatric institutions. She expected more to be filed. She was taking the allegations "very seriously" but said no decision could be made on whether to hold an inquiry until the Crown's investigations were complete. She warned this could take some time because of problems tracing former staff. "In some cases, allegations are made against people who have died. They can't answer allegations against them. "It's also very hard for people to remember particular events. Memories can fade. In some cases it's hard to get complete records going back several decades." "Often people who have been put into institutional care arrive with a disturbed history. The issue is where you attribute liability, or fault." She said that generally the Crown would not make payments unless legal liability could be established.