Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
|
|
|
July 10 2004
The four women told the Weekend Herald
that electric shock treatment was routinely used as punishment and patients
were drugged into zombie-like states to make them more manageable. The women - students at the time -
said part of their duties was to hold patients down while shock treatment was
applied. Now, Vicki Carnell, Helen Talbot,
Elisabeth Gamlen and Gini Bevan, all aged in their 50s, are writing to
Attorney-General Margaret Wilson, the Crown Law Office and lawyer Sonja
Cooper, who represents more than half of 200 former psychiatric patients who
are suing the Government for compensation for mistreatment. Most of the
complaints involve Porirua. Crown Law is investigating the
complaints to ascertain credibility and how best to deal with them. Options
include a representative court case or a Government-sanctioned inquiry. While university students, the
four women worked during the summer holidays at Porirua as aides to the
nursing staff. They described the experience as devastating and say it stayed
with them over the years. They decided to speak out after
learning that complainants' credibility might be questioned. They tell of an environment in
which patients were often "treated as animals", humiliated and
threatened with ECT if they did not do as they were told. Elisabeth Gamlen said: "I saw
people stripped of all dignity, subjected to callous and painful procedures
such as electro-convulsive therapy [shock treatment] administered without
muscle relaxants, as punishment. 'If you don't behave it will be shock
treatment for you tomorrow'. "And it would be. Patients
were terrified. "People were herded naked,
like animals, down corridors into huge bathrooms and roughly sluiced
down." Vicki Carnell recalls a distressed
elderly woman being pulled by the hair to the bathroom after telling staff
she didn't want a bath. "It was heartbreaking. I
tried to intervene and was punched in the face by a staff member." There was no point complaining
because such treatment was regarded by most staff as normal. With some
exceptions, staff had no respect for people's rights. "Every day there were
threats, 'Do this or you will get 'The Treatment'. That's what they called
it, 'The Treatment'," Vicki Carnell said. "It didn't take much to get
it. A mild misdemeanour could lead to an episode of ECT. "I'm amazed anyone could have
come out of there and live a normal life. It's a credit to those who
did." The women believe some patients,
who seemed to be suffering no more than depression brought on by bereavement
or post-natal depression, were damaged by their treatment. Helen Talbot said: "It was
dehumanising. To continue working there you would have to anaesthetise
yourself against what was happening. There was no emphasis on anything remedial
or any spark of hope introduced into the patients' lives." The Government will decide whether
to call an inquiry after Crown Law completes its investigation. Crown Law spokeswoman Jan Fulstow
said 19 claims involving 65 plantiffs had been filed in court and more were
expected. She was unable to estimate when Crown Law might finish its
investigation. Ms Wilson said she had instructed
Crown Law to hire extra staff. "I am keen that this matter
is not unduly delayed but, that at the same time, due process is followed in
what is an enormously complicated case,"she said. "A lot of work has to be done
tracing and checking files and facts several decades old. However, the Crown
will only make payments when legal liability can be established."
·
About 200 former patients claim they were mistreated at psychiatric
hospitals in the 1960s and 1970s. ·
Most of the allegations focus on The most
serious allegations are of sexual assault and beatings by staff and patients. |