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Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
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The recently released report of
the Forum for Reconciliation for former psychiatric patients (June 29) should
raise questions about the process. As I understand it, the forum had no brief
to examine the truth of allegations of abuse, only provide a forum for the
ventilation. The appointment of a judge to head
the forum surely gave promise that justice would be seen to be done. How can
this occur without allowing rebuttal? Are we really to believe that
famous New Zealanders who worked in mental hospitals then, such as Dame
Margaret Bazely, Fraser McDonald and Henry Bennett, were part of some
sadistic system? Living conditions in psychiatric
hospitals then were little different from those of many contemporaneous
Maori, solo mothers or elderly. The humane reforms in psychiatry in the past
50 years weren't brought about by public clamour but by the activities of a
small group of professionals, and an increasingly numerous and better trained
workforce, coupled with more prosperous times. A process that purports to be for
reconciliation cannot succeed by creating a new class of victims of those who
worked or work in the mental health services.
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