Allegations of Abuse |
|
Since the Government announced
last month it was looking at more than 200 complaints of abuse at psychiatric
hospitals around Mr Chapman said the number of
complaints was steadily growing and he had phone calls every day from people
alleging they had been abused at psychiatric health hospitals around the
country. All of the Nelson complaints
related to patients in the 1960s and 1970s, who say they were victims of
sexual and physical abuse by staff members and were subject to electric shock
therapy as punishment. Mr Chapman said a former staff
member witnessed experimentation in electric shock therapy being carried out
on patients - sometimes several times a day - during her time working there. Mr Chapman said the inquiry was
still in the early stages and he now had a fulltime employee working on
gathering details and information about each case. ``The impression I get from patients
generally is that what they have experienced is very hard for them to talk
about,'' he said. ``Some of them are quite
distraught, some are pretty angry.'' He said there was no ``quick fix''
to the complaints and how long they took to be resolved depended on when the
Government started to address the issues and seek a resolution. Nearly 70 of the nationwide claims
have been filed in the High Court, each seeking compensation of up to
$500,000 and exemplary damages approaching $50,000. Prime Minister Helen Clark has
said the Government is taking the allegations seriously and a decision would
be made after they had been looked at as to whether a ``more formal'' inquiry
should be carried out. |