Insanity?
I often feel like the harbinger of doom-and-gloom. There are so many issues that I see as important. Most of them result in death. Some have happy endings.
Fiction has been a respite for me. I donât indulge in it often. It feels like a desert after a burnt roast. Itâs hard to immerse oneself in fictional bliss when there is so damn much going onâthat burnt roast.
I feel one of Robert Cormack's pieces tickling my mind. I stumbled through your blog, Robert, looking for the piece, but could not find it. Thatâs okayâIâll just revel in the tickle.tickle.
But surrounding that tickle is the issue forefront in my mindâpeople are dying as the result of negligent homicide, and no one is charged in these deaths. Cases in point:
Massachusetts has a system in place where mental health care providers are omnipotent. They have ultimate power and control and are virtually untouchable by the legal system. Once youâve been deemed bonkers, your life is in danger. The system can grab you at any time and throw you in one of their less-than-stellar facilities. You can disappear for years. If you die from what is done to you in those facilities, they say,
âWhoopsie,â
and they just move on to the next victim. They tell authorities, Heyâsh*t happens in these places, and authorities go along with the flow.
In The Boston Globeâs article:
âCarol Chesley, whose son died at Arbour Hospital in Jamaica Plain 15 years ago, was taking a break from advocacy. Jason was 18 years old when he stopped taking his medication for bipolar disorder, contemplated suicide, and ended up in the emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital.
âDoctors transferred him to Arbour. He called his mother the next day. âHe sounded as high as a kite like I have never ever heard him before,ââ Chesley recalled in an interview. âI said, âWhat kind of medications do they have you on?â He said, âMethadone. They said I am a heroin addict.â ââ
But he wasnât, she said.
âTwo days later, on Feb. 1, 2002, staff tried to wake up Jason at 7:30 a.m., but they could not rouse him. At 9:15 a.m., they looked in on him again and realized he had stopped breathing, according to an expert who reviewed the case for the Department of Public Health.
âAt first, the state did not fault the hospital. But Chesley appealed, and further investigation led to the conclusion that the hospital had misdiagnosed Jason with a serious heroin addiction, prescribing a dangerous dose of methadone and numerous other drugs that also depressed his central nervous system. At the same time, staff failed to properly monitor the impact of these drugs on his body; his vital signs were not taken for a full 24 hours prior to his death.
The hospital argued to the state that Jasonâs treatment was appropriate.â
Liz Kowalczyk GLOBE STAFFÂ JUNE 10, 2017
I tracked down Carol Chesley and asked her for an interview. She declined, saying,
âI have received your phone calls. I am a very private person and I am not interested in being interviewed or getting involved in any new advocacy. I am over extended at this time and trying to find peace in my life. I wish you success in your journey.
Carolâ
Most often, tracking down a story is thankless. I was delighted with even this response. Â I will respect her wishes.
I wanted to dig deeper into why no one was charged with murder.
How extensive is the problem? Iâve been stumbling around for years trying to answer that question for myself. The attitude toward the mentally impaired takes on ominous reverberations. We dismiss them as unviable members of society; therefore, not entitled to human rights. Animals have more rights. Itâs frightening.
My mind was just meandering through the possibility that our problem is statewide when Ian Weinberg wrote his post: https://www.bebee.com/producer/@ian-weinberg/the-shameless-and-the-damaged. I think my mind refused to believe he was from anywhere other than the United States because this being a nationwide problem was as far as my horror could go. Nowâa few months laterâmy horror muscles have stretched, and I find myself grasping that the problem is probably worldwide.
Imagine your life stripped from you with the slash of a pen⊠Imagine the possibility that if you decline medications, they could be force-fed to you. Imagine those medications killing you. Now spring from those imagining and make it a reality. Youâre being held down while they inject you with who-knows-what. Thereâs a deadly interaction with another medication you are on and poof.
These places require complete obedience even if it means contributing to your own death.
Sound Nazi-esk?
I donât know if the problem is this bad in South Africa, but it is this bad here at least in my state.
What I donât know isâwhen did murder become legal? I know this sounds outrageous. But here itâs true.
I went to visit John in my post:Â https://www.bebee.com/producer/@joyce-bowen/predation-stories-of-stolen-childhoods. He spent six years At Bridgewater State Hospital after being declared incompetent to stand trial. And he was incompetent. He had the mind of a 10-year-old. He had been orally raped time and time again during the crucial years the developmentally-disabled need to handle their sexualityâpuberty burnt brightly in those years. Essentially, he had been taught by a brutal man that children were sexual objects. John had been found in a home about ten blocks from my house whose occupants traded their kids for drugs and money. John was in his middle twenties, and he was guilty.
Does a 20-something-year-old with the mind of a 10-year-old kid belong in an institution for the criminally insane?Â
I thought not, and I hope his release into a residential facility a year later was the spurred on by my efforts.
No one knows better than me that all this sounds unbelievable. Â But it's all true, and it's happening right now.
I've come to believe that behavior demonstrated in Deception is the rule, not the exception. Â Just be careful that those in power don't come along and take your life away with the swipe of a pen. Â It's easier than you think. It's Insanity.
Copyright 2017 Joyce Bowen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyce-bowen/
https://twitter.com/crwriter1
https://joycebowen.wordpress.com/author/joycebowen/
https://medium.com/@joycebowen
Sobre el autor: Joyce Bowen es un escritor independiente y orador pĂșblico. Las consultas pueden hacerse en crwriter@comcast.net
""""
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Comments
Phil Friedman
6 years ago #15
Thank you Joyce, but not looking for kudos or recognition. As you might yourself say, I am just seeking to inform others. What I saw during my brief brush with institutional mental health "treatment" was some of the most disingenuous people I've ever run into. Florida requires by law that the Patients' Bill of Rights (under the Baker Act) be posted clearly on the wall of every mental health facility in a prominent location. And I have stood right in front of such a posting with several mental health "professionals" while they blatantly contradicted what was clearly stated in that posted document. The only time anyone pays attention is when you start taking names, making notes, and talking about legal action against not only institutions but also the individuals involved in what is, in many cases, illegal detention. You are right. God help you if you fall into the clutches of the system without having an advocate on the "outside".
Joyce đ Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #14
And Kudos to you for standing by your relative, Phil. Most often mental health facilities seek to split family off from patients and they are expert at doing so. They isolate their prey.
Phil Friedman
6 years ago #13
when lawyers are hesitant to act, it is usually because they are unsure of the law or they are afraid they'll be drawn into a case that will ultimately not pay any money, even if they win. The courts are important not because they are always, or even often right, but because they force mental health professional to go on the written record -- which is a prerequisite to being successfully sued. I have found that their primary tactic is to try to convince the patient or the patient's healthcare guardian to convert to voluntary commotment. Which people have to understand ceases to be voluntary the instant you agree to it.
Lisa Vanderburg
6 years ago #12
#9 Truly terrifying Phil - I had a niece that was very nearly 'incarcerated' under the Baker Act. She almost volunteered herself until one kindly lady gave her the heads-up you mentioned. She was lucky. Equally terrifying is how many white adolescents (don't know the ethnicity ratio, but the white parents are almost encouraged to see their teenager as 'troubled') seem to be indulged by so-called professionals who will put them on lithium and the other mind-blowers BEFORE any real diagnosis is made. Sheeet...we used to call that growing pains! The Psychiatrists who practise this (as you know - MANY!) should have their licenses revoked. They have taken perfectly natural adolescent problems and turned them into labels the child will grab onto and cannot shake - seen it so many times in FLA. Of course, there are enough with genuine problems like bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. But to take ADD and turn it into something bigger is criminal. I used to employ in FLA when the 3-strike rule was legal; I won't even start! It is archaic and barbaric as Lisa \ud83d\udc1d Gallagher points out.
Joyce đ Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #11
Lisa Gallagher
6 years ago #10
Joyce đ Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #9
Agreed, Phil, but I have seen them outright lie to facilitate extended commitments. They simply deprive patients of all rights here in MA by finding them incompetent in front of a judge. I'm beginning to think the system has so much power, lawyers are hesitant to act. Once the system swallows you up, you are gone.
Phil Friedman
6 years ago #8
Phil Friedman
6 years ago #7
Pascal Derrien
6 years ago #6
Joyce đ Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #5
It may be different in SA. Here I spoke to a lawyer who deals with a lot of these cases. She said I wouldn't believe how often this happens over here.
Ian Weinberg
6 years ago #4
Lisa Vanderburg
6 years ago #3
Joyce đ Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #2
Damn--you brought me back to those stairs again. No--it was another. I remember that the prose was delicious. I was tickled pink.
Robert Cormack
6 years ago #1