Zombie' patients tell of cruelty

[Guest guest]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4111417a6000.html

`Zombie' patients tell of cruelty

HAYDON DEWES - The Dominion Post | Friday, 29 June 2007

Sexual abuse, violence, humiliation and cruelty played a daily part in the lives

of psychiatric patients, a harrowing report has revealed.

The voices of about 400 former patients have been recorded by a confidential

forum, chaired by former principal Family Court judge Mahony, painting a

grim picture of abuse in state-run institutions from the 1940s till 1992.

The Government acknowledged the accuracy of the report yesterday and did not

rule out making apologies or paying compensation.

But it is treading carefully as it weighs up the potential costs of doing so.

However, the findings are expected to bolster legal action planned by about 230

former patients, starting late this year.

Releasing the report yesterday, Judge Mahony said there was " potency " about the

common themes that emerged from the experiences of unconnected people in

different places at different times.

Patients from 53 hospitals or clinics, including Porirua Hospital, Lake Alice

Hospital, near Marton, and Levin's Kimberley Hospital, spoke of being sexually

abused by patients or staff. Punishment was meted out through violence,

electroconvulsive therapy and heavy medication.

They also detailed highly regimented daily routines, crowded dormitories, dirty

and smoky day rooms and of a lack of privacy for using toilets and bathing.

" Many used the word `zombie' to describe how they felt, " Judge Mahony said.

" It was an atmosphere pervaded by a sense of hopelessness in which they felt

trapped. "

Daily routines were degrading and humiliating, the report says.

Patients told of being lined up naked and hosed down before showering and being

made to bathe in dirty, cold water. Some talked of poor sanitation and of

housing infested with rats and cockroaches.

Former institution staff also came forward, with some defending their behaviour

as being in tune with the " out of sight, out of mind " attitudes of the day.

Others spoke of trying to stop abuse, but of being stonewalled by senior staff -

and even reprimanded and intimidated. Some told of patients being sterilised

without consent.

The confidential forum was set up in 2004 as a wave of grievances emerged after

the Government paid compensation to former Lake Alice patients two years

earlier.

A former Porirua Hospital patient is to have her allegations of mistreatment 50

years ago heard in the High Court at Wellington in October. She will be the

first of about 230 former patients from the same hospital fighting to have their

cases heard.

Judge Mahony said the forum was not an attempt to sidestep compensation, which

remained an option.

But he said most simply wanted an apology from the Government for abuse that was

" deeply humiliating and demeaning, often taking a life-long toll " .

Health Minister Pete Hodgson said the Government would consider both options but

had to carefully weigh up each. Compensation could be costly both for the Crown

and for litigants, who would also have to relive their experiences. Deciding

what and who to apologise for would also be problematic.

" Some people ... thought they were doing their best in the absence of knowledge

and changed values that we now have. "

Attorney-General Cullen said the priority was to find ways former

patients could get closure and satisfaction in a respectful and non-adversarial

way. How that would be achieved was still an open question.

Meanwhile, the Government is likely to extend the forum process to cover anyone

institutionalised between 1940 and 1992, not just former psychiatric patients.

[Guest guest]

Yup, no healing for the mentally ill at all; in fact, conditions like

those would make any 'normal' person go mad.