Abuse Reports

Published in the New Zealand Herald newspaper
Tuesday, March 12, 2002 page 4
and available on-line, as follows:
(NB: Children appealed with request for help at the time of these abuses,
but officials failed to listen.)
Wayne Smyth
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=1191204
Former Lake Alice patients lay abuse claims

By PAULA OLIVER
Thirty-four criminal complaints of torture and sexual abuse have been laid against former staff members of Lake Alice Hospital near Marton as fresh claims emerge of identical abuse at another of the country's mental institutions.
The criminal claims dating back to the 1970s were received by police yesterday. They target several former Lake Alice staff members.
Last year, 95 former child patients of Lake Alice received about .5 million in compensation and an apology from the Government for abuse they received at the mental institution in the 1970s.
At the time, some of the complainants said they wanted to pursue criminal charges because the staff involved could still practise.
The claims of abuse, outlined last year in a report by retired High Court judge Sir Rodney Gallen, include electroconvulsive therapy being used to punish children, children being locked away with insane adult patients, sexual abuse, and injections of the drug paraldehyde, which causes extreme pain.
Police national crime manager Bill Bishop said last night that legal opinions would be needed before police could decide if an investigation was needed.
The fact that the complaints dated back to 1972 had to be considered, as did the fact that they had already been through civil litigation. Medical practices at the time of the alleged abuse would be looked at, and whether the actions constituted a criminal offence.
Mr Bishop said the complaints were probably some of the oldest he had received and it "could be some time" before police were able to make a decision.
Fresh claims of abuse during the 1970s at another of the country's mental institutions, Porirua Hospital, also emerged yesterday.
Lawyers representing two former child patients of the hospital said their clients had complaints that mirrored those made against Lake Alice staff.
These included the use of electroconvulsive treatment without anaesthetic.
Children were also sexually abused, made to chew soap and clean up geriatric wards, the complainants said.
Nelson-based lawyer Jane Hunter and Wellington-based Sonja Cooper yesterday appealed for other former patients of Porirua Hospital to come forward if they had similar stories.
By last night they had received four calls.
Ms Cooper said legal action would be filed if no other way to deal with the complaints emerged.
One hurdle that would need to be crossed first was the age of the complaints.
Litigation was not necessarily the best way to pursue a remedy, because the
clients were already damaged, she said.
Ms Cooper also warned that some interpretations of new ACC legislation which
comes into effect on April 1 suggested that lump-sum claims for abuse before
the date of the introduction of the law would no longer be able to be
pursued.
She said other remedies existed, but it was a very grey area legally that
was still being tested in the courts.

1993/reported by parents 2/99
Chula Vista
New Alternatives

(private residential care facility)
Kristal Mayon-Ceniceros, 16-year-old, died of respiratory arrest
face put down on floor arms and legs restrained by 4 staff members
February 5, 1999/AP Wire

Colorado Springs
Residential treatment facility
12 year old boy on 3 medications; remains mostly quiet, distant, unresponsive; "his hands shake as though he's recuperating from a 3 day drunk."
"{He} has told me about the restraint room_ and it reminds me of something that they would do to people in mental institutions in the 50's_not the 90's."
"This does not seem to be what a 12 year old boy should be going through_I don't feel they are doing anything but controlling him with heavy duty drugs instead of finding the one drug or combination that will help him live a normal life."
Reported to NAMI by grandmother March 1999

FLORIDA
Silver Springs
Camp E-Kel-Etu
(This entry is included because the child was placed in a privately run camp for juvenile offenders despite recommendations that he be placed in a mental health facility)
Michael Wiltsie, age 12, died at a wilderness camp when placed face down in a physical restraint.
Michael Wiltsie (65 lbs.) was held down on his stomach with his arms at his side as a counselor (320 lbs.) sat on top of him.
The Marion County Grand Jury decided not to charge the counselor in the death of Wiltsie, who died of "compressional asphyxiation, because he was following the procedures for which he had been trained."
February 5, 2000
Reported by the St. Petersburg Times

Dates unknown; contacted NAMI 4/6/99
West Palm Beach
45th Street Mental Health Center (adolescent residential facility)
Laura Hanson, 17-year-old, stopped breathing and died after staff member used "basket hold" to break up fight and restrain her involved reaching around patient's body from behind and pulling arms across chest.

In a Residential treatment facility
INDIANA
A 16 year old boy died after being restrained by two workers during a struggle.
Medical Examiner determined cause of death to be trauma to the neck. Workers forced the patient to the floor to restrain him and pulled his head up and backward, obstructing the patients breathing
Reported March 2, 2000

Reported 4/21/99
Banner Elk
Grandfather Home
Timithy Thomas, age 9, died in a "baskethold" after first being isolated in a "quiet room"
March 11, 1999/based on Charlotte Courier reports

San Antonio
Hospital
A 16 year old girl died while in restraints from a heart condition, the hospital was put on probation for violating restraint standards.
Reported February 9, 2000

WISONSIN
Madison
Mendota Mental Health Institute
During first three months of 1999, there were 745 episodes of restraints use for a total of 1608.5 hours
Court order and consent decree in effect from class action suit.
Reported May 1999 by Diane Greenley, Supervising Attorney Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy

Every day...every hour...it happens