Max Fink, the grandfather
of American ECT
Grandpa Max used to claim that ECT worked by causing brain damage. He argued
for years that the therapeutic effect from ECT is produced by brain dysfunction
and damage. He pointed out in his 1979 textbook that "patients become more
compliant and acquiescent with treatment," and he connected the improvement
with "denial, disorientation," and other signs of traumatic brain injury
and an organic brain syndrome.
Fink was even more explicit in earlier studies.
In 1956 he stated that the basis for improvement from ECT is "cranio-cerebral
trauma." In 1966, Fink cited his own research indicating that "there is
a relation between clinical improvement and the production of brain damage
or an altered state of brain function." He does not, however, make such
statements in public, in court, or in the 1990 APA Task Force Report.
Max has also been busy with other ventures. Born
in 1923, he is currently professor of psychiatry at SUNY at Stony Brook.
His CV is too long to list here, but here are a few interesting appointments:
Founding Editor, Convulsive Therapy
Consultant to the FDA
U.S. Army on the Feasibility of Using Incapacitating Agents Against Terrorists.
Captain, U.S. Army.
The Finkeroo owns a company called SciData, based
in Atlanta, Georgia. Organized in 1967, the last year's sales were listed
at $170,000.
Fink helps out his buddy, curly do Abrams, with
Somatics, Inc. He narrates Abrams' videotapes for Somatics, Inc., which
sell for $350 to health professionals, or $360 for patients and families.
Or you can buy a "preview version" for $25.
Max has a habit of being a little less than honest
at times.
For example, he is responsible for the famed 1
in 200 statistic, which the APA uses in its literature. This statistic,
long criticized by ECT advocates and survivors, supposedly reflects the
number of patients who suffer memory loss. Recently, Max admitted the number
was *not* based on any scientific studies, as had been widely claimed,
but rather, was an "impressionistic" number - meaning he made it up.
Here's another example, in a post of his from
the shock doc mailing list:
"2. The second question is how to achieve
an effective treatment in the face of the limited output of brief-pulse
devices.
The usual approaches are to use bilateral
placement; change anesthetic from methohexital to etomidate; determine
the dosing of benzodiazepines and if these were used, block with the antagonist
flumazenil; enhance seizure duration by either caffeine or theophylline;
and when these fail, double stimulation. If the lack of adequate energy
is a frequent issue in practice, the THYMATRON can be modified to the British
version, or the MECTA can have the Sackeim modification added -- for research
purposes."
For research purposes, Max??? That's his way of covering his butt. He's
telling other shock docs how to boost the juice way past the machinery's
capabilities....for "research" purposes. This post was in response to a
query from another doctor with legitimate patient concerns.
Max also doesn't take confidentiality very seriously.
He's often harassed a certain ECT survivor, shutting down question and
answer periods when she arrived. But he's gone beyond that, by shouting
at her and telling the entire workshop medical information from her confidential
medical records.
All in the name of science for Max Fink.
Reporters are frequently invited by Max Fink to
witness patients being given the treatment. Psychiatrist Peter Breggin
has urged him to allow them to see his patients *after* they have received
a full course of shocks. Under pressure, Fink agreed, but with a catch.
While he charges nothing for the media to watch a patient undergo the procedure,
he decided to charge $25,000 for himself and $15,000 for the patient for
a single interview with the patient awake after a course of ECT.
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