He didn't get to say it because he could not longer be heard over the judge. Judge Hall pounded on his desk, stood up, and yelled at the top of his lungs: "You should be ashamed at yourself!" He said it twice. It was far from clear to anyone in the courtroom what, exactly, he was referring to. Should Darrow be ashamed because he was bringing up tardive dyskinesia in a case that was just supposed to be about ECT? Was Darrow being reprimanded because he was only allowed to talk about ECT brain damage, not drug brain damage? Was the judge himself, who is known for signing forced drugging orders, actually ashamed of himself and simply projecting those unmanageable feelings onto Darrow? Why the emotional outburst?

It was a better ending to the case than the State's lawyer, Laurie Gatto, could have hoped for. She's clearly clueless on shock, and her idiotic questions had her much more educated audience laughing----like when she claimed that the MiniMental Status Exam (which you can hardly do poorly on unless you're in a coma) could measure memory loss from ECT, or when she tried to disparage Paul's good performance on an IQ test by saying that math doesn't involve problem solving. But even she could sense that she didn't need to add a single word.

Had anyone wandered into the courtroom at 4:20 p.m. on April 2nd, observed the behavior and demeanor of both Paul Henri Thomas and Judge Hall, and been asked to pick out which man was suffering from mania, there would not have been any doubt that it was the one in the black robe.

If you think you can protect yourself against forced ECT with an advance directive, think again.

Paul had an advance directive. He had signed it on October 19th, the day before his doctor signed the petition for forced shock. Paul couldn't have executed a legal document like an advance directive if he were considered incompetent. Dr. Azemar clearly found him competent on the 19th; in fact, he even signed the advance directive as a witness. Azemar's position at trial was that Paul became incompetent the very next day.

But wait---even if that were the case, wouldn't the advance directive have been valid? After all, this is exactly the situation an advance directive anticipates. It specifies what should be done should a person become incompetent. Paul's directive said that his brother would act as his proxy to make his health care decisions. He should have been consulted, and his yes or no would have been the final decision on shock for Paul. But the hospital disregarded the advance directive and went ahead with its forced shock petition.

In the words of Judge Hall: "What that document said at that time, it doesn't say now."

More information about Paul Henri Thomas

Currently awaiting the judge's decision, but he reserves judgement, by Anne Kraus. This includes more information on the hearings!

Thomas' attorneys file complaint alleging violation of his civil rights.

next: 130 Forced Electro-Shock Treatments