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http://www.MindFreedom.org NEWS ALERT #9
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Friday, March 8, 2002 - HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION ALERT

IT'S FRIDAY: A SEVENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD MAN IS BEING
ELECTROSHOCKED **RIGHT NOW** AGAINST HIS WILL
IN RIVERVIEW HOSPITAL IN VANCOUVER, CANADA

HE RECEIVES FORCED ELECTROSHOCK *EVERY* FRIDAY

ACTION: YOU CAN E-MAIL THE HOSPITAL CEO TO
FIGHT FOR MICHAEL MATTHEW'S HUMAN RIGHTS!

by Juli Lawrence, director, http://ECT.ORG

VANCOUVER, CANADA: Every Friday, Michael Matthews, a 71-year-old patient at Riverview Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada receives an electroshock treatment against his will.

He has continued to tell human rights activists that he does not want the treatments, yet he has received more than 70, according to a hospital insider who asked not to be named.

"He used to be a delightful conversationalist with a good attention span," says the insider. "He had the sweetest disposition -- something everyone commented on and appreciated. We all loved chatting with Michael. Gradually he has become more and more agitated, irritable, confused, and delusional."

Vancouver activist Julie Butler recently met with Michael, and said that he was suffering from the typical effects of electroshock.

"He is suffering from the classic documented side effects of the treatment which include long and short term memory loss, confusion, and disorientation," says Butler. "When I first met Michael, burns and bruises were evident on his temples, which would also seem to be from the continued and excessive use of this treatment."

Riverview Hospital was the center of a governmental investigation last year when staff psychiatrist Jaime Paredes
contacted Minister of Health Corky Evans with concerns over the increased use of electroshock after the Ministry increased payments to doctors.

"The number of ECT treatments in the Geriatric Psychiatry Program at Riverview Hospital has more than doubled since fee-for-service was introduced," wrote Dr. Paredes. "I feel the machinery and wheels of bureaucracy are slowly grinding this matter into obscurity. But it is real people who are affected, patients with no power and with no voice."

Paredes, who worked at Riverview 15 years, was fired in December and has said he believes his firing was a result of speaking out. He said a colleague who supported him was also fired, and another was demoted. Riverview administrators have denied that the firings were related to the controversy and resulting investigation.

Activists have attempted to visit Michael again, but have been refused entry by hospital officials.

The hospital insider says that Michael views the electroshock treatments as punishment.

"They're trying to get rid of me. They think I'm a problem," the insider reports Michael saying.

The insider adds: "Michael talks to the walls now, falls asleep in the middle of sentences, tells us he is probably Jesus Christ, and rambles on endlessly in total nonsense. It just breaks my heart."

"Electroshocking elderly people, particularly women, is ageist, sexist and elder abuse," says Don Weitz of Toronto, author of the article "Electroshocking Elderly People -- Another Psychiatric Abuse."

"Shocking old and physically fragile people without informed consent is increasing at an alarming rate in both the United States and Canada -- particularly in Ontario and British Columbia -- as well as the UK and probably other European countries," Weitz said. "In Ontario during the year 1999-2000, over 2,500 people were forcibly subjected to over 15,000 shocks."

ECT practitioners continue to say that ECT is a very safe and effective treatment, despite the well-known high relapse rate and extensive side effects. In a study published in the _Journal of the American Medical Association_ last year showed that ECT is so ineffective at relieving depression, that nearly all of 290 patients relapsed within six months.

"Since the shock doctors and other psychiatrists routinely violate the legal right to informed consent, virtually all shock is forced. I accuse the shock doctors in particular and psychiatry in general with causing great harm, intentionally misinforming or lying to their patients and the public about permanent memory loss and brain damage, violating medical ethics, and perpetrating a crime against humanity," added Weitz.

Calls to administrators and the head of geriatric psychiatry at Riverview were not returned.