Thread: Mental Health Care in Australia: Free Garth...

Nope. Nothing untoward happening here. Nothing but state of the art psychiatric care...


CHILDREN younger than four who are considered mentally disturbed are being treated with controversial electric shock treatment.

Medicare figures show the use of Electroconvulsive Therapy has tripled in Victoria in the private health sector alone in six years. A VicHealth report confirms more than 18,000 treatments were conducted in Victoria in 2007-2008. Federal Government statistics show the use of ECT - an electric shock delivered straight to the brain - in the state's private health system increased from 1944 treatments in 2001-2002 to 6009 in 2007-2008.

About 12,000 treatments were performed in the public health system last financial year.

Medicare statistics record 203 ECT treatments on children younger than 14 - including 55 aged four and younger. Two of the under-4s were in Victoria.

Last financial year, 6197 ECT treatments were given to Victorians against their will.

... Increasing numbers of patients who had been forced into ECT treatment were contacting the Mental Health Legal Centre claiming they were tortured, Vivienne Topp, a lawyer and policy adviser said.

... Bioethicist Assoc Prof Nicholas Tonti-Filippini supported ECT on children, saying some toddlers were "disturbed".

Source: http://www.heraldsun...x-1111118657718

Excerpts taken from the Free Garth Daniel's page on facebook: http://www.facebook....reeGarthDaniels

... he was severely assaulted, has sustained a fractured cheekbone, swollen face, swollen eyes and bleeding visible in the right eye.

... Thomas Embling waited 17 hours before taking him off to an EMERGENCY room in another hospital.....Thomas Embling (hospital) does not have the usual hospital necessities.

... It appears that the Doctors at the Emergency rooms in a different hospital (namely the AUSTIN hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria) were perhaps reluctant to treat Garth there, as he was handcuffed to a burly guard, which I'm sure would have given the impression of him being a very dangerous patient.

... Whilst Garth was in the Emergency room's bed, he was HANDCUFFED with both hands, forced to be attached to only one side of the bed.....a most uncomfortable position coupled with excrutiating pain from his face.

... Garth was sent back to Thomas Embling so they could look after him. ??? Do they care?? They didn't even notify Garth's family of the assault! When Garth's family turned up to visit him (yesterday....17 hours after the assault), they said they were going to send Garth to hospital....but they WOULDN'T SAY WHICH HOSPITAL he was being sent to.....

... When Garth's clever family figured out which hospital Garth might have been taken to, Thomas Embling's security guard tried to deny Garth's mum and dad from seeing him! How incredible is that?? Seems some of these employees have too much power-crazy ideas....forget about what is legal!!!

From an earlier posting:

... figures from the Department of Health show 975 people under the care of Victoria's mental health system have died unnatural, unexpected or violent deaths between 2006 and 2010...

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/de...#ixzz1qvIMlsNY

My email to Dr. Vine: ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au

Subject: Garth Daniels

His plight and that of others caught within the cruelty and ineptness of the system you are in charge of is generating increasing interest on the internet. People are horrified at the manner in which Victoria, Australia treats their mentally ill.

Thomas Embling Forensic Hospital, Dr. Ruth Vine, and Victoria's inhumane treatment of human beings in extreme states of crisis is going to gain a lot more interest from a lot of different quarters. It sounds as if you've earned the attention.

Regards.

From his father's blog...

... Garth Daniels requests a review of his treatment in the community in order to address his insomnia. Instead, he is transferred to a dangerous place...a forensic facility for the criminally insane...and by the stroke of a Fellows pen is fraudulently classified as a Security patient...subjected to an involuntary treatment order for assessment by forced drugging. The parents are informed that the classification is merely attributed to error and reportedly corrected.

Garth Daniels due to the nature of the adverse drug reactions (ADR) is put in solitary confinement for more than 1300 hours...55 days to be more specific and family contact was denied. Requests for leave in order to consult with physicians in the private sector is denied...with his dentist is denied. The irony is that those "patients" at Thomas Embling progressed through the judicial system may at their own exspense consult with a private doctor of their choice and be permitted leave in order to do so... Yet, the Daniels family request for such leave for their son Garth...who has not committed any crime is denied.

ANZAC Day 25 April 2012 Garth's parents arrive at Thomas Embling and are told that their son had been assaulted the previous night and would be sent to hospital. Hospital!!! Information about which hospital their son is sent is denied as are details about the assault. The emotional trauma at not knowing what occured and even more disturbing not being told which hospital their son had been sent to defies logic. For Garth's parents logic prevailed and they raced off to the closest hospital...ironically away from the Forensic Hospital(sic) where Garth Daniels had been sent for his "benefit" and "necessary treatment".

They found Garth Daniels at the Austin Hospital emergency rooms...handcuffed...and handcuffed to a security guard from Thomas Embling. Garth Daniels had been bashed... a swollen face..blackened eye...and bruises across his cheeks...a fractured cheek bone (Zygomaticus arch). Less than five years ago..two "patients" were murdered at Thomas Embling...in a low secuirty area. Garth is in the acute Argyle Unit.

How long will it be before Garth Daniels...whose only crime appears to be a diagnoses of "mental illness" ... How long before Garth Daniels is killed... How long before Garth Daniels is murdered??? How long will Garth Daniels be detained illegally????

Source: http://www.freegarth.blogspot.com.au/

It's a mess. I know a man, quite well, who for years had a responsible job, a wife, three daughters, and was on mandatory meds for schizophrenia. Then the laws were changed by people who were convinced that millions were being medicated for no valid reason. My friend went to the clinic to get his meds and was presented with a document explaining that he was no longer required to take his meds. So, he didn'. He had them sitting by him and intended to take them at the first sign of his nuttiness. Unfortunately, one of the first symptoms were that the meds were bad and those wanting him to take the meds were the enemy. He's been living on the street for 25 years now, if he's still alive. He's fighting the Nazi/communist/Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. And, no one can do anything.

I am not a fan of mental health professionals. Once you're labeled the odds of a subequent examination refuting the first is near zero. On the other hand, in criminal trials you always have "expert" witness swearing that the defendant is batty as a bedbug or sane as a judge depending on who's paying them. When I last visited Hawaii I was given the names of two "professionals" who would sign anyone up for disability payments for a price.

One last comment. Many of the "professionals" take mentally ill as the default. Everyone is mentally ill, especially if referred to them, unless there is some evidence to the contrary.

Thank you for your concern and your comments Patrick. There is so much I could say, I hardly know where to begin. Suffice to say that I've been hanging out with "the schizophrenics" for close to a decade now. I have a child who has been through some experiences similar to Garth's (which is why I can identify so easily with the pain of his family) and I am also someone who is supposed to be a schizophrenic. In my own case, I made a full recovery without hospitals, medication, or doctors.

In spite of which, I have spoken with many people who self-identify medication as beneficial to them. There's a great deal that could be said about that too, including the role of Big Pharma and public expectations but the bottom line is: The most effective treatment is the one that works for that particular individual. We run into problems when we act from extremes of: No one should have medication or Everyone must have medication.

Garth has been harmed by the idea that everyone must have medication; your friend has been harmed by the idea that everyone can function fine without medication. In either case, the shoe does not fit no matter how much the politicians attempt to present it as otherwise. That means that more people suffer and more people die. Garth's parents desperately do not want their child to be the next victim of a cruel and inept system of "health care".

If anyone has it in them to jot an email to Dr. Ruth Vine at one of the following addresses, please do so. If you are appalled by the treatment of the mentally ill -- from pre-schoolers being given electroshock treatment to the presumed benefits of solitary confinement as a treatment for psychosis -- please share your disgust, your outrage, your fear, your astonishment, etc. The woman has earned some honest criticism.

Meantime this family is desperate. Please jot an email to Dr. Ruth Vines at one of these email addresses. If you are appalled, outraged, shocked, horrified, disgusted, etc. -- let her know.

ruth.vine@health.vic.gov.au

ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au