CORRUPTION AT GREATER BINGHAMTON HEALTH CENTER IN BINGHAMTON My name is Jason Hewlett, I live in Oneonta NY, and I have been a victim of forced drugging (psychiatric rape) for nearly 30 years now. Because its' just as dangerous to stop taking psychiatric drugs as it is to start taking them, its' always best to get off the drugs with help from a good doctor or psychiatrist who actually knows what psychiatric drugs really are and what they really do to people. Those rare doctors and psychiatrists who truly care about their patients understand these common sense words based on the Golden Rule : "Just as a good parent would never force their children to eat something they, themselves, would never eat, a good doctor would never force their patients to take a drug they, themselves, would never take." What you are now reading is my report to PsychRights.org (Everyday Horrors of the Mental Health System) about the four months of horror that I experienced and had to watch many of my fellow patients experience on unit 2A at the Greater Binghamton Health Center in Binghamton NY. After you have finished reading everything, feel free to investigate any of the facts in this report since you will need as much proof and evidence as possible in order to help me and the other patients who are still being abused and neglected at GBHC. Unlike most of my fellow patients I was discharged before my doctor, Dr. Charles Afful, was able to drug me to the point of being permanently disabled. Dr. Afful and his "treatment team" discharged me from that psychiatric facility on October 31, 2024. But without a good doctor or psychiatrist who's willing to slowly and safely wean me off of that very high dose of Clozapine that Dr. Afful forced me to be on, being discharged from GBHC isn't much better than still being there. That's why I need your help. I ask that you, advocates and supporters of PsychRights and Mindfreedom International, help me by finding me a good doctor or psychiatrist who's able and willing to take me in as a patient in an outpatient clinic so he (or she) can slowly and safely wean me off that horrible drug and all of its' dangerous side effects. Then, my fellow patients (both inpatient and outpatient) will be able to receive the same kind of help from you and those rare doctors and psychiatrists who are educated and actually care enough about the mental and physical health of their patients to get them off of those dangerous drugs once and for all. In a court of law, a doctor's good intentions do not justify his abuse and/or neglect of the patients entrusted to his care. The same is true of the doctor's "treatment team" whenever they participate in or support the doctor's decision to abuse or neglect. I have a long history of mental illness and so a judge recently hospitalized me (from June 2024-0ctober 2024) for two misdemeanors that I should never have committed. I wasn't in my right mind when I committed those misdemeanors even though I had good intentions. I learned the hard way, after four months of being in a locked psychiatric facility while being forced to take increases and high doses of a brain-disabling neuroleptic drug called Clozapine, that my good intentions didn't matter (nor will they ever matter) in a court of law. In SPITE of the forced drugging (not because of it), I now understand that what I did was wrong and I will never intentionally break any law again even if they were only misdemeanors. It was never the increases and high doses of Clozapine forced on me by my doctor that brought me to the conclusion that it's my words and actions that matter, not my motives or intentions-at least not according to our legal system here in the United States. The irony in all this is that the doctor and his treatment team, during the whole four months I was entrusted to their care, reminded me of their good intentions every time they made a decision that I knew was abusive or negligent to my fellow patients and I. The doctor himself reminded me, repeatedly, that he swore an oath as a psychiatrist and medical doctor to do no harm to his patients. But because I knew from my own history of being abused in psychiatric facilities over the years, that this doctor and his team were abusing us, their good intentions didn't matter any more than mine did. The fact is, regardless of their motives and intentions, they were abusing and neglecting my fellow patients and I. There were times when, as a last resort, some of the patients (including me) had to shuffle in order to protect ourselves from the "side effects" (diseases and disabilities) caused by psychiatric drugs being forced on us (Google the word shuffling in Wayne Ramsay J.D.'s online article titled "Psychiatric Drugs: Cure or Quackery?). 1. When I first arrived at this facility I was shocked to learn about a policy regarding the 100 mg of Clozapine I had been taking for 10 years prior to my admission. The doctor had already planned to increase the dose of my Clozapine by 25% per week until it reached what he felt was a "therapeutic dose" which really meant disabling me even more than I already was, especially my vision loss, more and more drowsiness, drooling, and serious constipation caused by the increases of Clozapine. But the policy Dr. Afful was using to make it very easy to drug me against my will was an ultimatum; either I accept the increases (usually 25% per week) and suffer the many "side effects" that come with it, or refuse the increases and go through serious or lifethreatening withdrawals. Dr. Afful explained to me, as did the nurses, that if I refused the increases the nurses were not allowed to give me any Clozapine at all. So I chose to take the increases because I didn't want the misery of going through withdrawals. When I was first admitted to this hospital I was on 100 mg of Clozapine so I had to have that dose every night, a dose that I was on for nearly 10 years, or else I would go through serious, even life-threatening withdrawals. I know this from past experience because I almost died back in 2013. Back then I didn't know how dangerous it was to go without Clozapine for more than a day or two, not knowing how much my body was already addicted to it. Its' no wonder a psychiatric drug almost always has to be forced on patients when the doctor first puts them on it. Knowing what psychiatric drugs really are and what they really do to people, no one would willingly take them-once educated we have to be forced (see Wayne Ramsay's article "Psychiatric Drugs: Cure or Quackery?"). So this policy, a NEW policy because the Office of Mental Health {OMH) didn't have it at the Greater Binghamton Health Center when I was there back in 2013, is a guaranteed way to make patients like me (people who don't want to go through withdrawals or die) take whatever drugs or increases the doctor wants us to. 2. After everything that happened to me in past hospitalizations, I couldn't believe that OMH, the hospital administration, and the treatment team, still forces non-violent patients to be locked up on the same unit as violent patients. After witnessing the verbal and physical violence of a patient named Alex, yelling profanities at the top of his lungs to both patients and the staff (including death threats), he was coded and isolated for about 8 hours and then released back into the general population of us patients-only to repeat his violent behavior again, and again, and again. Dr. Afful, the treatment team leader, and the team as a whole-still to this day because I call the unit a few times a week to get updates from a friend who's still there-believe that the best way to deal with violent patients is to be as nice, polite, and tolerant as possible with them. The Office of Mental Health, the administration, and the treatment team at GBHC, are in the practice of enabling and even rewarding violent patients for their violent behavior because they feel its' the safest, most comfortable, easiest way to deal with them. I am not the only witness who will attest to this fact. I invite anyone who needs proof or solid evidence to investigate the bad policies and bad staff at GBHC and question other patients, as well as certain nurses and therapy aides, who heard and saw the violence THEY witnessed. In the case of Alex, after listening to his death threats against some of us patients AND the staff, I no longer felt safe on the unit. I thought I could be his next target. Alex had already physically assaulted an elderly patient named Richard, and the treatment team decided to transfer RICHARD to another unit instead of Alex. Thus, by enabling and rewarding Alex for what he did to Richard, Alex went on to yell, curse, threaten, and frighten many more patients up until the day of my discharge-and according to my friend who's still there, Alex is still getting coded for violent outbursts to this day. While I was on the unit with Alex, after what I witnessed myself, I no longer felt safe on the unit. So I called the NYS Justice Center (twice) from one of the patient phones and reported to them on a recorded line what Alex was doing and getting away with. I told the Justice Center why I no longer felt safe and why other patients were scared of Alex. I told them about the nurse named Amanda who Alex convinced to bring him both a lighter and methamphetamines to the unit. I explained how Alex took advantage of this foolish nurse and started a fire with the lighter in a garbage can in the men's bathroom. The smoke became strong enough to set off a smoke alarm and security rushed to the unit. I explained to the Justice Center how Alex was investigated, found guilty of what he did, and put on close observation for a while. Amanda, from what I overheard from staff in the hall, was rightfully fired for what she did but Alex was permitted to stay on the unit and continue his CRIMINAL behavior that had gone well beyond mental illness. I asked the representative I was speaking to on that recorded line for the Justice Center to do a full investigation into the facts I was giving her so they can have proof and know that what I was reporting to them is the truth. I also explained to the representative that if Alex ever found out that I reported his violent behavior to the Justice Center that he would retaliate and assault me-or kill me, knowing that Alex had already physically assaulted Richard for something much less. I continued my conversation with the representative by telling her my concern about the treatment team leader, Lisa Florance, who had advised me to intentionally lie to Alex and tell him I DIDN'T report him to the Justice Center if he were to ask me. Ms. Flornnce said she was trying to protert me, I explained, but intentionally lying to people (unless we have to shuffle) goes against my religious beliefs. Then the representative thanked me for calling the Justice Center and that they would do everything they could to investigate and handle the situation. So I ended the call, trusting them to do their job, but from what my friend (who's still there) told me on the phone, Alex is still on the unit and he's still getting coded on a regular basis. 3. With only a few weeks before I was scheduled for discharge, a patient named Andrey was admitted to the unit. I was sitting in a chair in the hallway waiting for my Clozapine, blood thinners, and other drugs, when I saw Andrey sitting on the floor only 3 or 4 feet away from me. Out of the blue he started pounding on his head, repeatedly, as hard as he could. Then he got up and started screaming at the top of his lungs and then started pounding his head on the wall. I immediately got up and went to my room as quickly as I could because I didn't know if he was both suicidal AND homicidal. Within a minute or two, Andrey was coded and the nurses told us to clear the hallway and go to our rooms {I was already in my room at that point). I was hoping Andrey's violent outburst was a one-time thing. But the next day Andrey physically assaulted another patient named Robert on the treatment mall. Shortly after that Andrey physically assaulted a Black therapy aide named Naasir, shouting the word nigger, repeatedly, while he hit and punched him. I thought for sure that Andrey would be transferred to a forensic hospital like Mid-Hudson after that, or at least another unit if the treatment team wanted to keep him there at GBHC. But I was wrong. And within only a few days after that, on the treatment mall, Andrey cornered and physically attacked an elderly patient named Vicki. So one of the nurse's aides, Patti Croft, put herself in harm's way, using her own body as a shield, to protect Vicki from Andrey's series of punches. Unfortunately, Andrey began pounding on Patti's head and by the time other staff members got to the scene and we could hear the code green over the loud speakers in the hall, it was too late. Patti had to be put on a stretcher and taken to the nearest medical hospital (most likely Binghamton General) to receive the medical attention she needed. None of us patients knew what had happened to Patti after that. We only knew she didn't come back to work again for at least a few weeks (she might have returned to work after I was discharged). Needless to say, almost every patient felt unsafe on the unit after that. A patient named Jackalynn filled out a complaint form against Andrey because she, like most of us, felt unsafe on the unit. Even though I have been discharged from GBHC, I am 100% sure that OMH, the hospital administration, and the treatment team, are still enabling and rewarding violent patients like Alex and Andrey for their violent behavior. I'm hoping they prove me wrong about this. But again, feel free to call or investigate anything I've written in this report so you can have the proof and evidence you need. 4. After I was finally discharged, after four months, I knew that one of the first things I needed to do was to convince my outpatient psychiatrist or ANOTHER psychiatrist if necessary, to help me slowly and safely wean off that dangerously high level of Clozapine that Dr. Afful forced me to be on. In my case, I have a blood clotting disorder caused by many years of being on Lithium and Clozapine (against my will) so I need to take blood thinners every day. Within 1 week after my discharge from GBHC I had a scheduled appointment with my anticoagulation provider who explained something to me that I never knew before. She said that Clozapine puts people at an increased risk of having blood clots, increasing the risk of a thrombotic event such as a deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart attack, or stroke. After hearing this I was shocked that Dr. Afful, while entrusted to his care at GBHC, TRIPLED the dose of Clozapine that I was on. I don't know how much longer I have to be on that dangerous drug, or if I'll ever find a REAL doctor to help me wean off it, but I know now that my life is in danger because of psychiatric and medical malpractice-and because of the drug interactions between Clozapine and blood thinners. But thankfully, during those four months at GBHC, I had continuous support and advocacy from Mindfreedom International and Psych Rights. The president of Mindfreedom connected me with well educated compassionate volunteers (via the patient phones on my unit) who posted a MindFreedom Shield Alert on my behalf on their website to help protect me from being forcefully drugged while at GBHC. The alert gave me the publicity I needed at the time to expose Dr. Afful and his treatment team for the way they were abusing and neglecting me and my fellow patients-regardless of their good intentions. Psych Rights posted a blog that I had written and was posted on their website (psychrights.org) back in 2020 that can be read by clicking on the link " Everyday Horrors of the Mental Health System." The title of that blog is "Corruption at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse." I am hoping that Psych Rights will also post this report "Corruption at Greater Binghamton Health Center in Binghamton" so that my fellow patients and I can get the publicity we need to find REAL doctors to help us slowly and safely wean off the psychiatric drugs that we've been forced to take. Thank you for taking the time to read my report and responding to it in a way that you feel would be the most helpful to patients who are being drugged against their will. Respectfully, Jason E. Hewlett