PsychRights®
Law Project for
Psychiatric Rights
PsychRights March 15, 2005 Newsletter
Hi Everyone,
You are receiving this e-Newsletter
because we believe you are interested in the work of the Law Project for
Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) in fighting forced psychiatric drugging (and
electroshock) through the courts by exposing the faulty science behind these
so-called "treatments." If that is incorrect please just let us know by
e-mail to jim@psychrights.org and we will take you off the
list. We only sent three of these out in 2004 and while we
expect to send a few more than that in 2005 we won't be sending more than one in
any given month unless there is some really important news. Our
e-mail server was somewhat screwed up after I sent the last report and a lot of
e-mail bounced (didn't make it through) during that period. It is working
now.
2005 Action Conference on Human Rights in Mental Health --
Washington, D.C., April 29th-May 2nd. MindFreedom/Support
Coalition International is putting on a conference titled "Activism for Human
Rights in Mental Health: How the Law Can Support Grassroots Action for Human
Rights in the Mental Health System," April 29-May 2 in Washington,
D.C. This conference will have a limited number and amount of
speaking (but Bob Whitaker, author of Mad in America will be one of them)
as it is designed to develop an action agenda and then have people go out and
work on it. I am one of the facilitators and PsychRights is proud to
be involved in supporting and planning for this Action Conference.
There
are six facilitated tracks:
- International Focus: Advocacy with The World Health
Organization (WHO) as well as the United Nations (UN) especially related to the
International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
Facilitators include: MindFreedom President, Celia Brown and MindFreedom
Director, David Oaks.
- US Congress/Federal Government Focus: Planning actions to
resist the unfair influence of the psychiatric drug industry on the US
government. Facilitators include: Dominick Riccio, PhD, Executive
Director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology
(ICSPP).
- Choices In Mental Health Focus: Support humane alternatives to
the traditional mental health system. Facilitators include: MindFreedom board
member Janet Foner.
- How The Law Can Help Fight Forced Treatment Focus: Fight
the increased use of force in the mental health system by combining the tools of
the legal system and grassroots activism. Facilitators include:
attorney/survivor Jim Gottstein, Director of the Law Project for Psychiatric
Rights (PsychRights).
- Public Education and the Media Focus: Relationship between the
media, science and grassroots actions for human rights in mental
health. Facilitators include: Laurie Ahern from Mental Disability
Rights International (MDRI) and Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in
America.
- Open Track Focus: Provide an open space for any
conference participants to raise topics, ideas or concerns not covered by other
conference tracks, especially voices from neglected and marginalized
groups. Facilitators include: MindFreedom board member Al Galves.
There is also a protest against PhRMA, the lobbying arm of Big Pharma
scheduled for Monday, May 2nd.
The Conference registration is only $145
and it includes a reception meal on Friday evening as well as breakfast and
lunch on both Saturday and Sunday for each conference participant.
Complete information about the Action Conference is available at http://mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/action_conference.shtml.
There is a wide range of lodging options listed, including very low cost
ones.
So, if you are interested in joining with people who are committed
to fight against abuses of coercive psychiatry attending this conference is a
must. There is a very limited amount of funding available for
scholarships for those who want to roll up their sleeves and work on this, but
don't have the funds to attend. Donations to the scholarship fund
will be very much appreciated by MindFreedom for those of you who can't come but
want to help.
Montana State Hospital/Montana Mental Disabilities
Board of Visitors In our 2004 Year-End Report, we reported that
six people from Montana State Hospital had contacted MindFreedom about forced
drugging and other rights violations and that we hoped to mount an effective
campaign there. The number eventually grew to 8 and in January I started
advocating for a specific individual. This irritated them enough
that their attorney wrote me a letter saying I was engaging in the unauthorized
practice of law in Montana, which could jeopardize my license to practice law in
Alaska. http://psychrights.org/States/Montana/PKohmanLtr.pdf I
wrote back that I certainly had not engaged in the unauthorized practice of law
in Montana (
http://psychrights.org/States/Montana/Response2PKohmanltr.pdf) and then
wrote a seven page letter to the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court
about not only the unauthorized practice of law issue, but how the Montana
Mental Disabilities Board of Visitors was violating the Montana Supreme Court's
express direction regarding representation of psychiatric respondents. http://psychrights.org/states/Montana/CJGrayLtr.pdf. I then
wrote the members of the Board of Visitors about their Executive Director
(proudly) being on record that the Board of Visitors was violating the Montana
Supreme Court's express directions. http://psychrights.org/States/Montana/jgBoVltr.pdf
Chris
Pittman Chris Pittman, under the influence of Zoloft, which
is known to cause homicidal behavior, shot and killed his grandparents when he
was 12 years old. Andy Vickery, donating his services pro
bono, put on a huge defense, but the South Carolina jury convicted him
anyway and the judge sentenced Chris to 30 years in prison. That was the
minimum under the statute and under South Carolina law, he serves the whole
sentence. We contributed some legal work on behalf of Chris Pittman's
motion to reduce his 30 year sentence based on the Eighth Amendment's
prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Andy also
discovered jury misconduct and has filed a motion for a new trial. You can
find out more information about this case at http://justiceseekers.com/.
Finances
Our finances are transparent with financial reports available at http://psychrights.org/about.htm. Our base of support has
grown, with 43 separate donors contributing in 2004, which is up from 18 in
2003. A more complete summary of our donation support can be found at http://psychrights.org/about/Donations.htm. We currently
have enough money to pay some representation costs, such as expert witness fees
or even copy costs.
We will also be very grateful for any
donations. Our suggested levels of giving are:
- Professionals -- $1,000 per year
- Other fully employed people -- $250 per year
- Low-income Survivors and other supporters -- $5 per
month
If you support PsychRights' work and can donate,
please do so.
Myers Case. In what we hope will
be an important Alaska Supreme Court case on forced drugging, Myers v. Alaska
Psychiatric Institute, the Alaska Supreme Court seems to be on a very slow
track. The appeal was filed almost two years ago and oral argument held
over a year ago. The Court ordered supplemental briefing in June of last
year, which was completed at the end of September. It seems they didn't
even talk about the case amongst themselves until February so it very well may
be a number of additional months before a decision comes out.
In the Myers case, the trial court found:
- [T]here is a real and viable debate among qualified experts in the
psychiatric community regarding whether the standard of care for treating
schizophrenic patients should be the administration of anti-psychotic medication
and
- [T]here is a viable debate in the psychiatric community regarding whether
administration of this type of medication might actually cause damage to her or
ultimately worsen her condition
but ruled against us because the
statute didn't make that relevant. We assert that it is unconstitutional
to forcibly drug someone against their will unless, at a minimum, the state can
prove it is in the person's best interest. We also assert that under
applicable constitutional law, the state is required to exhaust any less
restrictive alternatives first. More information on this case can be
found at http://psychrights.org/States/Alaska/CaseOne.htm.
Interestingly, we have been informed by the hospital that this case and
PsychRights' other efforts have reduced the amount of forced
medication. We certainly know that in the few situations we have
intervened on behalf of inmates* this has been true. In fact, an e-mail or
phone call questioning how this or that person could be considered to meet
commitment criteria has resulted in those people being discharged quickly
without forced medication. The Myers case was a difficult
experience for at least some personnel at the hospital (which is as it should
be) and PsychRights believes that only by making forced drugging (and
involuntary commitment) much harder to obtain will other options be seriously
considered. This certainly seems to be happening here and if we get a
decision from the Alaska Supreme Court that the least restrictive alternative is
a constitutional requirement we will have a lot of legal leverage to force the
availability of such alternatives. However, there is little doubt that
additional litigation will be needed to achieve the actual availability of
alternatives.
Informed Consent Case. We are still
looking for a plaintiff to file an informed consent case against the state
hospital, Alaska Psychiatric Institute. See, http://psychrights.org/States/Alaska/CaseTwo.htm
Forced Drugging in Prison Case. The case we had
going last year challenging the forced drugging regime in the Alaska Department
of Corrections got dismissed on technical grounds. It wasn't at all clear
the judge was right, but we would have started it over. However, our
client declined to re-start the case. Nevertheless, in the course of that
case, the state essentially admitted it is violating the constitution under the
rules laid down by the United States Supreme Court in Washington v.
Harper, 494 U.S. 201 (1990), http://psychrights.org/research/Legal/WashingtonvHarper.htm.
See, http://psychrights.org/States/Alaska/CaseThree.htm. We are
currently working on taking these admissions into a new case challenging
the forced drugging regime in Alaska prisons as being
unconstitutional.
Recruiting Attorneys and
Psychiatrists. Since I can represent people in Alaska, it is
easy to get serious challenges going to the extent that I can possibly devote
the time to do a good job on each case. Even so, we have started a
concerted effort to recruit pro bono attorneys in Alaska. While I
can theoretically get admitted in other states on specific cases and, in fact,
am admitted in one case in another state right now, realistically we need more
people. The two key ingredients in any case are having (1) an attorney who
will make a serious case, and (2) a psychiatrist to serve as expert witness for
the defense. For attorneys, there are rarely those that work in the
system that are willing to make serious cases, but in the main, recruiting
pro bono attorneys seems viable. Most bar associations have pro
bono coordinators and many law firms have pro bono programs.
With respect to psychiatrists, there are various ways to try and identify
potential expert witnesses. PsychRights is also making a concerted effort
this year to recruit attorneys and psychiatrists around the country. As
was mentioned above, there is a modest amount of money from your generous
contributions to pay for expert witness fees and other litigation costs.
In addition, PsychRights is available for technical support.
If you have
any suggestions for possible attorneys or psychiatrists, please pass them along
to me at jim@psychrights.org.
---------------
*The American Heritage
Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defines inmate as: "A resident of a dwelling that
houses a number of occupants, especially a person confined to an institution,
such as a prison or hospital." (emphasis added)
James B. (Jim) Gottstein, Esq.
Law Project for Psychiatric
Rights
406 G Street, Suite 206
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Phone:
(907) 274-7686) Fax: (907) 274-9493
jim@psychrights.org
http://psychrights.org/
Psych Rights ®
Law
Project for
Psychiatric
Rights
The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is
a public interest law firm devoted to the defense of people facing the horrors
of unwarranted forced psychiatric drugging. We are further dedicated to
exposing the truth about these drugs and the courts being misled into ordering
people to be drugged and subjected to other brain and body damaging procedures
against their will. Extensive information about this is available on our
web site, http://psychrights.org/. Please donate generously.
Our work is fueled with your IRS 501(c) tax deductible donations. Thank
you for your ongoing help and support.