Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
ANOTHER LIST OF DEAD INSTITUTIONALIZED AMERICAN TEENS
falconstar:
We are not powerless! Much of this industry is driven by raw greed cloaked in concern for "troubled youth". Although the big corporate players are too well connected, particularly with this administration, to expect systemic changes. We can do something. Sue 'em! Hit 'em where it really hurts, in the bottom line.
If you, or your child is abused and/or injured, or God forbid, killed. Find a good personal injury attorney who loves the court room, not a "settlement hack". Never let your attorney accept "Insurance limits" as a settlement nor sign a confidentiality agreement. Those that do, just become part of the problem, not the solution. They make abusing, injuring and killing kids just another "cost of doing business".
Anonymous:
Find a good personal injury attorney who loves the court room, not a "settlement hack". Never let your attorney accept "Insurance limits" as a settlement nor sign a confidentiality agreement. Those that do, just become part of the problem, not the solution. They make abusing, injuring and killing kids just another "cost of doing business".
Falconstar,
How does one determine if an attorney is a settlement hack or one that loves the court room?
I ask because my son and I sued the Marine Military Academy he attended for 6 mo. It began as a class of 50+ plantiffs, then dissolved to individual cases. It went on for 5 years and is settling now.
One reason it took so long is that the facility filed bankruptcy which held things up for two years. The judge ordered the case back to our state and demanded they step up to the plate and take responsibility.
In the meantime, the insurance company that covered them while my son was enrolled (Reliance in Penn) filed bankruptcy- it was after 911. I think they saw all those claims coming on top of ours. The CEO began embesseling money and bankrupted the company.
As a result, my son's case (one of the largest) estimated at 2million+ was worth nothing. He will recieve pennies on the dollar from the Guarantte Fund set up in our state by trial attorneys for this purpose.
My question to the attorney, for which she had no answer- If I cause a wreck and have no insurance, they come after my personal assets. Why not in this case? She had no answer but said she was investigating their assests. She obviously did not pursue the facility for damages. Does the fact that their Ins Co went bankrupt make them any less liable? No.
His settlement will be less than the $300K allowed, which is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but she'll take 40% + expenses, which doesn't leave even enough for the estimated future counseling the doctor said he would need at crucial milestones in his life.
She settled my claim first and did not provide an itemized list of expenses, just deducted my percentage of the total divided between all parents, which ironically amounted to another 10%. She had "loss of consortium" in my claim but later removed it, telling me it wasn't available in our state. I have since discovered it is. And I was required to sign a confidentiality agreement. How does one avoid this? I assumed they would not settle if I didn't. She did not advise me either way. I assume she/they will require the same of my son. What happens if he refuses? He will be making that decision shortly.
The Guarantee Fund looks like it was created to protect the victim, but I now believe it's more able ensuring the attorney is paid.
She was very helpful and communicative in the beginning. That all changed after they filed bankruptcy. Direct questions were never answered.
In hindsight, I think she gave up at that point, but didn't make that know, rather kept feeding our hopes that all would be well, while she put her attention on other cases.
Would you consider her a "settlement hack"? And how would one know? The legal system is so complicated and I felt totally dependent on her for accurate information and counseling. It's extremely frustrating when you don't feel you can trust your legal representative.
And the sad thing- no real changes have occured at the facility. I feel certain the abuse is continuing and they are off the hook financially because their Ins Co went broke. Disgusting.
Deborah
Anonymous:
These death lists are mixing apples and oranges, it seems to me, and aren't likely to convince anyone of anything, particularly not Congress.
Deaths from "misdiagnosed brain tumors" or "psychiatric drugs" fall under the category of medical malpractice (if indeed, they were actually malpractice-- which is hard to prove). They are still tragic, of course, but the problem there is not a systemic one, but rather one to do with individual mistakes-- unless the drugs were prescibed by people who weren't really doctors in an unlicensed, unregulated facility.
Deaths caused by untrained workers in unlicensed, unregulated facilities-- whether from restraint or maltreatment, are another story. This is the real problem with WWASP, boot camps, etc. Here, the system itself is the problem-- a system with no oversight where patients are never believed is a recipe for injury and death--and this is where activists should be focusing.
Unless you want to argue that there should be no psychiatric treatment for teens at all-- an argument that is not going to get you very far with Congress either.
The focus it seems to me should be on getting better regulation, making sure treatment meets a standard of care for a particular condition, making sure treatment is based on real evidence, not just someone's stories-- if you expand beyond that into "all psychiatry is bad" or "all psychiatric medication is bad" you are not going to get very far.
Activism, unless it is very focused, is often futile-- and listing every teen who died in an institution no matter whether it was regulated or not, no matter whether the staff was trained properly or not, no matter whether there were proper policies in place to allow complaints or not, just seems to me to confuse the issue and give ammunition to those who say that activists aren't offering anything in place of the current, problematic system.
suflowersinamericanow:
It is interesting to me that a person using a username like Anonymous in a discussion would qualify the use of information in activism.
Dead teens are a pretty big issue in my book which proved to be focused in Costa Rica.
I hope you are not in the business of encouraging the teens who have been institutionalized and are still alive.
Yes, I am a bit stunned when people think that children dead in America because of institutionalization is not a crime. It is genocide. America's value as a country is
lessened for this, if not completely devalued. We will see this truth exposed and then we will heal.
Last January, 2003 after talking to a survivor of WWASP, I experienced a night when I felt strongly that my daughter, Nicole Helene Deniken, was killed. This mobilized me to activate my full potential to getting her out of Academy at Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica.. Nicole could have been on one of these lists of dead American teens. Read her posts. She shares her truth to power which is why she was sent away.
If you can't encourage, do not dis-courage.
Sincerely,
Su Flowers
Deborah:
>>If you expand beyond that into "all psychiatry is bad" or "all psychiatric medication is bad" you are not going to get very far.
While I dislike psychiatry and avoid it like the plague, I completely agree with the wisdom of this advice, at this juncture. The effort could become diluted if the focus is too broad.
There are very capable activists working on and making great progress with the other arm of psychiatry... the rush to drug, who are further down the road than program activists. They would be excellent allies for this effort. The issue regarding the misdiagnosis of brain tumors is but one example of many. Other causes of "undesirable" behavior (diet, school environment and learning differences, personal problems, etc) too frequently go unexplored for a quick fix. All other avenues should first be explored, imo.
Until you educate yourself, one can not fathom the unleashed power the psych industry has over a person's rights and freedoms. One can be committed based on someone else's opinion. If you resist you are "proving" you're crazy and in need of treatment. Ford Motor is using psychiatry to label strikers and others who dissent against management. This industry has too much power and influence. At some point it may be useful to lump everything together, I personally don't think that time is now.
Combine all deaths on a common list if you wish (I do), but I think it would be more effective to seperate them when taking action specific to programs. Just my personal opinion.
Deborah
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