ANOTHER LIST OF DEAD INSTITUTIONALIZED AMERICAN TEENS

[suflowersinamericanow]

PLEASE POST EVERY LIST WE CAN FIND.

Why Congress needs to be involved?



>From: [email protected]
>Subject: Of Americas children
>Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:59:31 EDT
>
>Subj: [Obstruction-of-Injustice] Of Americas children
>Date: 6/28/03 2:20:51 PM US Eastern Standard Time
>From: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>
>
>
>
>>
>
>This list is from CCHR
>
>
>The Silent Death Of America's Children
>
>A continuing litany of death
>
>The death of a child is devastating by any measure. But when a child is
>killed under the guise of "help" by uncaring mental health professionals and an
>impassive system. It is unspeakably tragic.
>The following list is a damning indictment of what amounts to legalized child
>abuse dressed up as mental health treatment. CCHR
>
>***As a side note, I would like to take this description to an even lower
>level to include that
>this is legalized murder, and for those who did not die a physical death but
>an emotional one, until we, those who do see this, stand to oppose these
>atrocities, these children will never know decency, or trust. Each of these
>children are deserving of the honor of our remembering, and only in action will we
>ensure true honor and a restoration of hope. To the ones who are gone, the
>ones who remain, and those who will never have to experience this because our
>actions prevented future loss.
>As with all of my writing pertaining to this area of abuse, it is done so in
>loving honor and memory of Matthew Smith 14, who died in 2000,
>and Shaina Dunkle 10, who died in 2001.
>Denise Marhoefer
>The Defense Foundation for children USA
>
>Jeffrey Bogrett, 9
>Died December 1, 1995 while being violently restrained at the New England
>Center for Autism
>
>Chris Campbel 13,
>Died November 2,1997 from intense, repeated restraints at the Iowa Juvenile
>Home.
>
>Edith Campos, 15
>Died February 2, 1998, while being restrained for not giving staff her family
>photo at the Desert Hills Center, Arizona.
>
>Paul Choy 16,
>Died February 4, 1992 from suffocation while being restrained at Rite of
>Passage in Nevada.
>
>Casey Collier, 17
>Died December 21, 1993 of asphyxiation after being forcibly restrained at the
>Cleo Wallace Center in Colorado.
>
>Sabrina E. Day, 15
>Died February 10.2000 after being restrained at the North Carolina Group Home
>
>Sakena Dorsey, 18
>Died June 10.1997 from suffocation during a face down restraint, with a staff
>member laying across her back at Foundations Behavioral Health in
>Pennsylvania. She had a medical history of asthma and swollen tonsils that hindered her
>breathing.
>
>Mark Draheim, 14
>Died December 1998 of asphyxiation while being forcibly restrained by three
>staff members at Kids Peace in Pennsylvania
>
>Kara Fuller-Otter, 12
>Died June 7, 2001, killing herself while suffering withdrawal from an
>antidepressant.
>
>Anthony Green, 15
>Died May 12, 1991 while being restrained face down on the floor for 15
>minutes at the Brookhaven Youth Ranch in Texas.
>
>Jamar Griffiths, 15
>Died October 18, 1994 of heart and lung failure while being restrained at the
>Allen Residential Center in New York.
>
>Diane Harris, 17
>Died April 11, 1990 after being violently restrained at the Sequin Community
>Living Center in Texas.
>
>Tony Haynes,14
>Died July 1.2001 after being restrained at America's Buffalo Soldiers in
>Arizona.
>
>Charlotte Holliman 14
>Died July 31, 1992 from hanging herself while on an antidepressant at Truckee
>Meadows Hospital, Nevada
>
>Demetrius Jeffries, 17
>Died August 26, 1997 from strangulation while in a restraint hold at the
>Crockett State School in Texas.
>
>Jimmy Kanda, 6
>Died September 20.1997 from strangulation while in a restraint hold at Crow's
>Next Family Care Home in California.
>
>William "Eddie" Lee, 15
>Died September 18, 2000, after being restrained at Obsidian Trails Wilderness
>Camp in Oregon.
>
>John McCloskey, 18
>Died February 24, 1996, from a ruptured liver and a torn color and small
>intestine after being sodomized with a broom-like handle while at Western State
>Hospital in Virginia.
>
>Shinaul McGraw,12
>Died June 5, 1994 of extremely high body temperature after being wrapped in a
>bed sheet with gauze over her mouth and being restrained to a bed at New
>Directions, Second Chance in Washington.
>
>Caitlin McIntosh, 12
>Died January 5, 2000, in Texas from hanging herself after being on a cocktail
>of four psychiatric drugs.
>
>Kristal Mayon-Ceniceros, 16
>Died February 5, 1999, of respiratory arrest after being restrained face down
>on the floor by four staff members at New Alternatives in Chula Vista,
>California.
>
>Thomas Mapes, 17
>Died July 8.1994 of asphyxiation after being handcuffed and pushed face down
>on the floor at the Youth Center at Topeka in Kansas.
>
>Amanda Mead,18
>Died 1991 from two undiagnosed brain tumors. A California school counselor
>and psychiatrist had wrongly labeled her as manic-depressive.
>
>Travis Neal, 13
>Died November 24, 1997 , in Michigan, collapsing from a heart attack after
>taking a psychiatric stimulant for years.
>
>Candace Newmaker, 10
>Died April 2000 after being wrapped in a sheet and pushed by adults for 70
>minutes in a Colorado therapy session.
>
>Cameron Pettus, 12
>Died August 2, 1993, in Austin, Texas, from toxic levels of an
>antidepressant.
>
>
>Dustin E. Phelps, 14
>Died March 1, 1998, after being strapped in a blanket and mattress at a
>Lancaster foster home in Ohio.
>
>Bobby Jo Randolph, 17
>Died September 26.1996 from asphyxia due to compression of the neck after
>being restrained by two aides at the Progressive Youth Center in Texas.
>
>Kevin Neil Rider, 14
>Died June 3.2000 in Utah from shooting himself during antidepressant
>withdrawal.
>
>Eric Roberts, 16
>Died February 2, 1996, after being wrapped in a plastic and foam blanket with
>Velcro for one hour at Odyssey Harbor in Texas.
>
>Robert Rollins, 12
>Died April 21, 1997, from asphyxiation while being restrained face down with
>arms crossed over his chest after a dispute over his missing teddy bear at
>Deveraux School in Massachusetts.
>
>Joshua Sharpe, 17
>Died December 28, 1999, while being restrained at the Wisconsin Treatment
>Center.
>
>Macauley Showalter, 7
>Died September 30, 2000, in Hutchinson, Minnesota, of cardiac arrest while
>taking a psychiatric stimulant and three other psychiatric drugs.
>
>Earl Smith 9
>Died January 1, 1995, from asphyxiation due to chest compression while being
>restrained face down by a Children's Village staff member in Michigan.
>
>Mark Soares, 16
>Died April 29, 1998, of cardiac arrest from physical restrain when aides at
>Wayside Union Academy in Massachusetts thought he was "faking" unconsciousness.
>
>Randy Steele, 9
>Died February 6, 2000, of a heart attack while being restrained at Laurel
>Ridge Hospital in San Antonio. He had an enlarged heart and had been on several
>stimulant and several other psychiatric drugs.
>
>Jason Tallman, 12
>Died May 12, 1993 from suffocation while being restrained face down on a
>pillow at Kids Peace in Pennsylvania.
>
>Bobby Sue Thomas, 17
>Died August 16, 1996 from acute cardiac arrhythmia while being restrained
>face down at Northwood Children's Home in Minnesota.
>
>Timithy Thomas, 9
>Died March 11, 1999, while being restrained at the Grandfather Home for
>Children in North Carolina.
>
>Tanner Wilson, 11
>Died February 9, 2001, from a heart attack while being physically restrained
>at the Gerard of Iowa Facility.
>
>Michael Wiltsie, 12
>Died February 5, 2000, of asphyxiation while being restrained at Eckherd
>Youth Alternatives In Florida.
>
>Willy Wright, 14
>Died March 4, 2000, from suffocation while being restrained by staff at
>Southwest Mental Health Center in San Antonio, Texas.
>
>Jaimie Young, 13
>Died June 5, 1993, while on a hike at Ramsey Canyon Hospital & Treatment
>Center in Arizona. Autopsy found that death was caused by heat stroke with
>dehydration triggered by 10 times the lethal levels of an antidepressant in her
>system.
>
>Kelly Young, 17
>Died March 4, 1998 of asphyxiation while being restrained on the floor at
>Brisbane Child Treatment Center in New Jersey.
>
>Stephanie Hall, 11
>Died January 5, 1996, as a result of the use of psychiatric
>medications. While the coroner ruled her death to be of natural causes. It
>is anything but natural.
>
>Samuel Grossman, 13
>Died from an enlarged heart, a heart attack that was the consequence of
>long-term use of a psychiatric stimulant.
>
>Cecil Reed 16
>Died on April 7, 2000, suffering a massive heart attack while at the Bronx
>Children's Psychiatric Center in New York. With toxic levels of four psychiatric
>medications.
>
>Matthew Miller, 13
>His death is recorded as a suicide but is a direct result of the effects of
>an antidepressant.
>
>Raymond Perrone, 10
>His death recorded as a suicide, but is a result of withdrawal from a
>psychotropic drug.
>
>Daniel Ehrlich, 14
>Suicide from withdrawal of a stimulant drug.
>
>Tristan Sovern, 16
>Died of violent restraint the Charter Behavioral Health Systems hospital in
>North Carolina by two facility staff workers.
>
>Andrew McClain, 11
>Died of violent restraint while a patient at Elmcrest Behavior Network in
>Portland Connecticut by two staff members.
>
>Roshelle Clayborne,16
>Died of violent restraint at the Laurel Ridge Residential Treatment Center in
>SanAntonio Texas. Eight staff members participated in this death.
>
>
>In closing,
>and as a mother of four teenagers, ages 15, 17, 18, and 19,
>I would be arrested for any of these offenses.
>No one is entitled to commit these actions against children,
>and there is no title, program or guise for treatment, that is exempt or
>holds an entitlement of an excuse for immunity.
>We have a nation of parents whose parental rights were terminated, for even a
>very minimal coarse gesture. We have a systematic failure that is not held
>accountable to the children or the murder.
>When we remove children in an effort to modify parents behavior, or the
>childs,
>we as a society are then accountable.
>I do not believe death is the appropriate behavior modification we should be
>looking for.
>
>Denise Marhoefer
>The Defense Foundation for Children
>USA
>@2003 Touch The Thunder Publishing & Recording Co.
>
>

[Anonymous]

this is genocide

 what happened to these childens' families?

[suflowersinamericanow]

Genocide is exactly correct.
I will be taking this public today.
Please wish me luck.
I can hear all these children who have died in America's institutions.  I can hear them.
God Bless America.

[Anonymous]

HOLY THE CHILDREN

http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/tribute1.html

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe this, yet I do.  I want to scream in this computer library right now.  How and where are these children's parents?!  Where are they?  Do they just accept their children are dead?  Where are the aunts, uncles, friends, GRANDPARENTS?
Oh Lord, have mercy on us.

[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

[Antigen]

On 2003-07-20 10:02:00, Anonymous wrote:

"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."

I don't think more regulation is going to do the trick here. This goes all the way back to Art Barker and The Seed and new NIDA regulations that required informed consent for treatment. Soon, the fan-fare died down, The Seed shut down in St. Pete, Cleveland, Miami and wherever else it had spread to and pulled back to just the one warehouse in Ft. Lauderdale.

Within a couple of years, Straight set up shop with a half dozen former Seed staff and parents. Same song and dance, same people, same town, same.... everything. But the consent form requirement was just ignored, along with the ban on federal funding.

As de dawg chases his tail...

I think we make a mistake when we get distracted by what amounts to administrative bullshit. Every day, these programs do things which are patently illegal! I don't care how much of a control freak someone may be, it is not legal to pay professional kidnappers to abduct the kid from their bed or elsewhere the way they do. If you want to put cuffs on someone, you must 1) be a law enforcement or medical professional and 2) be able to prove you had a damned good reason to do it AND no other recourse.

No amount of procedural band-aids will ever change WWASP into a responsible, humanitarian organization.

It breaks my heart to see these evil bastards get off with what amounts to administrative changes, some oversight, maybe paying out a settlement. It's like watching Charles Manson get off with a jaywalking ticket.

Charles Long III was criminally charged for the death of a child in his care. Still don't know the verdict or sentence. Miller Newton just got stung to the tune of $6.5Mil for what he did to one young lady and her family over the course of 15 years.

Maybe we'll see more of this sort of thing. Maybe we should pressure Congress for some kind of inquery? Certainly, the journalism is helping.

The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. ... and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.
-- St. George Tucker, Judge of the Virginia Supreme Court 1803

[Anonymous]

Kidnapping someone who has reached the age of majority (18 years old in most states) is a federal offense.  No wonder so many of these programs urge parents to "do something before it's too late".  This is one area of the law that can and must be changed to keep pace with the growing number of teens being kidnapped and transported (sometimes in hand and leg cuffs)across state lines into private instititutions.

Perhaps Ginger can start an online petition to help facilitate congressional hearings?

In the meantime, every state should follow the lead of California which has passed legislation protecting the rights of transported children and their families. How about organizing a national campaign to get other state lawmakers to sponsor similar legislation?  

 :wave:

[Anonymous]

P.S.

Of course, many parents have a different point of view about transport services.  See link below to participate in a discussion about this very topic.

http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 2;t=000523

 :wave:

[falconstar]

Deborah

We hear this every day.  Often, institutions and their carriers use bankruptcy to avoid accountability.  It takes a VERY couragous and committed (and well funded) attorney to disregard all the risks they incur trying to plow through this strategy.  However, it can be done.

I'm not an attorney, but I believe you are entitled to an itemized accounting of expenses.  (10% is not "out of line" but I wonder if they were shared among a number of plaintiffs).

I wouldn't comment on your attorney, (I'm only vaguely familiar with your case, as a Social Worker in private practice, a family with whom I worked, placed their son at MMA. He left a few years before your case came to light and had no complaints). But if you have doubts about what you should do next, I would encourage you to consult another attorney.

To finally answer your question, "How does one determine if an attorney is a settlement hack or one that loves the court room?"

1) Have they won a judgement, (hopefully a BIG judgement) in a similar case, AT TRIAL"  

2) Are they well funded, with the financial ability to adequately prepare and prosecute the case.  ie: expert witnesses, investigators, mock trials, jury experts, forensic accountants, bankruptcy attorneys...  (it's not uncommon to see a firm spend more than $100,000 on a case)

4) Do they specialize in institutional neglect and abuse cases?

5) Their first ethical responsibility is to their individual client, but beyond that, are they true advocates for SYSTEMIC change, are they active in advocacy groups, etc.

If you can answer an unqualified YES to all of the above questions you probably have found the right attorney.

[suflowersinamericanow]

Just Call Them Crazy
http://www.wiretapmag.org/story.html?StoryID=16151

Youth activists have long been marginalized and ignored by their
parents, teachers and lawmakers. Now a new psychiatric label -- "Oppositional
Defiance Disorder" -- is being used to take away their rights and keep
them locked up in reform camps.