Re: Forced Electroshock

[wdtony]

That's funny, Mercy was who conducted Pathway's so-called outcomes study.

Protesting is great, it gets you out in the open air, helps a cause and everybody thinks you're crazy.

My favorite part:

"Ray's forced shock is a sign and symptom of how extremely oppressive today's mental health system remains, and how so much of our society is complicit with this oppression."

I think the reason people don't fight things like this is the same reason animals like cows and sheep go along for the ride and eventually get slaughtered. Survival. We may be oppressed and give up our rights, but if we keep our head down and act like everything's alright we won't be destroyed in prison, killed by a non-lethal weapon and will be able to propagate.

But we are humans and not cows. We have a thick cortex and frontal lobes and critical thinking abilities. And some of us know that freedom is more important than our own lives and even procreation itself. Living life in captivity is not really living.

[Antigen]

Teenager Left Hanging by Belt in Shelter, Police Report Says

June 23, 2000

By Carol Marbin Miller
[email protected]

When Oakland Park Police officer Matthew Marks arrived at a state-licensed juvenile shelter last week to investigate the attempted suicide of a 15-year-old boy, he was astonished to find the youth still dangling from his black leather belt.

Police ``immediately loosened the belt,'' around the boy's neck, Marks wrote in a police report. The boy did not have a pulse, but he was still warm.

Now, the boy remains in a coma at Broward General Hospital, and doctors think he has suffered permanent brain damage, said Oakland Park Police Sgt. Dan Cucchi. The Herald is not naming the boy because of his age.

``Oh, my God,'' said Chief Assistant Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, when told of the police report. ``I am shocked. I am almost speechless that anybody -- a jailer, a lawyer or a candlestick maker -- would allow a child to remain hanging by his neck and not take him down.''

The Public Defender's Office phoned the state's child abuse hot line Thursday, and asked officials with the Department of Children and Families to investigate the actions of employees at the 28-bed Lippman Family Center shelter after the attempted suicide, Finkelstein said. Public defenders have not yet been appointed to represent the boy, who is facing domestic violence charges.

``If a kid is hanging, and not dead, and you don't cut him down immediately, there is no excuse,'' said Finkelstein, whose office represents the vast majority of children awaiting trial in Broward County. ``This will cost the county millions of dollars -- as well it should.''

The June 12 incident already is under investigation by the Oakland Park police, the Department of Juvenile Justice's inspector general's office and Lutheran Services Florida, the not-for-profit social service agency that runs the shelter, named after former state Rep. Fred Lippman.

Eight youths were housed at the shelter Thursday, and state juvenile justice officials said they have taken no action against the center pending the outcome of their investigation.

Joy Margolis, a spokeswoman at Lutheran Services' Tampa headquarters, declined to discuss what actions the company is taking in response to the incident. All calls were referred to the Tampa headquarters, with local staff members refusing to answer questions.

``We are conducting an investigation internally to determine exactly what happened,'' Margolis said Thursday. ``That continues as we speak.

``We did hear that he was in a coma,'' Margolis said. ``This is a very tragic situation. We really are very concerned about it.''

Lutheran Services Florida is part of an international social services network that offers youth and family services, guardianship programs for elders, disaster relief and resettlement services for indigent immigrants. The agency has been in business much of the last century, and about 20 years in Florida. The state contracts with the agency to provide shelter to runaways and delinquents.

Last week, doctors said the boy was improving. However, earlier this week, police were told the boy had lapsed into a coma.

``It is expected that he will have permanent brain damage from the hanging,'' said Cucchi. ``The extent is not known.

``The rescue efforts could have been done sooner,'' Cucchi said. ``Obviously, the health and well-being of the patient is paramount to anything else. Health and welfare should be anybody's first concern.''

The boy was arrested last month on domestic violence charges following an altercation with his mother. When the boy's parents refused to let him come back home, he was ordered by Broward Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian to remain at the runaway shelter until his case was resolved.

In the days before his suicide attempt, the boy had confided to acquaintances at the shelter that he wanted to end his life, the police report states. The boy's roommate told police he didn't take the boy seriously. ``They thought he was trying to get attention,'' said Cucchi.

PLANNED HANGING

At about 9:40 p.m. that night, as the boy's roommate was preparing to take a shower, the boy told him, ``I'm going to hang myself now,'' the police report states. ``About 10 minutes later, after he finished showering, [the roommate] checked on [the boy] and found him hanging from a belt off of his bunk bed.''

The roommate told a shelter employee, Sandra Trotter, who, in turn, called 911 at about 9:50 p.m. When police and paramedics arrived minutes later, Trotter was holding four Polaroid photographs of the boy ``in the hanging position,'' the report states. Meanwhile, the boy was still hanging from his neck.

``I observed [the boy] slumped down in a sitting position along the side of his bunk bed,'' Marks wrote in his report. ``The belt was looped around his neck and affixed to the top of the bunk bed.''

Jack Levine, a children's advocate and president of the Center for Florida's Children in Tallahassee, said the suicide attempt was worrisome because it could easily have been prevented if the boy's peers at the shelter had alerted staff to his threats.

'CODE OF SECRECY'

Their silence, Levine said, reminded him of school chums who failed to warn authorities that Nathaniel Brazill, the 13-year-old Lake Worth middle schooler accused of shooting his teacher May 26, was showing off his semiautomatic pistol to classmates.

``The code of secrecy young people have with their peers can turn to disaster,'' Levine said. ``While silence may be golden in some circumstances, with threats of violence or self-destruction, silence can be deadly.''

The public defender's office, which represents about eight of every 10 children arrested in Broward, was alarmed when informed of the police report's contents.

``When you see a kid hanging, why the hell wouldn't you take the kid down, unless you thought he was dead?'' said Mindy Solomon, the public defender's juvenile division supervisor. ``When EMS comes to the scene of a hanging, do they take pictures or take the kid down?

``My concern in having this information is for the safety of any child in Broward County -- not only the PD's clients, but any child in Broward County -- who could be in that facility.''
 

Lutheran Svcs is Ray's 'therapy' provider. Joy Margolis is former spokeswoman for Straight, Inc.

[Anonymous]

Looks to me like there needs to be a little more forced electroshock- just to different people, with higher voltages.

[Anonymous]

Teenager Left Hanging by Belt in Shelter, Police Report Says

June 23, 2000

By Carol Marbin Miller
[email protected]

When Oakland Park Police officer Matthew Marks arrived at a state-licensed juvenile shelter last week to investigate the attempted suicide of a 15-year-old boy, he was astonished to find the youth still dangling from his black leather belt.

Police ``immediately loosened the belt,'' around the boy's neck, Marks wrote in a police report. The boy did not have a pulse, but he was still warm.

Now, the boy remains in a coma at Broward General Hospital, and doctors think he has suffered permanent brain damage, said Oakland Park Police Sgt. Dan Cucchi. The Herald is not naming the boy because of his age.

``Oh, my God,'' said Chief Assistant Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, when told of the police report. ``I am shocked. I am almost speechless that anybody -- a jailer, a lawyer or a candlestick maker -- would allow a child to remain hanging by his neck and not take him down.''

The Public Defender's Office phoned the state's child abuse hot line Thursday, and asked officials with the Department of Children and Families to investigate the actions of employees at the 28-bed Lippman Family Center shelter after the attempted suicide, Finkelstein said. Public defenders have not yet been appointed to represent the boy, who is facing domestic violence charges.

``If a kid is hanging, and not dead, and you don't cut him down immediately, there is no excuse,'' said Finkelstein, whose office represents the vast majority of children awaiting trial in Broward County. ``This will cost the county millions of dollars -- as well it should.''

The June 12 incident already is under investigation by the Oakland Park police, the Department of Juvenile Justice's inspector general's office and Lutheran Services Florida, the not-for-profit social service agency that runs the shelter, named after former state Rep. Fred Lippman.

Eight youths were housed at the shelter Thursday, and state juvenile justice officials said they have taken no action against the center pending the outcome of their investigation.

Joy Margolis, a spokeswoman at Lutheran Services' Tampa headquarters, declined to discuss what actions the company is taking in response to the incident. All calls were referred to the Tampa headquarters, with local staff members refusing to answer questions.

``We are conducting an investigation internally to determine exactly what happened,'' Margolis said Thursday. ``That continues as we speak.

``We did hear that he was in a coma,'' Margolis said. ``This is a very tragic situation. We really are very concerned about it.''

Lutheran Services Florida is part of an international social services network that offers youth and family services, guardianship programs for elders, disaster relief and resettlement services for indigent immigrants. The agency has been in business much of the last century, and about 20 years in Florida. The state contracts with the agency to provide shelter to runaways and delinquents.

Last week, doctors said the boy was improving. However, earlier this week, police were told the boy had lapsed into a coma.

``It is expected that he will have permanent brain damage from the hanging,'' said Cucchi. ``The extent is not known.

``The rescue efforts could have been done sooner,'' Cucchi said. ``Obviously, the health and well-being of the patient is paramount to anything else. Health and welfare should be anybody's first concern.''

The boy was arrested last month on domestic violence charges following an altercation with his mother. When the boy's parents refused to let him come back home, he was ordered by Broward Circuit Judge Dorian Damoorgian to remain at the runaway shelter until his case was resolved.

In the days before his suicide attempt, the boy had confided to acquaintances at the shelter that he wanted to end his life, the police report states. The boy's roommate told police he didn't take the boy seriously. ``They thought he was trying to get attention,'' said Cucchi.

PLANNED HANGING

At about 9:40 p.m. that night, as the boy's roommate was preparing to take a shower, the boy told him, ``I'm going to hang myself now,'' the police report states. ``About 10 minutes later, after he finished showering, [the roommate] checked on [the boy] and found him hanging from a belt off of his bunk bed.''

The roommate told a shelter employee, Sandra Trotter, who, in turn, called 911 at about 9:50 p.m. When police and paramedics arrived minutes later, Trotter was holding four Polaroid photographs of the boy ``in the hanging position,'' the report states. Meanwhile, the boy was still hanging from his neck.

``I observed [the boy] slumped down in a sitting position along the side of his bunk bed,'' Marks wrote in his report. ``The belt was looped around his neck and affixed to the top of the bunk bed.''

Jack Levine, a children's advocate and president of the Center for Florida's Children in Tallahassee, said the suicide attempt was worrisome because it could easily have been prevented if the boy's peers at the shelter had alerted staff to his threats.

'CODE OF SECRECY'

Their silence, Levine said, reminded him of school chums who failed to warn authorities that Nathaniel Brazill, the 13-year-old Lake Worth middle schooler accused of shooting his teacher May 26, was showing off his semiautomatic pistol to classmates.

``The code of secrecy young people have with their peers can turn to disaster,'' Levine said. ``While silence may be golden in some circumstances, with threats of violence or self-destruction, silence can be deadly.''

The public defender's office, which represents about eight of every 10 children arrested in Broward, was alarmed when informed of the police report's contents.

``When you see a kid hanging, why the hell wouldn't you take the kid down, unless you thought he was dead?'' said Mindy Solomon, the public defender's juvenile division supervisor. ``When EMS comes to the scene of a hanging, do they take pictures or take the kid down?

``My concern in having this information is for the safety of any child in Broward County -- not only the PD's clients, but any child in Broward County -- who could be in that facility.''
 

Lutheran Svcs is Ray's 'therapy' provider. Joy Margolis is former spokeswoman for Straight, Inc.

i can't imagine anything more disgusting, and i don't undestand why the staff is not in prison. What is the name of the staff who took the photos ?