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Topics - MedicalWhistleblower

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1
Teen Challenge / Teen Challenge Fund Raising FL Dept of Consumer Affairs
« on: November 02, 2011, 06:14:24 PM »
From the Division of Consumer Services of the State of Florida - The Gift Givers’ Guide is a resource that provides the financial information reported to them from charitable organizations.

https://csapp.800helpfla.com/cspublicapp/giftgiversquery/giftgiversquery.aspx

Teen Challenge International, Usa, Ozark, MO    

Registration Number :CH8204   Expiration Date : 10/3/2012
Revenue Source : 08 - IRS 990 w/ Sch.A (03/31/2010)
Total Revenue : $1,833,010.00   Program Services Expenses : $661,526.00   65%
Total Expenses : $1,020,681.00   Administrative Expenses : $343,782.00   34%
Surplus/Deficit : $812,329.00   Fund-Raising Expenses : $15,373.00   2%   

 
Teen Challenge Of Florida, Inc., Columbus, GA    

Also Soliciting as:     
Branson Teen Challenge
Central Florida Teen Challenge
Columbus Teen Challenge
Griffin Teen Challenge
Gulf Coast Teen Challenge
Kansas City Teen Challenge
Lakeland Teen Challenge
Middle Georgia Teen Challenge
South Florida Teen Challenge
Southwest Florida Teen Challenge
Tallahassee Teen Challenge
Teen Challenge International
Teen Challenge Of Florida/Georgia
Teen Challenge Of The Ozarks
Vero Beach Teen Challenge
West Florida Teen Challenge
   
Registration Number :CH4224   Expiration Date : 4/19/2012
Revenue Source : 08 - IRS 990 w/ Sch.A (12/31/2009)
Total Revenue : $13,913,250.00   Program Services Expenses : $10,380,618.00   80%
Total Expenses : $13,033,800.00   Administrative Expenses : $1,947,525.00   15%
Surplus/Deficit : $879,450.00   Fund-Raising Expenses : $705,657.00   5%
   
   

 
Teen Challenge Of Southern California, Inc., Riverside, CA    

Also Soliciting as    
Teen Challenge International Of Southern California    
Registration Number :CH10462   Expiration Date : 1/29/2012
Revenue Source : 08 - IRS 990 w/ Sch.A (03/31/2010)
Total Revenue : $9,770,828.00   Program Services Expenses : $8,618,654.00   86%
Total Expenses : $10,064,902.00   Administrative Expenses : $751,891.00   7%
Surplus/Deficit : -$294,074.00   Fund-Raising Expenses : $694,357.00   7%
   
   

1

2
Feed Your Head / Medical Whistleblower Radio Show - Columbine Shootings
« on: October 07, 2011, 02:41:51 PM »
Columbine Shootings - Lingering Concerns over SSRI drugs
by MedicalWhistleblower
Mon, Oct 3, 2011

To listen live or to download the archive click on this link.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/medicalwhi ... ssri-drugs

Today we look back at the Columbine School massacre with the mother of one of the victims of that terrible shooting.   Donna Taylor has agreed to share her own experience as a mother whose child was shot by a school classmate.   Donna Taylor comes forward to talk about her continuing concerns about the use of anti-depressants and SSRI drugs and their potential to increase violent tendencies in patients who take these psychiatric medications.  Her son, Mark Taylor was only a high school student when he had sustained terrible injuries during the violent shooting spree at the Columbine school. Mark had suffered incredible blood loss resulting from 7 - 13 bullets as he laid on the ground at Columbine for almost 2 hours help could arrive. That traumatic memory will always remain with Mark Taylor, the memories of the shooting and lying there helpless for two hours with bullets whizzing around him while bleeding from nearly a dozen bullet wounds. Miraculously, Mark showed courage, strength and resiliency and eventually went on to a full medical recovery.  With his mother’s support and love,  Mark was brave enough to testify before the FDA.   Because of his horrendous experience, Mark Taylor became a truth teller regarding the dangers of antidepressants and SSRI medications and how those medications cause patients to have violent thoughts, homicidal ideations and thoughts of suicide. These drugs have long been known to have these severe side effects and there is a black box warning about this required by the FDA to be put on these medications. But doctors ignore these warnings and give these medications to patients anyway. One of these patients receiving this kind of medication was Eric Harris, the student who decided that fateful day to shoot and kill his fellow students at Columbine.

3
Alternatives to Violence - Making a Difference to Prisoners
by MedicalWhistleblower

To listen live or to download the archive click on this link.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/medicalwhi ... -prisoners



Fri, Oct 7, 2011 05:00PM Central Time


Call in number (626) 414-3466

The Alternatives to Violence program works with prisoners while in prison to teach them non-violent ways to deal with conflict in their lives.  Violence we encounter in our everyday life  can be verbal and emotional.   Violence knows no class, racial, economic or geographical boundaries.  Over ninety percent of prisoners eventually return to society -- from a prison experience that encourages violence.   Today we will hear from a former prisoner, Herb Blake, who participated in this program and who gained valuable perspectives on his own life and the goals for his own future from being involved with Alternatives to Violence.

4
Subject: Prevent Abuse in Residential Treatment

Hi,
We call on our US Senators to draft legislation that will protect teens from abuse in residential programs. Now that H.R. 911 Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 has passed the US house during the 111th session (2009-2010), we need similar legislation to be passed by the US Senate.

So I created a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama, which says:
" Draft Senate Legislation to Stop Abuse in Teen Residential Programs I am asking you as my elected representative to help provide leadership in drafting legislation in the US Senate similar to H.R. 911Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 so that we can make residential treatment facilities safer and better regulated. We need legislation to finally end the culture of abuse and neglect that has forever altered the lives of thousands of teens. Parents need to be assured that when they place their child in a residential facility that their child will be safe while attending a program intended to help them deal with their challenges and problems. Please make these human rights abuses stop. We should have regulatory control over these facilities so we can prevent abuse and medical fraud. We need to provide the necessary legislative framework for meaningful reforms to end the deceptive marketing practices and the patterns of abuse that have so seriously impacted many families in the U.S.A. Please join in collaborative efforts with your colleagues in the US House of Representatives and make legislation that protects children and teens a reality in the U.S.A. "

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://signon.org/sign/prevent-abuse-in ... _by=211154
Thanks!

5
Please Sign the Petition to  Stop Abuse in Residential Treatment Programs

http://www.change.org/petitions/prevent ... t-programs

Petitioning:
•   The President of the United States
•   The U.S. Senate
•   The U.S. House of Representatives

We call on our US Senators to draft legislation that will protect teens from abuse in residential programs.

Now that H.R. 911 – Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 has passed the US house during the 111th session (2009-2010),  we need similar legislation to be passed by the US Congress this 112th Congressional session.

Also you can sign the petition on Move On

 http://signon.org/sign/prevent-abuse-in ... _by=211154

6
This is the listing on the webpage for the US Department of Health and Human Services - SAMSHA which now recognizes 12 step as a evidence based practice.   This allowed federal funding for research using alcoholics as human subjects.  During the George W. Bush administration this change took place and research was done with federal funding for 12 step AA based programs.  This swung open the door to millions of dollars of federal funding to pay for AA program materials and for counselors to bill the federal government for their time and efforts doing this "research".   How many of the participants realized that they were in a research study???  

http://nrepp.samhsa.gov/ViewIntervention.aspx?id=55

Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy

Date of Review: January 2008

Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy (TSF) is a brief, structured, and manual-driven approach to facilitating early recovery from alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and other drug abuse and addiction problems. TSF is implemented with individual clients over 12 to 15 sessions. The intervention is based on the behavioral, spiritual, and cognitive principles of 12-step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). These principles include acknowledging that willpower alone cannot achieve sustained sobriety, that surrender to the group conscience must replace self-centeredness, and that long-term recovery consists of a process of spiritual renewal. Therapy focuses on two general goals: (1) acceptance of the need for abstinence from alcohol and other drug use and (2) surrender, or the willingness to participate actively in 12-step fellowships as a means of sustaining sobriety. The TSF counselor assesses the client's alcohol or drug use, advocates abstinence, explains the basic 12-step concepts, and actively supports and facilitates initial involvement and ongoing participation in AA. The counselor also discusses specific readings from the AA/NA literature with the client, aids the client in using AA/NA resources in crisis times, and presents more advanced concepts such as moral inventories.

The Twelve Step Facilitation manual reviewed for this summary incorporates material originally developed for Project MATCH, an 8-year, national clinical trial of alcoholism treatment matching funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Project MATCH included two independent but parallel matching study arms, one with clients recruited from outpatient settings, the other with patients receiving aftercare treatment following inpatient care. Patients were randomly assigned to Twelve Step Facilitation, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or Motivational Enhancement Therapy. Findings from Project MATCH are included in this summary.

Descriptive Information

Areas of Interest Substance abuse treatment
Outcomes    1: Percentage of days abstinent from alcohol
2: Adverse consequences of drinking
3: Combined assessment of drinking and drinking problems
4: Number of days before first drink/heavy drinking ("time to event")
5: Drinks per drinking day
6: Alcoholics Anonymous involvement
Outcome Categories    Alcohol, Mental health, Social functioning, Treatment/recovery
Ages    18-25 (Young adult) or 26-55 (Adult)
Genders    Male or Female
Races/Ethnicities    Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, White, Race/ethnicity unspecified
Settings    Inpatient or Outpatient
Geographic Locations    Urban or Suburban
Implementation History    The TSF approach has been widely used in treatment programs in all 50 States. It also has been implemented in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
NIH Funding/CER Studies    Partially/fully funded by National Institutes of Health: Yes
Evaluated in comparative effectiveness research studies: Yes
Adaptations    Client handouts are available in Spanish.
Adverse Effects    No adverse effects, concerns, or unintended consequences were identified by the applicant.
IOM Prevention Categories    IOM prevention categories are not applicable.

7
Teen Challenge / Perry says alcoholism is like being GAY
« on: August 26, 2011, 04:39:16 AM »
Time magazine reports that Rick Perry compared homosexuality to alcoholism in his 2008 book, On My Honor: “In a little-noticed passage in his first book, ‘On My Honor,’ a encomium on the Boy Scouts published in 2008, Perry also drew a parallel between homosexuality and alcoholism. ‘Even if an alcoholic is powerless over alcohol once it enters his body, he still makes a choice to drink,’ he wrote. ‘And, even if someone is attracted to a person of the same sex, he or she still makes a choice to engage in sexual activity with someone of the same gender.’”  "Rick Perry Compared Homosexuality To Alcoholism, Condemned ‘Radical Gays’ For Promoting ‘Gay Lifestyle’ " by Igor Volsky on Aug 24, 2011 at 1:40 pm  http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Rick- ... 4-707.html

Is that why Teen Challenge professes to cure both???

8
Tacitus' Realm / Use of torture - a mindset of governmental officials
« on: August 25, 2011, 04:08:06 PM »
The acceptance of torture as a means to an end is also a mindset held by the former Bush administration.  Please be aware of the excellent work being done by Attorney Kevin Zeese in this area. http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawyers/index.php

Several lawyers on his list of "Torture Lawyers" have connections to the research that I do about residential treatment abuse.   Most notably: Alberto Gonzales, Michael Chertoff and John Ashcroft.

Alberto Gonzales-Texas Bar http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... t_1_VR.pdf

John Ashcroft-District of Columbia  http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... pdfAcrobat (.pdf)

Michael Chertoff-District of Columbia Microsoft http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... plaint.pdf

Torture is illegal under both United States and international law. The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article Six. The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States. These laws provide no exception for torture under any circumstances. Moreover, the United States Criminal Code prohibits both torture and war crimes, the latter which includes torture. The Army Field Manual prohibits the use of degrading treatment of detainees.

Despite this well-established law, under the Bush administration, torture was authorized by George Bush and kept secret using classified designations. The White House requested legal memoranda to support its use of torture and it received those authored by a host of attorneys, including John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. Attorneys who advised, counseled, consulted and supported those memoranda included Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington.

Several of these memoranda have recently been released, and clearly demonstrate that these attorneys conspired to violate laws against torture and that their actions resulted in torture and death. Accordingly, these attorneys must be held accountable. We have asked the respective state bars to revoke the licenses of the foregoing attorneys for moral turpitude. They failed to show “respect for and obedience to the law, and respect for the rights of others,” and intentionally or recklessly failed to act competently, all in violation of legal Rules of Professional Conduct. Several attorneys failed to adequately supervise the work of subordinate attorneys and forwarded shoddy legal memoranda regarding the definition of torture to the White House and Department of Defense. These lawyers further acted incompetently by advising superiors to approve interrogation techniques that were in violation of U.S. and international law. They failed to support or uphold the U.S. Constitution, and the laws of the United States, and to maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers, all in violation state bar rules.

9
Medical Whistleblower

Abuse and Neglect in U.S.A. Residential Treatment Centers:A Systemic Problem



Summary: Medical Whistleblower provides this preliminary report on the abuse and neglect of persons in residential treatment for “substance abuse” in the U.S.A.  There have been violations of human rights, lack of investigation, prosecution and punishment of the offenders.  This prevailing permissive environment has given de jure or de facto amnesty to those who violate human rights.  Starting in the 1970’s there were residential treatment facilities for teens that were found to be abusive.  The SEED, Straight Inc. and its derivatives, Roloff Homes, WWASPS and, more recently, Teen Challenge were adjudicated “guilty” of human rights abuses.  This report explores the ways these perpetrators of abuse have used the political system to protect themselves and exploit loopholes in the law to expand their network of abusive residential treatment facilities for youth.


US Congressional investigations don’t stop abusive rehab centers

A recent report by the US Congress revealed that there are significant problems in the “teen rehabilitation” industry, including a general lack of oversight and accountability. In 2009 there were Capitol Hill briefings related to abuse of teens in facilities run by WWASPS and other programs.   The US House, led by Congressman George Miller, conducted investigations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) during the 110th Congress (2008).  These uncovered thousands of cases alleging child abuse and neglect since the early 1990’s at teen residential programs. Further, the investigation revealed that currently these programs are governed only by a weak patchwork of state and federal standards. A separate GAO report,    conducted at the committee’s request, found major gaps in the licensing and oversight of residential programs, including some programs not covered by any state licensing standards. GAO concluded that, without adequate oversight, “the well-being and civil rights of youth in some facilities will remain at risk.” State-reported data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System in 2005 found that 34 states in the United States of America (USA) reported 1503 incidents of youth maltreatment by residential facility staff. Of the states surveyed by GAO, 28 reported at least one youth fatality in a residential facility in 2006. GAO concluded that both of these statistics understate the incidents of maltreatment and death. They emphasized that many facilities are outside the scope of this limited study and many still remain unregulated and uninspected.            

In 1971, the US Senate Judiciary Committee convened a sub-committee on constitutional rights under Senator Sam Ervin to investigate government's role in behavior modification. Senator Ervin's 650-page report was published in November 1974 under the title “Individual Rights and the Federal Role in Behavior Modification.”    

The US Congress previously examined problems in The SEED  and then in later residential treatment programs. These later substance abuse treatment programs were modeled on the Synanon program,  the SEED and Straight Inc.  Each time, the offending substance abuse treatment program was shut down.  However, new programs rapidly emerged with new legal identities to start the same kind of operation.  There are now even more programs reported to be abusive, despite numerous local, state and federal investigations.  Those who have been victimized in one of these facilities are frustrated and dismayed to realize that not even several US Congressional investigations can prevent the recurrence of the same kind of abuse.  Although Straight Inc. programs were closed, the governing principles remain a model for drug rehabilitation. It is a national disgrace that the abuse of children in residential centers has not stopped. Rather, governmental sanction hides its true nature from law enforcement and regulators.   Abusive teen rehabilitation centers are now more numerous and the industry remains unregulated by state or federal law.  

The list includes:
Synanon,    The SEED,Straight Inc. and its derivatives, WWASPS Rebekah /Roloff Homes,Straight Inc. program at Morgan Yacht
KIDS, Sea Org Refuge, CEDU Brown Schools and derivatives, Aspen Education Group,    Elan School, Ridge Creek School/Hidden Lake
Wilderness Programs, Weight Loss Programs,    Mission Mountain School, Public Sector Gulags, SAFE, Vision Quest,
Daytop Village, Lighthouse of Northwest Florida, Growing Together/L.I.F.E., Kids Helping Kids,   Straight Inc. by the Sea,   Hyde Schools

 
There are no adequate means to monitor these facilities for human rights abuses.  They have used political influence and power to prevent effective regulation and inspection of their facilities.  They deny Child Protective Services (CPS) access to investigate child abuse complaints.  

To understand the background, it is useful to trace development of public policy related to these residential treatment programs in order to recognize how they managed to evade public scrutiny and government control.  

On October 10-11, 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony about cases of child neglect and abuse.  Among cases investigated were the Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs, a private residential treatment facility in the Pacific Northwest.      

This problem is not limited to the United States of America.  These abusive methods have been exported to many countries in the world.  The Bergen KIDS program has been transplanted to Alberta, Canada as The Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC).   The Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre    is a drug abuse rehabilitation clinic for teenagers and adolescents in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  AARC has been the subject of controversy in Canada over allegations of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse made by former patients. This has led to widespread protests against AARC, and calls for a government inquiry by Alberta's provincial New Democratic Party.  

US citizens had been transported over international boundaries and taken to facilities in Mexico such as Abundant Life.   The children were found to be abused there.  Mexican immigration officials of the Instituto National de Migracion (INM) raided the facilities and deported the children back to the U.S.A.  Mexican authorities cited immigration violations for the clients, and also immigration violations related to the staff of these facilities.  There was lack of proper municipal licensure of these facilities. They had not obtained the requisite approval of health and education authorities in Mexico.  In addition, the teen “clients” of these facilities described habitual mistreatment during their illegal detention. They were denied access to communication with persons outside the facilities.  In 2004, the Mexican government rounded up 590 US teenagers, who had been placed in institutions throughout Mexico, without proper immigration paperwork.  These children were considered “troubled teens” by their American parents.  They were sent to these locked facilities in a foreign country for treatment of problems with behavior and parental authority.

Teen Challenge has had numerous complaints and multiple investigations regarding abuse in their facilities. Although Teen Challenge is directly connected with Assemblies of God church through both management and financial connections, they attempt to hide this association when recruiting clients for their centers. Teen Challenge USA International is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.   It has grown to include 231 locations in the United States, including residential programs and evangelical outreach centers. Teen Challenge, run by the Assemblies of God church, operates its own credit union located in Missouri.  Teen Challenge operates two organizations with international scope: Teen Challenge USA International and Teen Challenge Global. The Assemblies of God church operates Teen Challenge as an outreach program within its own centers in numerous countries. Teen Challenge Global operates in 87 countries with over 1,100 centers. Its headquarters are in Columbus, GA.  

Hon. George Miller, Chair of the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives initiated the legislation, Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 H.R. 911 (formerly H.R. 6358, H.R. 5876).  U.S. Representative Miller had received a shocking report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding abusive and neglectful treatment of children in residential programs.   The report also contained information about fraudulent practices of these institutions. Subsequent investigations and GAO reports indicate that there is a widespread problem of abuse in the residential treatment industry which has flourished due to a lack of government regulation, inspection and accountability.          

There was very disturbing testimony provided to the US Congress about the pervasiveness of the abuse and the failure to curb it by Health and Human Services or the Department of Justice.    Video tapes of those testimonies can be seen here.     After much discussion and deliberation The House of Representatives approved legislation to Stop Child Abuse in Teen Residential Programs.  The bill was intended to ensure that parents have information they need to keep their children safe.            

The U.S. Senate has not moved to act on the bill or to draft suitable legislation to stop further abusive practices in the teen residential treatment industry.

Human Rights Defenders and Mandated Reporters – No protections

Abuse of children and teens within residential treatment facilities, located in both the US and in other countries that are run by non-profit organizations legally based in the U.S.A., has occurred for more than four decades.  In spite of numerous reports from human rights defenders and mandated reporters, there have been no significant changes to stop the practice.  There are no protections for witnesses/victims/survivors or for their human rights defenders.  Mandated reporters of such human rights violations are more likely to lose their employment or be demoted, suffer personal and professional retaliation.    

There is an entrenched unwillingness within the US government to expose the root cause of the political tolerance for the deregulation, lack of inspection, lack of financial transparency and accountability, lack of law enforcement action to investigate these crimes, lack of appropriate prosecution of perpetrators, and lack of any punishment for the offenses.   The moral, ethical, and legal obligations to uphold human rights by US legislators, US Department of Justice officials, and even judges have not been fulfilled.  When they have permitted this course of conduct to continue for four decades, they are culpable for the egregious human rights violations that have occurred.

Victims/Survivors are left with no access to redress or reparations.  This systemic failure to protect children and young adults is a “crime against humanity” about which the US government has been fully informed, yet refused to prevent.  Criminal acts that have occurred in these treatment facilities include:

•   Murder (homicide)
•   Enslavement
•   Deportation or forcible transfer
•   Imprisonment or severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law
•   Torture
•   Rape, forced pregnancy, forced abortions
•   Persecution against persons not of Christian faith, especially those of Jewish faith
•   Persecution of persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered
•   Enforced disappearance of persons
•   Other inhumane acts that intentionally cause great suffering, or serious injury to body, to mental or physical health
•   Psychological, emotional, and sexual trauma leading to suicide.

These acts are crimes of serious concern to the international community as a whole. The number of suicides secondary to psychological and emotional trauma as well as sexual abuse of young teens trapped in these rehabilitation centers came to the attention of public health officials who monitor suicide rates.    Licensed medical professionals, psychologists, therapists, child protective services personnel, and other mandated reporters were obligated to report this sudden rise in suicide which was linked to a particular type of residential substance abuse treatment program.

Licensed medical professionals are morally and ethically obligated by their Hippocratic Oath to protect their patients’ safety.  Under US law and international standards of proper professional conduct, they are also Mandated Reporters of torture and abuse.  Licensed medical professionals are Defenders of Human Rights, the watchdogs for vulnerable patients in need of care.  The reality in many residential treatment centers is that “the fox is in charge of the hen house.”

Government oversight and the role of mandated reporters

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or state or local department of social and rehabilitation services  is often the agency doing the child abuse investigation, but their investigative officers do not have law enforcement powers and thus do not have experience nor authority to protect mandated reporters or whistleblowers from retaliation.

There is in the U.S.A. no governmental agency or organization empowered, mandated and authorized to defend mandated reporters from witness intimidation and retaliation directed against them personally and professionally.  The closest governmental office to possibly protecting mandated reporters – at least within federal service  – is the Office of Special Counsel within the Department of Justice.  

In the United States mandated reporters   are professionals who, in the ordinary course of their work and because they have regular contact with children, disabled persons, senior citizens, or other identified vulnerable populations, are required to report (or cause a report to be made) whenever financial, physical, sexual or other types of abuse has been observed or is suspected, or when there is evidence of neglect, knowledge of an incident, or an imminent risk of serious harm.  These persons are by statute defenders of human rights.  When reported abuse cases move forward into the investigation phase, perpetrators of abuse can usually readily determine the identity of the mandated reporter.  Thus mandated reporters, who are human rights defenders, may immediately experience retaliation.   In addition, because these abusive residential treatment centers are not licensed or regulated they do not abide by state standards regarding mandated reporting, they do not train staff about mandated reporting laws and the need to report abusive treatment and neglect.

RAINN   maintains a database of mandatory reporting regulations regarding children and the elderly by state, including who is required to report, standards of knowledge, definitions of a victim, to whom the report must be made, information required in the report, and regulations regarding timing and other procedures.  RAINN applied for funding through Charitable Choice during the former President Bush’s Administration only to be turned down for federal funding for their very important program that serves sexual assault and abuse survivors/victims.


The Office of Special Counsel and Scott Bloch

The OSC is an independent federal agency charged with safeguarding the merit-based employment system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices.  A critical role is protection of federal whistleblowers, whose efforts safeguard American citizens and taxpayers.  Bloch headed the OSC from 2004 through 2008.

In theory, as the Chief Counsel for the OSC, Bloch was responsible to investigate complaints related to waste, fraud and abuse, and to protect whistleblowers. Government employees, who report violations of the public trust, as well as illegal or dangerous activities, are known as whistleblowers.

Whistleblowers and Mandated Reporters (persons legally required to report certain violations by virtue of their employment and/or licensure) constitute our national alert system against serious threats to public safety and trust. Unfortunately, there has developed a tolerance for retaliation against a whistleblower by his or her management. Retaliation has occurred in the form of forced transfers, demotions, revocation of security clearances, and employment termination.  

Whistleblowers who experience retaliation expect to be able to go to the OSC to seek redress. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is chartered to act independently. The OSC can force investigations into retaliation and/or misconduct that is reported by whistleblowers.  Under Scott Bloch, the officially-designated safe harbor at the OSC became a very unfriendly place to whistleblowers.  In fact, Bloch intentionally caused hundreds of whistleblower cases to be permanently destroyed without an investigation.

All whistleblower appeals of reported medical fraud, labor violations, prison abuse and child abuse cases handled directly by federal agencies would ultimately be placed (according to the established chain of command) in front of the Office of Special Counsel.  Scott Bloch came under criticism for alleged retaliation against his own employees and for closure of whistleblower cases without investigation.  Bloch summarily dismissed hundreds of whistleblower complaints, including any complaints about Teen Challenge and any other private NGO residential treatment centers.  The whistleblowers were in agencies such as Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Department of Labor, Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Bloch closed cases that involved valid complaints by human rights defenders who were federal employees or whose complaints identified errant federal employees or contractors getting federal tax money.  

The OSC is charged to enforce the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from use of federal resources for political ends. The Special Counsel reports directly to the White House.  When staff expressed concerns for how Bloch handled cases, Bloch retaliated.  

Bloch eventually came under investigation himself for a variety of violations, including prohibited personnel practices and discrimination against the employees in his office.  Bloch purged more than 20% of his staff, many of whom were experienced career professionals with years of work with whistleblowers.

The survivors/victims of these abusive centers were concerned that Bloch, in his former Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) position, was responsible for failure to protect the human rights of U.S.A. citizens in the programs such as Teen Challenge that were funded by the OFBCI.  The safety of persons within these centers (which were exempt from government oversight and accountability) was not addressed by him during his tenure in the OSC.  The residential treatment centers were known to hire ex-convicts with convictions for sexual abuse of children, drug dealing, domestic violence and money laundering.  There had already been criminal investigations of labor abuse, credit card fraud, affinity fraud, TANF fraud as well as investigations into physical and sexual child abuse.  

During his leadership of the Task Force on Faith-based and Community Initiatives, Bloch turned a blind eye when Teen Challenge staff were accused of abuse of minors and young adults, often based on discrimination against their religious beliefs or their sexual orientations.  

Attorney Bloch disrespected both U.S.A. federal and international law when he dismissed whistleblowers’ complaints about child abuse and other serious concerns for the public health and welfare without investigation, thus enabling human rights violations to continue.  Bloch showed a troubling disregard for international laws against torture, for the legal rights of children and adults, and for the long term adverse consequences to the victims/survivors, whistleblowers, and human rights defenders.

When the individual whistleblowers and mandated reporters (who form the only tangible defense against human rights violations) are betrayed by the system they must report to, we cannot protect civil rights or human rights.  When retaliation is the reward for meeting one’s legal duty and there is no valid entity to receive reports, there is an erosion of constitutional protections for every American’s human rights.

On April 27, 2010 Bloch pled guilty to criminal contempt of Congress for, according to the U.S. Attorney, "willfully and unlawfully withholding pertinent information from a House committee investigating his decision to have several government computers wiped ...."  Bloch pled guilty and faced a minimal jail sentence of one month.   Bloch admitted as part of his guilty plea that he withheld information from the congressional staff; that before he ordered the wipe of the computers, he understood the procedure would make it virtually impossible to recover deleted files or e-mails.  Bloch was informed he would serve jail time and asked the judge to withdraw his guilty plea to avoid mandatory jail time.  Bloch stated in a court filing that he did not know when he pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal contempt of Congress that he would face a minimum of a month behind bars.  This would seem to indicate that he views himself above the law, while his neglect of duty resulted in critical violations of human rights for vulnerable children and adults.

Many felt that the 30-day prison sentence imposed by United States Magistrate Judge, Judge Deborah A. Robinson, was too light of a punishment and that prosecutors had failed to properly charge him. Bloch was prosecuted only for one count of criminal contempt of Congress - a misdemeanor.  Whistleblowers felt he should have been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence.   However, aided and abetted by government prosecutors and a federal judge, Bloch managed to avoid serving any part of that sentence.  On August 3, 2011, Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth allowed Bloch to withdraw his guilty plea.

Scott Bloch’s Plea Agreement  

Judge denies Scott Bloch’s right to appeal sentencing verdict 3-29-11

Judges order is stayed pending appeal in Scott Bloch case March 10, 2011

Bloch’s DOJ press release 4-27-10  

Whistleblowers request special prosecutor in Scott Bloch case    



Due process & constitutional concerns  


These abusive residential treatment facilities are being in part federally funded through The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) “Charitable Choice” legislation and the use of subcontracting. These private residential treatment centers use federal funds as contractors under block grants such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and also sometimes utilize Medicaid/Medicare funds.  Exempt from local, state and federal inspections and licensing requirements, these facilities do not train staff to report abuse and neglect to governmental authorities. They do not submit to governmental inspection. These residential treatment facilities do not protect constitutional civil liberties and instead insist that they have religious exemption from constitutional restrictions on their conduct.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 repealed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the federal cash assistance program, and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a cash assistance program primarily operated by the individual states.  Prior to PRWORA, determination of which applicants qualified for federal benefits was performed by a public agency staff in civil service. (Title I, Section 104)  President George W. Bush’s “Charitable Choice” Faith-based initiative was intended to reduce the size of government, but not necessarily the amount spent.  His applied method shifted the responsibility for delivery of numerous social services from government agencies to newly-recognized, Faith-based organizations.  

Privatization of social services by delegation to contractors and subcontractors for service provision raises due process and accountability issues. Social service programs involve provision of adequate food, adequate clothing, adequate shelter, and minimal preventive public health care.  Although the government has been viewed as the most obvious provider of these programs, faith-based programs have also frequently provided services to those in need including residential treatment.    

The use of subcontractors or outsourcing has often been used to abdicate social and moral responsibility.  There are significant legal, political and economic advantages to the perpetrator of human rights abuses, of using subcontractors, because it ultimately helps obscure the relationship between the perpetrator and the actual act.  It is a politically valuable device, because even if abuses are exposed, it will frequently look as if someone else (the contractor) was responsible.  This ultimately makes it difficult to hold a violator legally accountable and to be able to apply appropriate sanctions.  Thus the very effective human rights tactic of public shaming, in these circumstances, often becomes ineffective.  Outsourcing to contractors permits the perpetrators to ignore the societal norms and to conceal the perpetrators breach of those norms.  In addition, it legally protects perpetrators from both legal prosecution and embarrassment.  Subcontracting to corporations providing services such as prisons, healthcare and the military are particularly problematic, as in these settings there is reduced transparency to the public and less scrutiny by law enforcement.  When operated as a for profit business, cost reductions can lead to inadequate care, lack of adequate programming and abuse.  Outsourcing allows the perpetrator to not just abdicate responsibility but also assists the aggressor in maintaining a respectable public persona in the public eye. This often amounts to abuse of state-sanctioned power and authority.  Often outsourcing is presented to the public as necessary to cut costs. The use of subcontractors makes it more difficult to determine who is responsible for abuses and these cases are very complex.

Although the government can contract out services, it cannot contract out the function of governing or the responsibility for doing so.  Providing the safety net is a core public function which should remain responsive to democratic principles and accountable to elected officials. The government, which is elected and accountable to the citizenry, still is responsible and accountable to see that social justice prevails and a decent chance at a reasonably healthy and active life can be provided for all citizens.  

In concert with diminished regulation over federally funded programs, the social safety net is vulnerable to exploitation.  The privatization of social services such as residential treatment can lead to a lack of adequate financial or service-quality oversight for contractors.  In theory, the contractors should police themselves and their subcontractors, but there is little profit incentive to do proper oversight.  

Private entities which provide services paid by the federal or state government are not governed by constitutional constraints.  In other words, if a private contract provider of social services commits a wrongful action, the wronged person cannot invoke constitutional protections. The legal doctrine that defines “State Action” determines that a person who is a government actor and commits a wrongful act is subject to constitutional constraints.  State government and federal employees are clearly government actors, but private entities usually are not.  With government privatization contracts, authorization is transferred to private entities, but not “state actor” obligations.  Liability for actions is effectively diminished.  Privatization of contracts for welfare services permits autonomy without supervision or legal accountability.  Although there may be statutes in state or federal law that give the wronged person the opportunity to receive notice and obtain a hearing, these laws are generally not enforceable.  The courts have held that, unless there is a specific provision for enforcement, there will be no enforcement of these procedural rights.   The wronged person can sue under the third-party beneficiary principle - to compel compliance with the terms of the contract between the government and the private entity, but this is rarely successful.  

Contracts are often drawn up with the simple insertion of a provision in the contract that bars third-part lawsuits. Social service recipients are largely at the mercy of the political process to grant legal protection entitlements and due process rights.  They are also at the mercy of contracted parties to define and/or grant them contractual rights.  

Despite these constitutional and due process concerns, an increased number of government services are now contracted out to private providers, which leaves clients with little or no recourse if their constitutional rights are violated.  Privatization may, in reality, simply replace a government bureaucracy with a private monopoly.      

Critical decisions that affect our society’s most vulnerable citizens can become based on short-term private incentives rather than long-term public interests.     Government authority may be unable to scrutinize the work of private entities adequately because of budgetary restrictions or unfamiliarity with contract management.  The lack of oversight could mean that the public is not assured that tax dollars awarded to government contractors will yield a privatized service that performs adequately or that contractors do not abuse clients human rights.

Privatization can be undermined by corruption if lucrative contracts are awarded to political allies, relatives or friends of public officials.  Many of these contractors are not qualified for the work or may cut corners to expand profits, especially when oversight is limited.  Contractors have been found to commit fraudulent and illegal practices. These practices are difficult to prove, to monitor for and to investigate.   Freedom of information and open records acts do not apply to private contractors.  This makes it difficult to determine how public funds were spent.   It also makes it nearly impossible to track human rights violators and hold them accountable for their actions.


We must stop client abuse in residential treatment

The survivor/victims of residential treatment center abuse need to feel that the government of the U.S.A. will create effective measures to stop the violations, to verify facts, and to provide public disclosure of the full truth. This abuse still occurs in worldwide in violation of international treaty obligations, international law, the Helsinki Declaration and the Nuremberg Code.  There has been no cogent effort to reduce the risk or address the harm caused. Effective regulatory control over residential treatment centers and wilderness camps is immediately required.  The infractions identified are gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, which need guarantees of non-repetition.

There must be denial of de jure or de facto amnesty to the human rights violators and they should be required to make effective and adequate reparations to the survivors/victims of this institutional child abuse.  Many victims, including but not limited to those abused in Straight Inc., Roloff Homes, Teen Challenge and WWASPS programs, desire a public apology that includes acknowledgment of the facts and acceptance of responsibility because the U.S. government knew of the abuse but failed to protect the children.

To stop further abuse of children and teens in residential programs, the U.S.A. must identify the persons and practices that enable this activity to flourish. We must deny the perpetrators’ access to grant money and political power.  

The federal government must retain legislative powers that permit regulation and inspection of all residential treatment facilities, regardless of whether they are private NGO facilities, federal or state subcontractors.  This is necessary to assure protection of the human rights of persons inside such facilities.  It is a national obligation under international human rights law.

Much information is already available through several U.S. Congressional investigations.  The most recent exposure was done by the House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. George Miller.  Important legislation like H.R. 911: “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009” passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb 23, 2009; it has not yet received any real action in the U.S. Senate.  This act was “To require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs, and for other purposes.”   The U.S. Senate should be strongly encouraged to pass this legislation.

The United States must look carefully at provisions in federal and state laws that perpetuate a lack of transparency and accountability for residential facilities. The Charitable Choice program must be carefully scrutinized to see that it does not fund programs that violate civil rights and human rights.  Non-government organizations (NGOs) and corporations must be supervised to prevent use of government contractor status for unwarranted immunity if legal transgressions are committed.  Lack of accountability permits abuse.

These aberrant NGOs and other corporations constitute a “black hole” into which government funds are poured with ineffective outcomes, yet little transparency and accountability have been required of them.

Careful attention should be paid to ways in which a criminal element can invade religious non-profits and become able to compromise the safety of children, and exploit service provision and financial assets.  Persons with criminal records of sexual assault or sexual abuse should not have access to children or young people held in locked facilities.  Those with criminal records for substance abuse, violent crimes, or financial crimes should not have their records “expunged,” so that they qualify for unrestricted access to victims in new positions of authority over vulnerable persons.  White collar criminals capable of affinity fraud have been able exploit the naiveté and inexperience of church elders; thus, they are not a lesser risk as “restored” ex-convicts.  It is necessary to have government oversight to prevent and address abuse, especially in programs funded by taxpayers.

The United States, as part of the international community, should keep faith and human solidarity with victims, survivors and future human generations. Also, the U.S.A. must reaffirm the international legal principles of accountability, justice and the rule of law, Human Rights Law International and U.S. Law.


In Conclusion

The United States government cannot, at the present time, guarantee the protection of human rights for persons in private residential treatment centers funded through federal tax dollars. Persons abused or neglected in such facilities do not have constitutional protections or access to due process for reparations and redress for human rights violations. The lack of governmental regulation, licensing and inspection has led to multiple incidents of human rights violations, as well as lack of civil rights protections. Torture and degrading humiliating abuse is illegal under both United States and international law.  The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article Six.  The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States.  Thus the United States of America has both a duty and a legal obligation to stop further abuse in these private residential treatment facilities and to properly investigate and provide redress and reparations to the survivors/victims of this abuse.


See our website: http://medicalwhistleblowernetwork.jigsy.com

Sign our petitions: http://change.org/medicalwhistleblower/


References and citations:

  Washington, D.C., U.S.A., Capitol Hill Briefing - February 2009, Abuse of Youth in Residential Placements: A Call to Action, sponsored by the Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic, and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment on (ASTART) and co-sponsored by the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY), on Capitol Hill.  http://astart.fmhi.usf.edu/.
http://www.cafety.org/testimonies/732-u ... estimonies

http://www.cafety.org/testimonies/733-u ... estimonies

http://www.cafety.org/events/archives-c ... ry-19-2009.

  Final GAO Report on Residential Facilities (Full Report) (May 2008) Residential Facilities: Improved data and enhanced oversight would help safeguard the well-being of youth with behavioral and emotional challenges, Report to Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives [PDF, 95 pages]  GAO.gov, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08346.pdf.

  Final GAO Report on Residential Facilities (Highlights) (May 2008) Residential Facilities: Improved data and enhanced oversight would help safeguard the well-being of youth with behavioral and emotional challenges, Report to Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives [PDF, 1 pages] GAO.com, http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08346high.pdf.

  GAO Report: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Programs for Troubled Youth (Full Report) (October 10, 2007) Full report of testimony before the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives. [PDF, 38 pages]  GAO.gov, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08146t.pdf.

  Residential Facilities: State & Federal Oversight Gaps May Increase Risk to Youth (Highlights) (April 24, 2008) Highlights of the report by Government Accountability Office of testimony before the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives [PDF, 1 pages], GAO.gov, http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08696thigh.pdf.

  Residential Facilities: State & Federal Oversight Gaps May Increase Risk to Youth Well-Being (April 24, 2008) Full report by the Government Accountability Office of testimony before the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives [PDF, 21 pages], GAO.gov,  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08696t.pdf.

  Residential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing (Full Report) (April 24, 2008) Full report of testimony before the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives. [PDF, 24 pages].

  Individual Rights and the Federal Role in Behavior Modification – A Study Prepared by the Staff of the Subcommittee, Scribd.com,
  http://www.scribd.com/.../Individual-Ri ... bcommittee,  
 or obtained at NCJRS.gov http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/A ... ?id=142690.

  TheStraights.com, Synanon Story, http://thestraights.com/theprogram/syna ... tm#theseed.

  The Seed, Inc. was founded in 1970 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Seed received a $1.8 million U.S. government grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) soon after it opened. And the grant had been administered by the founding director of NIDA who also happened to be the second White House Drug Czar-Robert DuPont.  http://thestraights.com/images/seed-funding.gif  http://thestraights.com/images/seed-Ervin-brainwash.htm.
 
  Surviving Straight Inc.,  http://www.survivingstraightinc.com/Flo ... ombine.pdf
http://www.thestraights.com/articles/ru ... report.htm.

  Szalavitz, Maia “The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry,”  Mother Jones,  August 20, 2007,  http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature ... ustry.html.

  CEDU Sued for Abuse and Fraud, International Survivors Action Committee, was at http://www.isaccorp.org/cedu/ceduabuse.pdf  but now see website SurvivingStraightInc.com,  http://www.survivingstraightinc.com.  

  Morgan, Fiona, “One big dysfunctional family: A former member of the Synanon cult recalls the ‘alternative lifestyle’ that shaped her, for better and worse,” Salon Magazine, March 29, 1999, http://www.rickross.com/reference/synanon/synanon2.html.

  Clark, Michael D.,  Her life with "One Big Brother,” San Jose Mercury News, March 19, 1999, http://www.rickross.com/reference/synanon/synanon4.html.

  Fager, Wesley, Where did it come from?, Synanon Church and the medical basis for the $traights, or Hoopla in Lake Havasu, by Wes Fager (c) 2000, http://thestraights.com/theprogram/synanon-story2.htm

  Wes Fager, “Has Operation PAR become the new treatment arm of Drug Free America Foundation? Or: 3 strikes and the 6th Circuit is out!,” TheStraights.net,  http://thestraights.net/articles/op-par-and-dfaf.htm.

  Szalavitz, Maia, “Why Jesus Is Not a Regulator,” American Prospect, April 8, 2001, Prospect.org,  
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article ... _regulator.

  Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Program, 420 Southwest 3rd Avenue, Albany, OR 97321-2261.

  Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs responds to Congressional Hearings 11 OCT 2007 — Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs responds to the testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor on "Cases of Child Neglect and Abuse at Private Residential Treatment Facilities."

  CBC News Canada.  “Alberta drug rehab centre abused us, former teen patients allege. Executive director calls them 'liars',” February 13, 2009, CBC News, The Fifth Estate CBC.Ca,  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/200 ... abuse.html

  The Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center, 303 Forge Road S.E. Calgary, AB T2H0S9.

  CBC, Canada,  http://www.cbc.calcanada/story/2009/032/la1b use.html.

  Guadalajara Reporter, Immigration Busts Lakeside Area Boarding School for Troubled Teens, Friday December 17, 2004, GuadalajaraReporter.com Guadalajara Reporter  +52 (33) 3615-2177 and+ 52 (33) 3615-0606.

  Teen Challenge Global Website, http://www.globaltc.org/.

  October 10, 2007 (first) GAO Report on Residential Treatment Programs, GAO.gov,  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08146t.pdf.

  May 14, 2008 – GAO Report Shows Need for Minimum Standards to Protect Teens in Residential Programs, Says Chairman Miller—Education & Labor Committee Will Vote Tomorrow on Legislation to Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs, House.gov,  http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/e ... eport.html.

  May, 2008 – Residential Facilities – Improved Data and Enhanced Oversight Would Help Safeguard the Well-Being of Youth with Behavioral and Emotional Challenges, GAO.gov,  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08346.pdf.

  May, 2008 – Residential Facilities – Improved Data and Enhanced Oversight Would Help Safeguard the Well-Being of Youth with Behavioral and Emotional Challenges, GAO.gov,  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08346.pdf.

  October 10, 2007 – Also Residential Treatment Programs: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Programs for Troubled Youth GAO-08-146T, GAO.gov, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-146T.

  April 24, 2008 text of the day’s testimonies, GAO.gov, http://www.gao.gov/htext/d08713t.html.

  HR 5876 – “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008?, Several Videos regarding this legislation on You Tube, YouTube.com, http://youtu.be/YkmGgH11Dmk
http://youtu.be/z7PJBxwd7kc
http://youtu.be/dr47O5OjC_A .

  2008 Congressional Vote, Govtrack.us/congress, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-459.

  April, 2008 – 110th Congress – Growing and Strengthening America’s Middle Class (more info on this act), House.gov,  http://www.house.gov/ed_workforce/publi ... et0408.pdf.

  Legislation H.R. 6358 (formerly H.R. 5876) The  Bill, Thomas.loc.gov,  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.06358:   Bill Passed, GovTrack.us/congress, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-459, govtrack.us,   http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-459 Vote on HR 6358:  GovTrack.us/congress, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-459.

  June 25, 2008 – House Approves Legislation to Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs, House.gov, http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/e ... 2508c.html.

  May 13, 2008 – The Gavel, Speaker.gov/blog, http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1334.

  Smith, Angela, H.E.A.L., Provo Canyon School and similar programs use a harmful and ineffective program of behavior modification or "thought reform"/"brainwashing" to violate children in their "care". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSjW2gh2 ... re=related.

  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect: Summary of State Laws, Child Welfare Information Gateway, April 2010,   http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/ ... /manda.cfm.

  RAINN - (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network) RAINN, 2000 L Street NW, Suite 406, Washington, DC 20036, phone: +1- 202-544-1034, [email protected].  http://www.rainn.org/public-policy/lega ... g-database.

  United States v. Bloch, No. 10-0215M-01, 2011 WL 833641, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,  US Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson

  Davis, Julia, “Former head of OSC Scott Bloch gets off scott free,” Examiner, Aug. 3, 2011, Examiner.com,  Former head of OSC Scott Bloch gets off scott-free - Los Angeles Homeland Security | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/homeland-securi ... z1U5SeXnxE.

  “Scott Bloch” Legal Times Typepad, LegalTimes.Typepad.com, http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/dqu29000.pdf.
  Talking Points Memo “Judge denies Scott Bloch’s Request to Appeal Sentencing in Geek on Call Case”. Talkingpointsmemo.com,  http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docume ... php?page=1.

  Legal Times Typepad - Judge Deborah A. Robinson’s Order, LegalTimes.Typepad.com,  http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/robinson_order.pdf.
  “Bloch Press Release 4-27-10,” Legal Times Typepad, LegalTimes.Typepad.com,  http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/blo ... -27-10.pdf.

  TP Muckracker, “Open Letter from Community of Whistleblowers to Attorney Eric Holder,” February 2010, TalkingPointsMemo.com,  http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docume ... php?page=1.

  Freeman, Jody, 116 Harv. L. Rev. 1285, 1304-05 (2003).

  Estrin Gilman, Michele, “Legal Accountability in an Era of Privatized Welfare,”  81 Cal. L. Rev. 569, 611-12 (2001).

  Freeman, Jody,  “Extending Public Law Norms Through Privatization,” 116 Harv. L. Rev. 1285, 1300 (2003).

  Jody Freeman, “The Contracting State,” 28 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 155, 170 (2000).  Persons concerned about the potential negative results associated with privatization are called  “consequentialists.”

  Diller, Matthew, Form and Substance in the Privatization of Poverty Programs, 49 UCLA L. Rev. 1739, 1740 (2002).

  Shue, Henry, Basic Rights: Subsistence, Influence, and U.S. Foreign Policy,p. 23, Princeton University Press (1996).

  Stevenson, Dru,  “Privatization of Welfare Services: Delegation by Commercial Contract:, 45 Ariz. L. Rev. 83, 88 (2003).

  “Safety Net for Sale: Dangers of Privatizing Social Services,”  American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO,  1625 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5687, Web site:www.afscme.org,
 Privatization Section, http://www.afscme.org/private/index.html

?

10
The Troubled Teen Industry / Teen Challenge hires prisoners for staff
« on: August 06, 2011, 04:48:40 PM »
Opening the doors to hire prisoners

Teen Challenge opened its doors to hire known criminals (through a federally funded re-entry employment program) from among those who converted to Christianity.  Teen Challenge had many centers in Texas and Florida.  In 1997, Texas became the first state to use the Faith-based effort, run by Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries, InnerChange.  Support from the state governance under then-Gov. G.W. Bush in Texas and Gov. Jeb Bush in Florida were vital to the rapid growth of the enterprises.  Hire of former prisoners into mentor positions within the rehab facilities was an experiment that lacked adequate controls and supervision because government regulation had been stopped.

The Assemblies of God prison chaplains often have dual responsibilities and may also be paid prison staff with fairly unlimited access to prisoners. With Teen Challenge staff paid from federal re-entry prison funds, the Teen Challenge facilities had low staff overhead.  This financially beneficial arrangement permitted rapid expansion of the Teen Challenge ministries program.  The aggressive outreach of the Assemblies of God-Teen Challenge program was also funded by start up grants made possible through collaboration with the Faith-based and Community Initiative grant program and other linked programs.
Prisoners are paroled from prison to Faith-based outreach at Teen Challenge centers where they receive counseling, study the Bible and attend church. These “Christian” criminals, who had spent hard prison time, had criminal associates/connections, and were not always under adequate supervision of their parole officers. Teen Challenge as an employer would vouch for the employed prisoners and make allowances for their non-compliant conduct in order to keep them “on the path”. The parolees, in re-entry employment at Teen Challenge, were tasked to do missionary “outreach” to teens on the streets of New England.  Protected by their employer (Teen Challenge) and poorly supervised by officials from the prison system, these “Christian” employees openly did street “interventions”.  But Teen Challenge facilities had long been suspected of abusive practices and the continuing stream of complaints that surfaced did not get adequate attention by state or federal authorities.

An even more ominous complication was yet to be recognized.  The reports of abuse were made to properly identified authority channels, but persons who could block their progress and review had been strategically placed in critical positions.  An example is seen in the case of recently convicted, former Office of Special Counsel director, Scott Bloch.  Bloch was in charge of reviewing all federal whistleblower complaints in 2001, and could thus stop a sensitive investigation.  The case is discussed in greater depth shortly.

Under the Second Chance Act, the Labor and Justice departments announced prisoner re-entry grants totaling nearly $3 million to criminal justice agencies for Faith-based and community groups who provide ex-prisoners with employment services. Twenty-three agencies in 22 states and the District of Columbia were awarded grants of $130,434 each. States were: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.  

In Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland signed into law an act to encourage Faith-based groups and volunteers to provide re-entry services in that state. In Alabama, Governor Bob Riley appointed an advisory council of government and religious leaders to develop a statewide prisoner re-entry strategy.  Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction faced $74 million in budget cuts in 2008.  Boston, Minneapolis and Durham County, NC, all came up with their own prisoner re-entry programs that engage Faith-based groups.  Budget pressures are pushing for reductions in prison populations. At least eight states are reported to be considering proposals to permit early release of prisoners, including California, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Vermont.  

Reference:   Wright, David. 2009. Taking Stock: The Bush Faith-Based Initiative and What Lies Ahead, June 2009, ReligionAndSocialPolicy.org,
http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/ ... 060809.pdf

11
Tacitus' Realm / We must stop abuse in residential treatment
« on: August 06, 2011, 04:28:35 PM »
The United States’ (U.S.A.) obligations to victims

The United States of America signed the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) and, therefore, has an obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those who commit torture.  We believe in our systems as effective tools.  

However, in reality, our society suffers deep-seated prejudice toward the weak or powerless; there is a special stigma against persons who claim psychological injury and who need to seek compensation or support.  

Governments reflect the pervasive reactions to the horror of torture: denial, indifference, avoidance and repression are common. Impunity of the perpetrators may prolong or, in some cases, may deepen the mental scars borne by the victim or by members of their families, as denial of the wrong makes psychological healing difficult.  To obtain justice through the legal system, the torture victim is expected to testify about the violation suffered in order to create a public record of the event.  While this truthful telling may have a reparative value for many victims, it may also be deeply traumatic, triggering emotional wounds.  In addition, those who suffer from the mental anguish of torture do not necessarily show physical evidence of it.  Thus, perpetrators seeking to evade accountability try to deny the extent of their victims’ trauma and suffering.  To start the healing process, it is necessary to acknowledge the pain and the wrongs suffered, and to put in place proper protocols to stop the abuse from recurrence.

We must stop client abuse in residential treatment


To stop further abuse of children and teens in residential programs, the U.S.A. must identify the persons and practices that enable this activity to flourish. We must deny the perpetrators’ access to grant money and political power.  

Much information is already available through several U.S. Congressional investigations.  The most recent exposure was done by the House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. George Miller.  Important legislation like H.R. 911: “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009” passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb 23, 2009; it has not yet received any real action in the U.S. Senate.  This act was “To require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs, and for other purposes.”   The U.S. Senate should be strongly encouraged to pass this legislation.

The United States must look carefully at provisions in federal and state laws that perpetuate a lack of transparency and accountability for residential facilities. The Charitable Choice program must be carefully scrutinized to see that it does not fund programs that violate civil rights and human rights.  Non-government organizations (NGOs) and corporations must be supervised to prevent use of government contractor status for unwarranted immunity if legal transgressions are committed.  Lack of accountability permits abuse.

These aberrant NGOs and other corporations constitute a “black hole” into which government funds are poured with ineffective outcomes, yet little transparency and accountability have been required of them.  

Careful attention should be paid to ways in which a criminal element can invade religious non-profits and become able to exploit service provision, safety of children and financial assets.  Persons with criminal records of sexual assault or sexual abuse should not have access to children or young people held in locked facilities.  Those with criminal records for substance abuse, violent crimes, or financial crimes should not have their records “expunged,” so that they qualify for unrestricted access to victims in new positions of authority over vulnerable others.  White collar criminals capable of affinity fraud have been able exploit the naiveté and inexperience of church elders; thus, they are not a lesser risk as “restored” ex-convicts.

There is a long history of persons within the clergy and religious organizations guilty of abuse, including sexual abuse of children. Since religious institutions have been ineffective in prevention and regulation when matters of abuse occurred, it is necessary to have government oversight to prevent and address abuse, especially in programs funded by taxpayers.

The federal government must retain legislative powers that permit regulation and inspection of all residential treatment facilities, regardless of whether they are private NGO facilities, federal or state subcontractors.  This is necessary to assure protection of the human rights of persons inside such facilities.  It is a national obligation under international human rights law.

It is important to know the identity of the key actors.  Educating others about the role of both the enablers and the perpetrators can assist government officials to adopt effective due diligence commitments and to avoid complicity in criminal activity.

Economic sanctions, reduction of various forms of government assistance and public media attention can expose the problem.  Focused pressure on key individuals can gain their attention and help them constructively review their actions or inactions.

The survivor/victims of residential treatment center abuse need to feel that the government of the U.S.A. will create effective measures to stop the violations, to verify facts, and to provide public disclosure of the full truth, especially for abuse that yet occurs.  For 17 years, Straight Inc. and some of its medical doctors violated international law by violation of the Helsinki Declaration and the Nuremberg Code.  This abuse still continues in centers worldwide.  There has been no cogent effort to reduce the risk or address the harm caused. Effective regulatory control over residential treatment centers and wilderness camps is immediately required.  The infractions identified are gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, which need guarantees of non-repetition.

There must be denial of de jure or de facto amnesty to the founder and CEO of Straight Inc., Melvin Sembler.  He should be required to make effective and adequate reparations to the survivors/victims of this institutional child abuse.  Many victims, including but not limited to those abused in Straight Inc., Roloff Homes, Teen Challenge and WWASPS programs, desire a public apology that includes acknowledgment of the facts and acceptance of responsibility because the U.S. government knew of the abuse but failed to protect the children

The United States, as part of the international community, should keep faith and human solidarity with victims, survivors and future human generations. Also, the U.S.A. must reaffirm the international legal principles of accountability, justice and the rule of law, Human Rights Law International and U.S. Law.

12
Fellows of ASAM – FASAM certification

Members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) can be recognized by the letters “FASAM” as part of their professional credential, with the “F” designating “Fellow of.”   ASAM supports research that furthers their financial goals and expands use of the ASAM principles of addiction treatment.  The ASAM wanted to create a new “Board” specialty in order to control federal grant funds and other public financing.   American Society of Addiction Medicine certification (FASAM) is not equivalent to medical board certification. On their website the ASAM admits that its “examination is not a Board examination. ASAM is not a member of the Board of American Board of Medical Specialties, and ASAM Certification does not confer board Certification. "  

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) is has never been recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as a board specialty. There are professional organizations which provide “Board Specialty” training in medicine and psychiatry.  These organizations have clear and stringent guidelines as to who earns the honor and professional status as a “boarded” expert. Credentialing in these specialties as an MD is a challenging process that weeds out those without adequate clinical or academic skills. These ABMS recognized medical specialties include: pediatrics, geriatrics, surgery, psychiatry, neurology, internal medicine, urology, cardiology, anesthesiology, gastroenterology, emergency medicine, radiology, respiratory medicine, endocrinology and many others.

The field of psychology also defines strict guidelines for board certification.  The American Board of Professional Psychology was incorporated in 1947 with the support of the American Psychological Association. The ABPP is a unitary governing body of separately incorporated specialty examining boards which assures the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of specialty standards and examinations by its member boards. Through its Central Office, a wide range of administrative support services are provided to ABPP Boards, Board-certified specialists, and the public.  Specialization in a defined area within the practice of psychology connotes competency acquired through an organized sequence of formal education, training, and experience.  In order to qualify as a specialty affiliated with the ABPP, a specialty must be represented by an examining board which is stable, national in scope, and reflects the current development of the specialty.  A specialty board is accepted for affiliation following an intensive self-study and a favorable review by the ABPP affirming that the standards for affiliation have been met. These standards include a thorough description of the area of practice and the pattern of competencies required therein as well as requirements for education, training, experience, research basis of the specialty, practice guidelines, and a demonstrated capacity to examine candidates for the specialty on a national level.

In contrast to these accepted board credentials, ASAM certification   requires only a medical degree, a valid license to practice medicine, completion of a residency training program in ANY specialty, and one year’s full time involvement plus 50 additional hours of medical education in the field of alcoholism and other drug dependencies.  ASAM does not require any specific formal training or experience in the diagnosis and treatment of physical or mental illness.  But regardless of the lack of training in these fields, the state physician health programs have extended their outreach into areas in which they have no professional qualifications.  In most of today's state physician health programs, "Regardless of setting or duration, essentially all treatment provided to these physicians (95%) was 12-step oriented."    In these programs, ASAM practitioners routinely impose their spiritually-based 12-step abstinence recovery program.  This system is imposed on medical professionals through threats to remove medical licenses or curtail practice or hospital privileges.

Creating a new “Board” Specialty

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)   is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders.  The ASAM refuses to acknowledge the DSM-IV-TR criteria for various addictive disorders.  Instead, the ASAM has its own criteria which were defined by its own doctors with addiction histories.   Dr. George Talbott was a primary contributor to the ASAM manual on addiction.  This book is used by ASAM doctors to diagnosis people with "addiction".   The vast majority of ASAM fellows also still believe that the only effective treatment for addiction must be based in the 12-steps of recovery expounded by the A.A. program.

Based on the new diagnostic manual defined by the ASAM members, the organization started their own credentialing program, called the graduates trained in their revised diagnostic approach “Fellows,” and designated them as experts.  The ASAM now seeks to “grandfather” their “FASAM” members as equivalent to boarded experts in behavioral medicine without the required strenuous “residency” training currently necessary to obtain a doctor certification as a “boarded” expert.  With stains caused by addictive behavior permanently erased from the doctor's record without unbiased evaluation, he or she can move easily into a position of national political influence and privilege. Such placements can permit a grateful recipient to return favors to sponsors.

It must be remembered that funding for the state PHP is provided in part by medical malpractice insurance companies.  The state PHP is not designed to help targeted doctors recover and go back to practice, nor are they designed to protect vulnerable populations from abuse, neglect and medical fraud. The state PHP is designed to make money for its constituents, to protect large hospital and medical corporations from medical malpractice lawsuits.  The state PHP will readily sacrifice an “uncooperative” or whistleblower's career for corporate profits. “Disruptive” professionals threaten cash flow.

The Federation of State Medical Boards

In May 1993, Federation of State Medical Boards   (FSMB) President Hormoz Rassekh, MD, established a special Ad Hoc committee on "physician impairment" in order to develop medical board strategies for identifying, evaluating, regulating, and managing "impaired" licensees.  In 1995 the FSMB stated this policy, "After discussion of several forms of physician impairment, the committee elected to focus primarily on chemical dependency, because of its prevalence."

ASAM has with political support managed to establish forty-six physician health programs in the U.S.A., with 42 of them being members of the FSPHP.    ASAM continues to promote the A.A. 12-step model of substance abuse treatment and maintain that impaired physicians be cured by religious belief.  Although originally started as simply chemical dependency treatment programs, these programs now extend into areas of medicine and psychology for which the ASAM doctors are not professionally trained or qualified.  According to the ASAM, the “impaired physician” is suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.  ASAM believes that these “impairments” need lifelong monitoring and are to be treated by surrendering one's "will and life over to the care of God" and completely immersing the individual in some variation of A.A.'s spiritually-based 12-step program.

Establishment of state Physicians Health Program (PHP)

The state Physicians Health Programs contract with medical associations, in each state, to provide “monitoring” services of licensed professionals reported to be “impaired.”  The cost is paid from both the state health department funding and federal funds, as well as financial support from malpractice insurance companies and large medical corporations.   The state PHP, a non- government entity (NGO) over which the state health department has very limited supervisory oversight, has been given almost police-like prerogative to revoke the license of any medical professional they choose to target.  In addition, the PHP has been granted, by most of the state legislatures, a quasi-governmental immunity from legal liability for damages suffered by injured persons. Medical professionals unwittingly sign a contract for this NGO to "monitor" them if deemed necessary when they apply for professional licensure now. The FSPHP is the umbrella organization of all the state PHPs.

The Federation of State Physicians Health Programs

The Federation of State Physicians Health Programs (FSPHP)   arose from state chapters of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).   For example, Washington Physicians Health Program is the former Washington state chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.  The FSPHP was originally established in order to monitor physicians with addictive problems in diversion programs.  But over the years the FSPHP expanded its outreach to include any “impairment” or “suspected impairment.”  In 2008 ASAM president Dr. Louis E. Baxter, Sr. MD (addiction psychiatrist FSPHP president 2009-2011) proclaimed that Physicians Health Programs (PHP) now includes, "To provide a means to identify, evaluate, and treat physicians who have diseases of impairment."    The use of the wording diseases of impairment is not coincidental as it is the language used in the legislation that provides governmental authority for the PHP’s existence and also its funding through the state departments of health.  This expanded mission now includes not only drug addiction and alcoholism, but also mental health issues such as disruptive behavior, psychiatric disorders, psychosexual disorders and even physical diseases and metabolic disorders.  In this mission creep volunteers and paid “agents” of the PHP now feel they are authorized by the state medical board to address as diverse problems as grief, sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, divorce, child custody, bulimia, asthma, diabetes and hypertension.  But these volunteers and “agents” may not have any professional qualifications to handle these issues and they are supervised by the PHP director who is only qualified in “addiction medicine”.  The PHPs are run by supervisory committees made up of addiction specialists and people “in recovery” who are not physicians at all.  Staffs of the PHPs are often recovered addicts who have Chemical Dependency Counselor (CDC) credentials or some other similar training which was gained while they were “recovering” from their own addiction.   True to the vision of Bill Wilson, co-founder of the A.A. or 12-step program, the ASAM and the FSPHP is run by addiction peers who supervise the “peer mentoring”.

Surprising to most doctors is that the Federation of State Physicians Health Programs has a state “Physicians Health Program” in almost every state.  This program is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with tax-exempt status and incorporated to limit legal liability for their board of directors. The state Physicians Health Program (PHP) has become the primary investigator of any medical professional suspected of impairment or labeled a "disruptive doctor."  Persons placing complaints against a doctors license are allowed to do it anonymously under the federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) and do not even have to legally state what they allege is even true. There is no standard for admission of evidence.  Fabricated and false statements can be placed in the doctor’s professional record without any transparency and no due process.  This HCQIA legislation, originally intended to provide an avenue for patients to provide complaint information about doctors to state medical boards and federal agencies, has now had unintended consequences and instead protects hospital administrations from malpractice liability.  This immunity granted to “Good Samaritans” who come forward with complaints under HCQIA regarding medical care has been subverted by those wishing to hide malpractice and medical fraud.

Under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) there has emerged a covert ability to impact or revoke a medical professional’s license without requirement of standard, valid legal evidence or court procedures.  Thus, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chiropractors, dentists, and even veterinarians are now subject to control by this organization, the grandchild of ASAM.  Its practices bear uncanny resemblance to the operational ways of Straight Inc. and The SEED rehabilitation centers.   The same web of patient abuse behind closed doors has now gained official sanction as a governing agency watchdog with coercive control over medical professionals’ licenses through "monitoring" and investigation.

Doctors who lost their medical license for participation in abusive schemes sought a way to be reinstated as employable professionals.  They were invited to be doctors performing research in newly established, funded residential treatment centers for substance abuse, where it was possible to use drugs on captive patients without proper informed consent.  Who would believe or be concerned about “addicted” patients?  A collaboration formed that would benefit the pharmaceutical industry by targeting populations of “human subjects” who were controllable and who could be given their experimental drugs within locked facilities.  

In return for facilitating the pharmaceutical industry’s corporate goals, there would be political influence exerted to soften certain legislative language to permit ASAM doctors to regain their medical license and to erase the records of their own addictive behaviors and/or criminal activity.  The ASAM leaders strategically analyzed how to circumvent the medical quality control system that prevented them from expunging untoward behavior from their records.

It would be beneficial to infiltrate and eventually take control of the official systems that had developed to protect patient safety and medical integrity.  
The ASAM addicted doctors now had established a system for “monitoring” professionals accused or suspected of substance abuse or other addictive behaviors (i.e., sex, gambling).  Through the Federation of State Physicians Health Programs they attempted to gain a controlling access to professionals in every state.  Through contracts made with the state departments of health, they established themselves as the only capable competitor for state funds related to medical licensing fees that were designated to ensure quality professional performance.  

With generous outside funding from non-disclosed sources, ASAM doctors were able to effectively underbid others for these substance abuse treatment monitoring functions.  Thus, doctors who had been so impaired that their medical privileges were revoked or curtailed were now permitted to monitor every licensed medical professional within the U.S.A.  An aggressive and expensive advertising campaign through medical and nursing association journals presented the newly established Physicians Health Programs (PHP) as advocates for “impaired professionals.”  Everyone in the medical field was encouraged to report other doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists and other related professionals who might need to be “monitored” by the PHP.  Strategic marketing to allied professionals such as non-medically trained assistants, office managers, and paraprofessional staff to report “suspects” allowed the ASAM to target selected doctors and other healthcare professionals and force their participation in an unregulated monitoring system.  There were no protections against gossip, rumor or fabrications against licensed medical professionals.  Private investigators could be hired to probe the personal lives and background of professionals, without their credentials or methods scrutinized for aberrant purposes.  

Anyone with criminal interests could make a complaint against a doctor or other professional and expect to have the PHP take action.  This could neutralize or eliminate a competitor or whistleblower.  The ASAM embraced not only substance abuse problems (i.e., alcoholics and drug addicts) but also "sex addicts" and compulsive gamblers as members of their growing non-profit organization. Expunged histories provide no warning to patients about a past sexual-compulsive history.  Expanded focus of the PHP program also considers eating disorders and smoking as “addictions” that may warrant monitoring.

The ASAM and the Federation of State Physicians Health Programs   politically worked to change legislative law in each state to facilitate their control over the investigation into any quality control issues related to doctors or other licensed medical professionals. These legislative changes were achieved with no media attention, and few professionals knew these changes occurred.  Thus, legislation was passed to strengthen the authority of ASAM doctors while limiting legal liability by grant of quasi-governmental status and resultant governmental immunity.
 
Presenting themselves as experts on the treatment of addictions, the ASAM doctors offered educational programs to train others to view “problem” doctors through the lens of ASAM principles, based on the Dr. Ruth Fox tradition of abusive and coercive control.  They could protect their own addicted or criminally involved members and remove the medical license from anyone who could report their criminal behavior.  

The ASAM started another organization which prevents licensed medical professionals from ability to access their own medical credentialing verification documents.  The PHP requires that individual state licensing boards refuse to accept records that document professional credentials without applicants sending requests for credential verification to an independent incorporated centralized agency that the ASAM corruptly controls.  This prevents whistleblowers from seeking a professional license in any U.S.A. state and eliminates a doctor’s ability to go abroad with a clean record and obtain a license to practice.  It ends a professional career.  

ASAM and FSPHP control over professional licensing is not vulnerable to law enforcement scrutiny and is not under the control of any government body.  This is unrecognized power with no government supervision or accountability as an NGO incorporated to limit liability but operate as a non-profit to reap advantage of US tax laws.  The state boards of medicine do not control what transpires behind the closed doors of this ingenious monopoly.  

The U.S.A. Congress cannot pierce the covert halls of this power.  Even the FBI is stymied by the provisions of HIPPA regulation that were enacted to protect patients’ confidentiality, and which require a high burden of proof to obtain a legal subpoena.   ASAM doctors have created a system they control and in which they can hide whatever criminal activity is necessary to further financial goals.   Money laundering is possible with much less risk within the medical community collaborating with corrupted interests within the FSPHP and associated interests.  It is possible to threaten or professionally destroy any whistleblower naïve enough to report their criminal activity.  The FSPHP has the power and ability to force residential or outpatient “treatment” on whistleblower opponents under the auspices of the substance abuse treatment legislation and the mental health legislation at the state and local level.  Fewer medical professionals, psychologists and therapists are courageous enough to risk loss of their professional licenses if they report as “mandated reporters.”  Yet, they are required to do so by law. Unfortunately, many do not learn about this treachery until they report and are then brutally attacked from unanticipated directions.  

If law enforcement wants to prevent medical fraud, the ASAM and FSPHP corrupted system of power and control must be dismantled. It is necessary to ensure quality in our healthcare delivery systems.  That responsibility must be returned to properly elected and/or appointed officials collaborating with medical professionals in systems that are sufficiently transparent to assure that professionals with integrity and consumers are protected.

Because reports of abusive practices by the State physician health programs have leaked out,  media attention, state legislative actions, court decisions and voiced concerns of Congress have lead to the removal of PHP programs from many states including: CA, MN, NV, TX, WI, and OR.

The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness

The American Board of Addiction Medicine was created by Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW).  The new American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) "specialty" criteria was written by the ABHW. The goal of the AMBHA [formerly the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA)] was to make money on substance abuse treatment and mental health services.  Their CEO, Pamela Greenberg, became chairman of the newly formed ABHW board.  Ms. Greenberg is also the senior vice president in the Stephens Inc. company of Dallas, TX, which supplies financial services to health insurance companies.  The goal of this alliance is to make money for the financial investors (Stephens Group LLC).  Those making management decisions are not trained in medicine or psychology; they are trained in financial assessment, risk management, cost-benefit insurance statistical analysis, economics, public policy, survey research and other related fields. They are not medical professionals.  

The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW)   is organized and run by Pamela Greenberg to protect certain financial interests, such as medical malpractice and health insurance companies (Aetna, Value Options, Cenpatico, Magellan Health Services, Optum Health Services, Shaller Anderson Behavioral Health, MHN);  it also promotes the financial interests of major pharmaceutical companies ( Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca International, Bristol Myers, Reckitt Beckiser).  (ABHW mission statement)  

ASAM states their goal is to establish addiction medicine as a specialty recognized by professional organizations, governments, physicians, purchasers and consumers of health care services, and the general public. The American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA) and the ASAM collaborated to promote the alternate “board specialty” under the American Board of Addiction Medicine and admission of those with the FASAM credentials to expert status without the need for the usual residency training. These alternately boarded "experts" in behavioral medicine would then be able to compete for federal funds on par with traditionally prepared professionals.  Enhanced opportunities to commit medical fraud, patient abuse and human rights violations are facilitated.  

American Board of Addiction Medicine


ASAM is currently attempting to receive medical specialty recognition for promoting A.A.'s spiritually based 12-step recovery model to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)   ABMS certifies all of the traditionally recognized medical specialties and subspecialties (Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, Radiology, etc.). The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), a not-for-profit organization, assists 24 approved medical specialty boards in the development and use of standards in the ongoing evaluation and certification of physicians. ABMS, recognized as the “gold standard” in physician certification, believes higher standards for physicians means better care for patients.  As an integral part of their comprehensive strategy for employment of former “recovered” addicts and to enhance their attainment of positions of power and authority within the medical community, ASAM wanted to obtain specialty recognition by ABMS.  However, the requirement of residency training at a recognized institution of higher learning was preventing their “recovered” doctors from getting board certification.  Many of them had irregular work histories marred with periods of addictive behavior.  Thus when their professional records were reviewed, they did not stand up well to that scrutiny, in addition the requirement for medical residency training meant that they would need to maintain sobriety for that period of time while attending professional medical instruction, this proved too difficult for many in the ASAM program.  Thus doctors such as Dr. George Douglas Talbott MD, who had many years of difficulty as an alcoholic, wished to have themselves grandfathered into ABMS board certification through some agreement settlement rather than completing residency training at a medical school.  So ASAM sought to establish a new board that would then seek admission as an ABMS board certifying institution. In 2006 ASAM established the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM).  According to the official ASAM/ABAM website:

"Grandfathering is the pathway to acquire ABMS certification in a new specialty or subspecialty, without having to complete all of the training requirements that will eventually be established, such as completion of an ACGME-accredited residency program...For ASAM and ABAM certified physicians who are not already Diplomats of an ABMS member board, ABAM will facilitate and advocate for the establishment of non-onerous pathways for eligibility for an ABMS-recognized Addiction Medicine examination."  

But grandfathering alone would not erase the criminal records of DUI, domestic violence, drug related criminal activity, gambling infractions, drug diversion, sexual crimes etc. that were part of the history of these “recovered” medical professionals.  Thus a pathway also to expunge their criminal records had to also be established in order for ASAM doctors to rise in positions of power, authority and influence.  This they planned to accomplish through their political contacts in the Drug Free America Foundation, the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and various governmental boards and committees formed to determine national drug policy.
The Federation of State Physicians Health Programs (FSPHP) established a committee to monitor the addicted or corrupted ASAM members who wanted their medical license back.  This FSPHP monitoring committee was made up primarily of “recovered” addicts.  When it became politically expedient, the monitoring committee decided that those who had been previously monitored no longer needed oversight and the committee was discontinued.  This, coupled with legislative actions at the state level in several states, became a model that could be used to hide from public view the past criminal infractions and inappropriate behavior of ASAM members.  

Lack of adherence to accepted standards regarding DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria

Many state Physicians Health Program “agents” do not have any qualifications other than those to do substance abuse treatment “peer mentoring” through A.A. or 12-step programs.  PHP or ASAM medical professionals may have limited licensure, may be monitored themselves by state medical boards, and may not have access to a DEA controlled drug box because of previous drug infractions. Their scope of practice may have been curtailed by the state medical board to only include working with persons with addiction problems or doing workplace or workmen’s compensation evaluations.  

Because of their limited training and education and the limits set by the state medical boards that monitor their own scope of practice, ASAM fellows tend to view all physical and mental health problems as “co-occurring” and secondary in importance to addiction problems.  With disregard to professional standards of practice, “dual diagnosis” of psychiatric labels are freely applied to patients in spite of the fact that most ASAM fellows are not formally trained in the diagnosis and treatment of "mental disorders". (see the web advertisement for Pathway Family Center)   ASAM does not acknowledge that many psychiatric diagnoses are subjective, imprecise, and subject to change over time.   They apply their limited knowledge of the DSM-IV-TR without supervision or accountability to professional standards.  All patients are assumed to have a diagnosis of the disease of addiction – even when no evidence of addiction is present.  According to the A.A. or 12-step model, the patient is in that case just in denial.  This was true in the case of Dr. Leon Masters MD when he was threatened professionally and then falsely diagnosed as having an addiction problem, falsely imprisoned at Talbott Marsh Recovery Center in Atlanta GA and had his professional reputation as a doctor destroyed by then ASAM president George Douglas Talbott MD.

George Douglas Talbott MD wrote his own criteria of what constitutes addiction, based on the A.A. and 12-step model.   When examining this diagnostic protocol, it becomes evident that the symptoms described actually represent symptoms consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  ASAM Fellows of the FSPHP base their diagnostic criteria for addiction on symptoms that the valid application of the criteria in the DSM-IV-TR might instead attribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Acute and Complex).  

The ASAM and the FSPHP never confer a diagnosis that does not include addiction as a co-occurring and predominant diagnosis. Charting two co-occurring diagnosis increases revenue with little increase time spent. PTSD is a diagnosis that has been historically best treated with psychotherapy.  Acute PTSD can be treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the patient can recover to full function without further need for monitoring or further psychiatric treatment.  PTSD also has been proven to respond best to psychotherapy not medication, although some medications have shown to have limited application.  It is important to recognize the difference between PTSD, which is a psychiatric injury, and other clinical conditions of mental illness.  This is a legal as well as a medical concept with enormous implications.  For example, a sole diagnosis of PTSD would permit a sexual assault victim or domestic violence victim to testify in a court of law as a credible witness.

PTSD can be related to a child’s experience in a Straight-like copycat program.  Maia Szalavitz reported that psychiatrist Dr. Jay Kurdis recently provided expert testimony in the 2003 civil trial against Miller Newton (former Straight, Inc. National Director), which revealed that:

“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur when someone is confronted by an overwhelmingly scary, actual real threat to life and limb, or to something as important as that, and in the face of that threat, [finds himself] helpless to do anything about it. The diagnosis was first introduced in relation to Vietnam veterans, some of whom had had terrifying combat or prisoner-of-war experiences that left them anxious, depressed, paranoid, overreactive to loud noises, and susceptible to vivid nightmares and flashbacks of the traumatic situation. Research shows that the longer that people feel helpless in frightening situations, and the less control they feel they have, the more likely they are to develop PTSD.”  

One of the hallmarks of all the Straights and Straight, Inc. descendant programs, such as Kids Helping Kids, KIDS of New Jersey (KIDS), etc. was that the whole program was deliberately designed to make participants feel powerless.

Altering the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-V

The American Psychiatric Association publishes an authoritative manual regarding diagnosis of mental disorders.  This manual called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is periodically updated to reflect the most recent findings in the field.  A newly revised first draft of the DSM-V or the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's   (APA) DSM is due for publication in May 2013.  In this new DSM-V draft  it is suggested that "Eliminating the separate categories of Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence and replacing them with a single unified category of Substance Use Disorder" and instead "Labeling the overall section 'The Addiction and Related Disorders'.  This was a change in wording which the ASAM/ABAM heavily lobbied for as it would change the diagnosis of Substance Abuse (in the DSM-IV) to instead Substance Use Disorder under the section heading of addictive disorder.   This simple change would have the result of further legitimizing ASAM and their new ABAM specialty and expanding their scope of practice.   ASAM fellows support A.A. and 12-step program principles and maintain that addiction is a lifelong brain disorder requiring lifelong treatment.  This treatment bolstered with a DSM diagnosis is often mandated by court orders and censure by professional licensing boards. The financial benefits to the newly established ABAM would be enormous.

References and citations:

1.  American Society of Addiction Medicine, ASAM.org  http://www.asam.org/ExamHistory.html

2.   The ASAM certification process now included board certification by the ABAM.  http://www.asam.org/Certification_home.html  In 2009, The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) transferred the certification examination to the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM), and the next examination will be offered by ABAM on December 1, 2012 and in subsequent years.  A physician certified by ABAM is board certified. For More information please visit the ABAM Web site at http://www.abam.net.

 3, DuPont RL, McLellan AT, White WL, Merlo LJ, Gold MS.  Setting the Standard for Recovery: Physicians' Health Programs, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.  2009;36:159-171.
 
4,  The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization representing the 70 medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its territories. The FSMB leads by promoting excellence in medical practice, licensure, and regulation as the national resource and voice on behalf of state medical and osteopathic boards in their protection of the public. http://www.fsmb.org/

5,  Federation of State Physicians Health Programs – State Listing http://www.fsphp.org/State_Programs.html

6,  Federation of State Physicians Health Programs Inc., 515 North State Street – Room 8584, Chicago, IL  60610,  Phone: 1.312.464.4574 Fax: 1.312.464.5841

7.  American Society of Addiction Medicine. 4601 N. Park Ave., Suite 101, Chevy Chase, MD  20815. http://www.asam.org/

8.  2008 presentation on Physician Health Programs (PHP's) before the FSMB (Federation of State Medical Boards) at their 2008 annual meeting, given by 2009-2011 ASAM president “Physician Health Programs: How They Work,” FSPHP Dr. Louis E. Baxter, Sr., MD (an addiction psychiatrist), PHP missions now include, "To provide a means to identify, evaluate, and treat physicians who have diseases Conference 2008  

9.  The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW), formerly the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (AMBHA),is an association of the nation’s leading behavioral health and wellness companies.  ABHW.org, http://www.abhw.org/

10.  Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW), ABHW.org,  http://www.abhw.org/page3.html
  The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), a not-for-profit organization, assists 24 approved medical specialty boards in the development and use of standards in the ongoing evaluation and certification of physicians. ABMS, recognized as the “gold standard” in physician certification, believes higher standards for physicians means better care for patients.  http://www.abms.org/

11.  ASAM website  http://www.asam.org/abam.html

12.   Pathway family Center listed in on the Dual-Diagnosis Drug-Rehab, National Family Center,  Pathway Family Center is located at 6405 Castleplace Court, Indianapolis, IN 46250   Pathway Family Center claims to do Primary Services Dual Diagnosis, Substance abuse treatment and drug rehab Type of Care  Dual Diagnosis Rehab , Residential short-term sober living drug treatment (30 days or less), Residential long-term drug rehab treatment sober living (more than 30 days), Outpatient drug rehab, Partial hospitalization drug program/substance abuse day treatment Services Provided Dual Diagnosis Treatment, Substance abuse treatment   Pathway Family Center dual diagnosis drug rehab with a primary focus on Substance abuse treatment and drug rehab.
http://dual-diagnosis-drug-rehab.com/Du ... is&ID=4109

13,  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision, American Psychiatric Association, pages xxxi, xxxii.   Limitations of the Categorical Approach:

        DSM-IV is a categorical classification that divides mental disorders into types based on criteria sets with defining features. This naming of categories is the traditional method of organizing and transmitting information in everyday life and has been the fundamental approach used in all systems of medical diagnosis. A categorical approach to classification works best when all members of a diagnostic class are homogeneous, when there are clear boundaries between classes, and when the different classes are mutually exclusive. Nonetheless, the limitations of the categorical classification system must be recognized.

        In DSM-IV, there is no assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder. There is also no assumption that all individuals described as having the same mental disorder are alike in all important ways. The clinician using DSM-IV should therefore consider that individuals sharing a diagnosis are likely to be heterogeneous even in regard to the defining features of the diagnosis and that boundary cases will be difficult to diagnose in any but a probabilistic fashion. This outlook allows greater flexibility in the use of the system, encourages more specific attention to boundary cases, and emphasizes the need to capture additional clinical information that goes beyond diagnosis. In recognition of the heterogeneity of clinical presentations, DSM-IV often includes polythetic criteria sets, in which the individual need only present with a subset of items from a longer list (e.g., the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder requires only five out of nine items.)

14.  ASAM Patient Placement Criteria for the Treatment of Substance-Related Disorders (2nd ed., Revised). Chevy Chase, MD: American Society of Addiction Medicine

15,  Maia Szalavitz, Help at Any Cost: How The Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (New York: The Penguin Group, 2006), p. 221.

16.  American Psychiatric Association http://www.psych.org/

17.  The Federation of State Physician Advocacy Groups claims to be an informal group of concerned and dedicated medical and legal professionals who wish to remain anonymous, in order to reduce our exposure to retaliation or slander because of the controversial nature of our free speech.  The Federation of State Physician Advocacy Groups (FSPAG) was founded in late 2007 as an independent  physician-run alternative to the Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP).  The FSPHP is an independent nonprofit corporation which controls the vast majority of standard "Physician Health Programs" (PHP's) operated by medical licensing boards in all 50 states.  Also known as "diversion programs", PHP's were originally designed to provide a therapeutic avenue for physicians with "chemical dependency" (alcoholism and drug addictions) to access confidential treatment with protection from professional investigation and/or disciplinary action.  Many PHP's have gradually expanded their missions to include monitoring and treatment management for physicians with mental illness, and some are now expanding even further to encompass monitoring and treatment management for all physicians with possible "diseases of impairment" (defined as alcohol and drug use disorders, psychiatric disorders, disruptive disorders, psychosexual disorders, metabolic disorders, and physical disorders -- including diabetes, hypertension, and asthma). These increasingly broad missions have not changed the fact that the majority of state PHP's are still run by medical directors who are qualified only in "addiction medicine" and have supervisory committees largely staffed by addiction specialists and members of the general public who are "in recovery" from various addictions and who need not be physicians at all.  
 http://www.fspag.org/5.html

18.   Psychiatric Times http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/web/10168/login

13
Addiction Treatment Philosophy / A.A. and Oxford Group
« on: August 06, 2011, 03:49:56 PM »
A.A. philosophy of addiction treatment

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith.  William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971) also known as Bill Wilson,     co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) was a former New York stockbroker, had been a severe alcoholic with a high school education.  Wilson sought guidance from the evangelical Christian Oxford Group to attain sobriety.   Wilson experimented with other possible cures for alcoholism including LSD.   When Bill took LSD, use of the drug was legal and he took LSD as a participant in medically supervised experiments with in California in the 1950s and then also at the Roosevelt Hospital in NY.   The purpose of the research study was to determine whether LSD might produce insights that would serve to remove psychic blocks that were preventing people from feeling more spiritually alive.  

Bill Wilson's "spiritual experience" that was credited in his attainment of sobriety, occurred December 13 or 14, 1934. This spiritual awakening happened after two or three days of detoxing and getting the “belladonna cure”.   Bill Wilson's spiritual experience, or "hot flash," as he would call it, occurred during the second or third night (depending on the source) of the treatment.  Considering his alcohol and chloral hydrate   use upon entering Charlie Towns' hospital in New York City and considering also the hypnotic drugs he received during the first few days of his stay, there is the possibility that his "hot flash," may have been delusions and hallucinations characteristic of momentary alcoholic toxic psychosis.

Based on this experience, Wilson came to believe that alcoholism was a spiritual disease and that for recovery the alcoholic must admit that he or she was powerless and that submission to a “higher power”  was necessary to recover from addiction.  In 1938, a group of alcoholics decided to promote their own program of recovery through the publication of a book, for which Wilson was chosen as primary author.   The book was given the title Alcoholics Anonymous  and included the list of suggested activities for spiritual growth known as the Twelve Steps.   The 12-step program has many critics that contend that it is not effective and is often abusive.   In the mid- 1940’s, Dr. Harry Tiebout, a Connecticut psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of alcoholics and leader of National Council on Alcoholism  had supported Alcoholics Anonymous and published a series of perceptive analyses of alcoholism and of the therapeutic dynamic inherent in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Many others noted that Bill Wilson’s spiritual conversion did not stop his actions as a known womanizer and needed to be watched by others in the founders committee for his behavior during meetings.        

Robert Holbrook Smith MD was a co-founder of A.A.  Dr. “Bob” Smith was a deeply religious doctor who had been a severe alcoholic for 30 years. Dr. Smith received medical training at the University of Michigan and at Rush Medical College. Plagued with alcoholism since his college days, he prayed for recovery with a small group of Christians in Akron.  In the late 1920s, he decided that he wanted to be a surgeon, perhaps because he felt he would be able to control his schedule more easily in this specialty than he could as a general practitioner. The patients wouldn't be calling him for help all hours of the day or night, so they wouldn't catch him when he was drinking.  He received specialist training as a proctologist and practiced medicine in Akron, Ohio. But because other doctors knew he was a chronic alcoholic, the referrals were scarce and his practice small. Dr. Smith met Bill Wilson in 1935 at Oxford Group. Thus their attitude toward how to recover from alcoholism was based on study of the Bible and an evangelical Christian movement known as the Oxford Group.   According to the official A.A. website, "The origins of Alcoholics Anonymous can be traced to the Oxford Group,   a religious movement popular in the United States and Europe in the early 20th Century. Members of the Oxford Group practiced a formula of self-improvement by performing self-inventory, admitting wrongs, making amends, using prayer and meditation, and carrying the message to others." Ebby Thacher (Bill Wilson’s drinking buddy), Rowland Hazard III,  Bill Wilson and Bob Smith were all members of Oxford Group and also involved in the formation of A.A.  

Dr. Bob Smith claimed that when he met Bill Wilson he finally found the kind of help he needed - one alcoholic talking to another.   This was the start of the peer mentoring concept of one alcoholic helping another reach sobriety that is the hallmark of the A.A. program.    But the A.A. concept of powerlessness is different from the Oxford Group. In A.A. the bondage of an addictive disease cannot be cured only controlled and is a departure from the Oxford Group belief, which stressed a spiritual conversion, would bring complete victory over sin.  

These pioneers of the A.A. program (1935 to 1938) based their work on Christian principles of the “Good Book” and stated that they had been cured of alcoholism’s destructive curse by the power of God.  The Oxfords Group's influence can easily be found in Alcoholics Anonymous.  A.A. required conversions, stressed Bible reading and a required reliance on God. The Oxford Group believed in five elements of recovery which were discussed at prayer meetings and devotionals.  They felt that prayer could help alcoholics get straightened out and live successful spiritually correct lives.  

The Oxford Group was criticized by religious leaders including those from the Catholic Church and the Church of England. Frank Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group, was known to associate with Adolf Hilter.  Frank Buchman was quoted in an interview to the New York World-Telegram, as saying, "I thank Heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism."  The anti-Semitic and authoritarian tendencies of the Oxford Group were noted by numerous critics and US President Harry S. Truman distanced himself from the group.    

References and citations:


1.  Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (1984), "Pass it on": the story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world, ISBN 0916856127.

 2. Time Magazine Time 100:The most important people of the century, Retrieved December 31, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/time100/index_ ... me100.html

 3.  Time Magazine Time 100:The most important people of the century http://www.time.com/time/time100/index_ ... me100.html

4.   Faberman, J., & Geller, J. L. (January 2005). "My Name is Bill: Bill Wilson--His life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous". Psychiatric Services 56 (1): 117. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.56.1.117

5.  Galanter, M. (May 2005). "Review of My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson--His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous". American Journal of Psychiatry 162 (5): 1037–1038. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.5.1037

 6. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (1984), "Pass it on": the story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world, ISBN 0916856127. P. 59

7.  Did Bill Wilson use LSD?  http://www.texasdistrict5.com/lsd.htm

8.  Francis Hartigan, Bill W. A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson, pages 176 to 179

 9.  Bill W. A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson, Francis Hartigan, pages 178 to 179.

 10. Slaying The Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, by William L. White, 1998, pages 84 and 353

11.  The belladonna cure was likely a drug cocktail made up of belladonna, henbane, zanthoxylum (which eases gastrointestinal discomfort), barbiturates, megavitamins, morphine, and some other ingredients. Belladonna is an atropine powder derived from the leaves and roots of Atropa belladonna and is a powerful hallucinogen.  

12.  Bill W. and Mister Wilson — The Legend and Life of A.A.'s Cofounder, Matthew J. Raphael, page 189.  Also see AA: The Way It Began, Bill Pittman, pages 164 to 169.

13.  The Big Book, 3rd edition, William G. Wilson, Chapter 1, "Bill's Story", page 13.

14.  Flowers in the Blood: the story of opium, Dean Latimer and Jeff Goldberg, page 247.

 15. Towns, C.B. Successful Medical Treatment in Chronic Alcoholism. The Modern Hospital, 1917, 8:6-10.

16.  Lambert, A. The Obliteration of the Craving for Narcotics. Journal of the A.M.A., 1909, LIII(13):985-989.

17.  Wilson, W.G. Those Goof Balls. New York: The Alcoholics Anonymous Grapevine, Inc., November 1945.

18.  Harrison, et al. Principles of Internal Medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974. 7th edition.

19.  As Bill Sees It. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous. 1967. ISBN 0-916856-03-8, Dewey 616.861 ASB.

20.  Bill W. (2000). My First 40 Years. An Autobiography by the Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 55012-0176. ISBN 1-56838-373-8, Dewey B W11w 2000.

21.  Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous. 1980. ISBN 0-916856-07-0, LCCN 80-65962, LC HV5278.D62 1980

22.  Hartigan, Francis (2000). Bill W. A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-20056-0, Dewey B W11h 2000.

23.  Alcoholics Anonymous. The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism (4th ed. new and rev. 2001 ed.). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous. ISBN 1-893007-16-2, Dewey 362.29 A347 2001. ('Big Book')
  "The Big Book", really: Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY.
ISBN: 0-916856-00-3
Dewey: 362.29 A347 1976
Note that the earlier editions of the A.A. book are available for free on the Internet http://www.recovery.org/aa/download/BB-plus.html The Alcoholics Anonymous web site is: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age     William G. Wilson
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1957, 1986.
Harper, New York, 1957.
ISBN: 0-91-685602-X
LC: HV5278 .A78A4
Dewey: 178.1 A1c
This is Bill Wilson's version of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous
  Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous. 1953. ISBN 0-916856-01-1.

24.  The Effectiveness of the Twelve-Step Treatment
by A. Orange http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html

15.  In 1950, Dr. Tiebout became the leader of the National Council on Alcoholism. A.A. traditions state that A.A. will not engage in any "outside controversy," so A.A. used front organizations like ASAM — the American Society of Addiction Medicine, NCADD — the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and NAADAC — the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors. The NCADD was originally named the NCA (the National Council on Alcoholism), and it was founded by Marty Mann, the first woman to get and stay sober in A.A., and authoress of the Big Book chapter "Women Suffer Too." Ms. Mann saw the need for an organization to publicize and promote Alcoholics Anonymous, so she started NCA, and Dr. Tiebout was chairman of it in 1950.

26.  Susan Cheever, My Name Is Bill; Bill Wilson — His Life And The Creation Of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 231 & 232. Tom Powers found Bill Wilson's behavior to be so objectionable and disgusting that he quit Alcoholics Anonymous and went off and started his own recovery program in Hankins, New York. Powers said, "This sex thing ran through the whole business.  It wasn't just an episode."

27.   Bill W., A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Co-Founder Bill Wilson, Francis Hartigan, 2000, page 192. Bill Wilson was habitually unfaithful to the wife who was supporting him, both before and after sobriety. Bill was such an outrageous philanderer that the other elder A.A. members had to form a "Founder's Watch Committee", whose job it was to follow Bill Wilson around, and watch him, and break up budding sexual relationships with the pretty young things before he publicly embarrassed A.A. yet again. The impression that he was a ladies' man seems to have come from the way he sometimes behaved at AA gatherings. When Bill wasn't accompanied by Lois (or later, Helen), he could often be observed engaged in animated conversation with an attractive young newcomer. His interest in younger women seemed to grow more intense with age. Barry Leach, who knew Bill nearly thirty years, said in the 1960s he and other friends of Bill's formed what they came to refer to as the "Founder's Watch" committee. People were delegated to keep track of Bill during the socializing that usually accompanies AA functions. When they observed a certain gleam in his eye, they would tactfully steer Bill off in one direction and the dewy-eyed newcomer in another. See chapter 25, The Other Woman, page 192, for the Founder's Watch Committee. Also see page 170 for the interview with Tom P.

 28. Cheever, Susan, My Name Is Bill; Bill Wilson — His Life And The Creation Of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 225.   Many people in A.A. worried that Bill Wilson's sexual behavior would be discovered and reflect badly on the movement. Whether or not they were necessary, self-appointed "Bill watchers" usually stayed close to him at meetings and conferences to prevent him from interacting with attractive newcomers in a way that might appear unseemly.

29.  Wynn C. [Corum] was a mistress (one of many) of Bill Wilson according to her biographer Carolyn See .(Carolyn See, Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America (New York: Random House, 1995), p. 58.)  Bill Wilson included her story, "Freedom From Bondage," in the second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, As the last story in the second edition (1955), "Freedom From Bondage" became the matching bookend for "Bill's Story." The narrative was retained in the third edition (1976) but shifted to the penultimate position. At one point the author quips that her history of multiple marriages (she admits to four) "caused the rather cryptic comment from one of my A.A. friends ... that I had always been a cinch for the program, for I had always been interested in mankind, but that I was just taking them one man at a time" (AA, 548-49). Bill W. and Mr. Wilson; The Legend and Life of A.A.'s Cofounder, Mathew J. Raphael, pages 130, 195.  The "Freedom From Bondage" story is also present in the third and fourth editions of the Big Book at page 544.

30.  Dr. Bob and A.A., (Robert Holbrook Smith and Alcoholics Anonymous) by Dick B., Robert Holbrook Smith, M.D., Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, “The Prince of All Twelfth Steppers”  Contact: Dick B., PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837, (808) 874-4876
 http://www.drbob.info/

31.  Robert H. Smith, MD Akron, OH, "Doctor Bob's Nightmare", ‘the story of Robert Holbrook Smith, M.D., of Akron, Ohio. (OM, p. 183 in 1st edition, p. 171 in 2nd and 3rd editions. In the OM and 1st edition, it was titled The Doctor's Nightmare.) http://www.aabibliography.com/dr_bob_sm ... htmare.htm

32.  Pittman Bill "AA the Way it Began" Glen Abbey Books , 1988

33.  Tom Driberg, The Mystery of Moral Re-Armament: A Study of Frank Buchman and His Movement, p. 11-12 p.52, Secker & Warburg, 1964.  The Oxford Group was a Christian movement that had a following in Europe, China, Africa, Australia, Scandinavia and America in the 1920s and 30s. It was initiated by an American Lutheran pastor, Frank Buchman, who was of Swiss descent. By 1931 this had grown into a movement which attracted thousands of adherents, many well-to-do, which became known as the Oxford Group. Buchman called the movement the Moral Re-Armament (MRA). By the 1950s the Group was banned by the Catholic Church. Ildefonso Schuster, Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, stated that the Moral Re-Armament Movement endangered both Catholics and non-Catholics.  He called the movement dangerous for non-Catholics because it presents a "form of religion cut in half and suggestive, morality without dogma, without the principle of authority, without a supremely revealed faith —in a word, an arbitrary religion, and therefore, one full of errors."  The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano stated that secular and regular clergy were forbidden to attend any meeting of Moral Re-Armament and that lay Catholics were forbidden to serve it in any responsible capacity. A report concerning MRA by the Social and Industrial Council of the Church of England criticized MRA on three counts: theology, psychology and social thinking. The report found theology woefully wanting in MRA. It said, "A certain blindness to the duty of thinking is a characteristic... We have at times been haunted by a picture of the movement, with its hectic heartiness, its mass gaiety and its reiterated slogans, as a colossal drive of escapism from responsible living." The Oxford Group's focus was on personal concerns and placed the entire problem of human existence on self, the idea of personal sinfulness, asserting that individual sin was the key problem and the entire solution was in the individual's conviction, confession, and surrender to God. The Group revived an older 19th century approach in which the focus was on sin and conversion; it practiced a form of ethical and religious perfectionism that was reduced to a call for a renewed morality.

 34. Bill (William G.) Wilson was raised in Vermont near the summer homes of Rowland Hazard and Ebby Thacher. Rowland Hazard III's struggles with alcoholism led to his direct involvement in the chain of events that gave rise to what is today Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), where he is remembered as "Rowland H. In 1961 letter from Dr. Carl Jung wrote to Bill Wilson concerning Rowland Hazard III – (photographic image on the link below) http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/ ... obillw.jpg

35."Summarizing Cebra's Recorded 1954 Conversation with Bill W.: Part II: Rowland and Dr. Jung". Culture Alcohol & Society Quarterly (CASQ), Newsletter of Kirk/CAAS Collections at Brown, Vol. III, No. 3: 6. April/May/June 2007.

36.   Alcoholics Anonymous,  http://www.aa.org

37.  Mercandte, Linda A, "Victims and Sinners": p. 61-62 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Date 1996-01-01 ISBN 978-0-664-25508-4 ISBN 0-664-25508-6

38.  A New Awakening Recovery Path Today in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, http://www.drbob.info/New-Awakening.shtml

39.  The New York Times, June 18, 1952, page 8

40.  Time Magazine "Report on MRA” February 14th,1955 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 24,00.html

41.  Time Magazine 1936, "God Controlled Dictatorship" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 19,00.html

42.  Driberg, Tom The Mystery of Moral Re-Armament; A Study of Frank Buchman and His Movement, , 1965, pages 68-69.

43.  Miscamble, Wilson D, "From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War", Cambridge University Press, 2006 , P. 14, ISBN 978-0-521-86244-8

44.  Time Magazine August 14th , 1944 "The Candidates and their Churches" http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,775168,00.html

14
Addiction Treatment Philosophy / Ruth Fox, founder of the ASAM
« on: August 06, 2011, 03:29:30 PM »
Ruth Fox, founder of the American Society for Addiction Medicine

Ruth Fox  was the founder of ASAM, the American Society for Addiction Medicine, that promotes Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and the 12-Step treatment approach for alcoholism.  ASAM's mission statement is "to establish addiction medicine as a specialty recognized by professional organizations, governments, physicians, purchasers and consumers of health care services, and the general public."  ASAM's strategic plan boldly declares that "ASAM will define the basic and clinical science of Addiction Medicine as well as the scope of its practice".  Dr. Ruth Fox was the guru of mind-control techniques that use coercive control and experimental LSD drug therapy and disulfiram.  

Dr. Ruth Fox, medical director for the U.S. Council on Alcoholism, had used LSD in alcoholic rehabilitation.  She endorsed the therapeutic use of LSD for making experimental subjects develop a new feeling of compassion and tenderness for others.  Dr. Fox also felt that LSD was very helpful in changing alcoholics' thinking and behavior:  “LSD does seem to make the patient more willing to undertake the total program necessary for his recovery. After LSD, most of the patients who formerly refused to cooperate were willing to take disulfiram, attend group therapy and to affiliate with A.A.”   Dr. Fox reported in her book, Alcoholism: Behavioral Research, Therapeutic Approaches.

Dr. Fox gave her patients disulfiram and then alcohol, to deliberately make them very sick and attempt to build up an aversion to alcohol. Although she discovered that the aversion therapy was not effective, and after one patient almost died from a near-fatal reaction to a single ounce of alcohol given with disulfiram, Dr. Fox insisted that each patient be given at least one session of induced illness from the disulfiram/alcohol combination, before discharge. (See: Disulfiram (Antabuse) as an Adjunct in the Treatment of Alcoholism, Dr. Ruth Fox, in Alcoholism: Behavioral Research, Therapeutic Approaches, edited by Ruth Fox, M.D., foreword by 'Mrs.' Marty Mann, Springer Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1967.)

The mind control project MK-ULTRA, was a CIA mind-control program that garnered public attention in 1975 through U.S.A. Congressional investigations by the Church Committee  , and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission.   George H. W. Bush was CIA director from January 30, 1976 – January 20, 1977.   Over thirty US universities and institutions were involved in an extensive testing and experimentation program  which included covert drug tests on uninformed citizens at variant social levels, and Native Americans.   Several of these tests involved administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations." This was sanctioned governmental human rights abuse committed by these LSD researchers that sometimes resulted in permanent disability or even death.  The CIA itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense and monitoring was not performed by qualified scientific observers.  

Medical doctors are necessary to manipulate public policy and advance the financial interests of a criminal enterprise such as Straight Inc. and its progeny.  Corrupted interests use vulnerable patients for profit while ignoring a patient's real needs, which fosters a system of abusive human rights violations.  Well-appointed medical doctors were used to provide legitimacy to Straight Inc. interests, such as drug czars Robert DuPont, MD (a former paid Straight consultant) and Donald Ian MacDonald, MD (Straight's former national medical research director).    Both are members of the International Scientific and Medical Forum on Drug Abuse (a DFAF subsidiary).   Richard Schwartz, MD, former medical research director for Straight-Springfield, was another forum member.

The predecessor of Straight Inc., The SEED, began in June, 1970, in Florida as a substance abuse treatment center for adolescents and children.  A federal grant for $1 million dollars from NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), a subsidiary of the sprawling NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), established the program.  Melvin Sembler's son was enrolled in The SEED and Sembler, a personal friend to George H. W. Bush, became the board president of Straight Inc.  NIDA Director, psychiatrist Robert L. DuPont, Jr., had approved the start-up grant.

Techniques to force compliance in addiction patients became the hallmark of the newly-minted A.A. and ASAM programs.  ASAM wrote its own book based, in part, on Ruth Fox's pioneering treatment of alcoholics with LSD and mind control techniques.  Outcome reports neglect to mention the patients who became permanently psychotic or committed suicide under her LSD treatment.  No accounting is made for violations of civil rights, privacy or human rights.

The Federation of State Physicians Health Programs (derived from ASAM) which is Dr. Ruth Fox’s legacy continues to be awarded private contracts with government agencies.  ASAM still collects financial donations to the Ruth Fox Endowment Fund.  The money is used to pay for medical continuing education (courses about ASAM philosophy and to fund scholarships for doctors-in-training as ASAM Fellows [FASAM]).  

Human subjects abuse

Abuse of human subjects by substance abuse treatment doctors was well documented in the Congressional Church Committee report and by the Rockefeller Commission.  (Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, April 26 (legislative day, April 14), 1976.)  The published evidence indicated that Project MK-ULTRA involved the surreptitious use of many types of drugs, as well as other methods, to manipulate individual mental states and to alter brain function in U.S.A. and Canadian citizens.   Over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on uninformed citizens "at all social levels, high and low, Native Americans and foreign."  LSD was given to "unwitting subjects in social situations."  Researchers utilized a variety of drugs on alcoholics, homeless persons, enlisted military personnel and unsuspecting citizens as part of CIA research into mind control.  LSD and other drugs were usually administered without the subject's knowledge or informed consent, a violation of the Nuremberg Code that the U.S.A. agreed to follow after World War II.   The congressional committee investigating the CIA research, chaired by Senator Frank Church, concluded that "prior consent was obviously not obtained from any of the subjects."  Using recommendations of the Church Committee, President Gerald Ford issued the first Executive Order on Intelligence Activities in 1976, which prohibited "experimentation with drugs on human subjects, except with the informed consent, in writing and witnessed by a disinterested party, of each such human subject" and in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Commission.  Subsequent orders by Presidents Carter and Reagan expanded the directive to apply to any human experimentation.  These rulings laid the foundation for closure of the abusive programs, but only until new forms were created.

These mind control experiments were strongly condemned by the U.S.A. Congress but the financial association of substance abuse treatment centers with private funding from undisclosed sources continued unabated.  

References and citations:


1.  Ruth Fox according to her New York Times Obituary: Dr. Ruth Fox, a psychoanalyst who in 1959 became the first medical director of The National Council on Alcoholism, an agency devoted to alcoholism prevention, died in March 1989 at a nursing home in Washington. She was 93 years old and lived in Manhattan. Dr. Fox, a native New Yorker, performed pioneering research on the use of Antabuse, a chemical used widely in alcoholism treatment today. She was founder and first president of the American Medical Society on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies in 1954. She wrote, lectured and taught extensively on the subject. She also maintained a private practice and was one of the first psychoanalysts willing to accept alcoholics as patients.  The winner of a number of honors, she received, among others, the Citation of Merit award from the Malvern Institute for Psychiatric and Alcoholic Studies in 1963; the Silver Key award from the National Council on Alcoholism in 1972, and the annual award from the American Medical Society on Alcoholism in 1973. Retired in '79
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/28/obitu ... olism.html

2.  Fox, Ruth, Alcoholism: Behavioral Research, Therapeutic Approaches, 1967, page 775, quoted in Slaying the Dragon, William L. White, page 229.

3.  The Church Committee, Wikipedia.org,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee

4.  Opening Remarks by Senator Ted Kennedy.  U.S. Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, and Subcommittee On Health And Scientific Research of the Committee On Human Resources. 08-03-1977. DrugLibrary.org, http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/his ... /Hearing01

5.   AARCLibrary.org, http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/churc ... _0200b.htm

 6. The Church Report – The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operation with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence". Church Committee report, no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess.. Washington, D.C..:United States Congress. 1976. pp. 392, AARCLibrary.org, http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/churc ... _0200b.htm

7.  CIA and DoD Human Subject Research Scandals Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals. Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report. HHS.energy.gov, http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ ... ap3_4.html

8.  thestraights.net,  The Influence of Straight, Inc. (Drug Free America Foundation) On National and International Drug Policy http://www.thestraights.net/pickets/dfa ... -short.doc

15
Teen Challenge / What does the Office of Special Counsel Do?
« on: August 06, 2011, 03:16:07 PM »
Government oversight and the role of the OSC

What does the OSC do?
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent body charged with defending federal employees who disclose incidents of abuse, waste or mismanagement, or who have been discriminated against in the workplace because of political affiliation or personal status.
The OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. The basic authorities come from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).


PPPs & Whistleblower Protection

OSC receives, investigates, and prosecutes allegations of Prohibited Personnel Practices, or PPPs, with an emphasis on protecting federal government whistleblowers. OSC seeks corrective action remedies (such as back pay and reinstatement), by negotiation or from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), for injuries suffered by whistleblowers and other complainants. OSC is also authorized to file complaints at the MSPB to seek disciplinary action against individuals who commit PPPs.

See the Department of Justice -  Office of Special Counsel Official Website http://www.osc.gov/


Disclosure Unit

OSC provides a secure channel through its Disclosure Unit for federal workers to report information about workplace improprieties, including a violation of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement and waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial danger to public health or safety.

Hatch Act Unit (Political Activity)

OSC promotes compliance by government employees with legal restrictions on political activity by providing advisory opinions on, and enforcing, the Hatch Act.  The Unit provides over a thousand advisory opinions yearly to guide individuals on whether political activities are permitted under the Act.
Hatch Act Unit is charged to enforce compliance with the Act. Depending on the severity of the violation, OSC will either issue a warning letter to the employee, or prosecute a violation before MSPB.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (Veterans’ Rights)

OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military veterans, members of the National Guard and Reserve by enforcing the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

Employee Information Programs

Section 2302(c) of Title 5 of the U.S. Code makes agency heads and officials with personnel authority responsible (in consultation with OSC) for informing federal employees of their rights and remedies under chapters 12 and 23 of Title 5. These chapters cover prohibited personnel practices, whistleblower disclosures, political activity, access to OSC and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

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