The past Wednesday morning after the historic USA election what were you doing?
I know what Ray Sandford, 54, was doing.
Each and every Wednesday, early in the morning, staff shows up at Ray’s sheltered living home called Victory House in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis.
Staff escorts Ray the 15 miles to Mercy Hospital.
There, Ray is given another of his weekly electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments, also known as electroshock. All against his will. On an outpatient basis.
And it’s been going on for months…
If you read the rest of this alert, you’ll find out that Ray Sandford’s conservator, Tonya Wilhelm of Luthern Support Services of Minnesota, actually said that the law said that no one could publicly talk about Ray’s case without her consent (even though Ray himself had contact Mind Freedom for help).
I don’t think there is such a law (and if there is, it is unconstitutional as all get out), so that’s why I’m reposting this action alert.
Mind Freedom International encourages all concerned people to contact the Michigan governor, Lutheran Support Services of Michigan, and the Evangelica Lutheran Church of American (which runs LSS) to demand that Ray Sandford’s right to be free of invasive and terrifying procedures that are given to him against his will. Here’s the link with info on how to do this.
I just sent my messages to the MI Governor, Lutheran Social Services, Mercy Hospital, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. It took me just a few minutes.
Please consider doing this as well.
There’s the haunting image of nationalized healthcare to come.
Seriously I don’t want the government in charge of my healthcare…
…pretty soon they’ll call me crazy for saying that and schedule me some shock treatment until I line up like a good citizen for my weekly shots. Funny if it wasn’t so true.
I’m not keen on it either, but the problem is how to pay for health care. I’m fortunate that I have my church job (which pays for me to have a high-deductible health insurance policy) and you work for the state, but many folks don’t have that luxury.
And for that matter, while I don’t trust the government, I trust the insurance companies less.
In an ideal world, health care would be paid for on the community level. The Amish do this today (they call it mutual aid) and I think it is a good pattern to follow.
Thanks for writing them. Forced e-shock is abusive and very, very bad. After liberation, we had horrendous things going on in psychiatry and foster homes because there were people working who had been forgotten at the denazification, but in the meantime we have both health care for everybody, which is great, and better rights protection, which is also very important for the State needs to help the people.
Nowadays, people can only be sent to mental hospital against their will if they are either dangerous or very suicidal. A judge has to hear them and there are regular checks whether it’s still deemed necessary. For luck, it’s expensive, too! In case of extremely depressed and potentially suicidal people, the thing for them to do would be to convince the judge that they won’t kill themselves and that another sort of treatment would be better for them and thus “sufficient”. Folks who have problems to the point of sometimes getting hospitalized are advised to write a document beforehand what medicine and treatment they would prefer or not prefer. They can also tell the judge what guardian they would not want or if they have arranged for one.