If you or a loved one are facing threats of forced ECT, you first need to immediately call your state’s Protection and Advocacy Department. Click here for more information and direct contact to your state. These are federally funded (CMHS) to investigate reports of abuse and neglect in mental health facilities, private or public. I will say that some states’ P&A’s are better than others. Frankly, some suck. Others don’t. Hopefully you live in a good state.

National Disability and Rights Network: Protection and advocacy for persons with disabilities.

If you have called your state’s P&A for any assistance and they gave you the run-around, please contact me, and I will use my connections and resources to investigate.

Once you’ve called your P&A to find out your rights, you should contact me. You can either email me or call my office phone and leave a voice mail. Contact information is on the contact page. You don’t have to go public to fight it, although involving the media can often bring pressure that will cause doctors to back down. On the other hand, such pressure can also cause them to dig in for a battle. I will do everything I can to bring in others and fight for you.

You will not be alone.

If you need help, public awareness can help, but it is not mandatory. You do not have to go public as the persons portrayed here have done. It’s understandably a frightening thing, and the stigma can be nearly as frightening as the forced treatment.

But you do need to make a commitment to say no, even if you said yes in the past.

Added: Jul 26, 2006 10:12 pm | Trackback URI |  Email This Post  | Print