May 13, 2008
Abuse, ECT, Fraud, Hospital, Human rights, Protest, Psychiatry
1 Comment
CBC News
Despite protests calling for a ban on the treatment, electroshock therapy is frequently used by Canadian psychiatrists to treat severe depression.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) estimates that last year, the procedure, which dates back to 1938 and involves passing electrical currents though the brain to trigger seizures, was used more than 15,000 times in the country.
The figure has remained virtually unchanged since 2002, CIHI says, showing that the popularity of the procedure remains strong.
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May 13, 2008
Abuse, Hospital, Human rights, News, Psychiatry
1 Comment
Julia Medew
May 12, 2008
NEARLY two-thirds of female patients surveyed in psychiatric wards in Victoria have been sexually abused or harassed by male patients, new figures show.
A report by the Victorian Women and Mental Health Network has also revealed that 70% of mental health staff surveyed by the group knew the abuse and harassment was occurring in public hospital wards. A further 30% of the 42 staff surveyed said the abuse, usually perpetrated by sexually disinhibited male patients, happened frequently.
Network convener Heather Clarke said the report, Nowhere to be safe: Women’s experiences of mixed-sex psychiatric wards, showed that 61% of the 75 female patients surveyed about their experiences in psychiatric wards had been abused or harassed in some way and did not feel safe.
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