Yes, they still do Shock Treatment and yes they're doing it on kids in
Florida.
The Florida Senate Health Regulation committee is meeting tomorrow
Febuary 21, 2007 to consider a bill to ban Shock Treatment on kids
under 18 in Florida. You can see the full bill here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rvj2n
Please e-mail Senator Atwater, Chairman of the committee and cc the
Senate committee members. Tell the Senators to vote YES on Senate
Bill 112. (e-mail addresses provided below)
If you know any health care professionals who can testify against shock
treatment or victims of shock treatment who want to speak out, please
contact Lee Sheldon, placman%40hotmail.com">placman
hotmail.com
How Electric Shock "Works"
1. The patient is injected with an anesthetic to block out pain and a
muscle relaxant to shut down muscular activity and prevent spinal
fractures.
2. Electrodes are placed on the temples bilaterally (from one side of
the brain to the other) or unilaterally (front to back on one side of
the brain).
3. A rubber gag is placed in the mouth to keep teeth from breaking or
patients from biting their tongues.
4. Between 180 and 480 volts of electricity are sent searing through the
brain.
5. To meet the brain's demand for oxygen, blood flow to the brain can
increase as much as 400%. Blood pressure can increase 200%. Under normal
conditions, the brain uses a blood-brain barrier to keep itself healthy
against harmful toxins and foreign substances. With electroshock,
harmful substances "leak" from blood vessels into the brain tissue,
causing swelling. Nerve cells die. Cellular activity is altered. The
physiology of the brain is altered.
6. The results are memory loss, confusion, loss of space and time
orientation and even death.
7. Most patients are given a total of six to 12 shocks, one a day, three
times a week.
Ask the foremost psychiatrists and they have no explanation to justify
why or how their "treatment" works. It is literally as scientific as
sticking one's head in a light socket. Do it often enough and you will
become disoriented, confused, lose your memory or even die. Same result
as ECT.
Texas, California, Colorado, Louisiana have passed similar laws. South
Dakota, Tennessee, Utah have imposed limitations.
ECT is prohibited by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
However, it has been documented that ECT has been given to 15, 16, and
17 year old girls paid by Medicaid in Florida (your tax dollars) over
the last 5 years.
"Recent studies suggest that verbal learning decreased by a mean of 50%
immediately after a completed course of ECT as compared with pre-ECT
verbal learning scores."-National Association for the Mentally Ill-Santa
Cruz County, CA website
"There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this
should be prohibited by legislation."
World Health Organization Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights,
and Legislation, 2005
+++
Senator Atwater, Chair: atwater.jeffrey.web%40flsenate.gov">atwater.jeffrey.webflsenate.gov
Senate Health Regulation committee members:
siplin.gary.web%40flsenate.gov">siplin.gary.webflsenate.gov, alexander.jd.web%40flsenate.gov">alexander.jd.webflsenate.gov,
aronberg.dave.web%40flsenate.gov">aronberg.dave.webflsenate.gov, fasano.mike.web%40flsenate.gov">fasano.mike.webflsenate.gov,
jones.dennis.web%40flsenate.gov">jones.dennis.webflsenate.gov, lawson.alfred.web%40flsenate.gov">lawson.alfred.webflsenate.gov,
peaden.durell.web%40flsenate.gov">peaden.durell.webflsenate.gov
.
