CCHR Recaps Mental Health Month: The Silent Epidemic of Patient Abuse Cover-UpsWatchdog highlights reports of patients sexually and physically assaulted, drugged, restrained, or killed, all in a single month, citing nationwide and global concerns.
By: Citizens Commission on Human Rights 
Silent Epidemic of Patient Abuse Cover Ups This month, the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) annual meeting, held in New York, discussed sexual violence in psychiatric inpatient units. One speaker remarked, "The hallmark of sexual violence is betrayal of trust." However, as a seminar attendee pointed out, only patient-on-patient violence was addressed, and not the betrayal of a treating psychiatrist, therapist, or hospital staff member sexually abusing patients in their care. Patients are also betrayed when they are violently restrained and told this is to "protect" them. During the APA convention, news broke of a therapist charged with multiple offenses relating to the sexual assault of a 14-year-old- Shortly before the APA meetings began, a $50 million lawsuit was filed alleging staff at a Michigan psychiatric hospital encouraged a 15-year-old girl to attack a 10-year-old boy, while both were patients there. Surveillance video also showed hospital staff members stomping on the 10-year-old boy's fingers as he stuck them under a locked door.[2] Two days later, a New Hampshire jury awarded $38 million to a man who exposed a pattern of mistreatment, including physical violence, sexual assault, and prolonged isolation at another youth development center. The lawsuit sparked over 1,100 similar claims spanning six decades, with survivors alleging they were abused by state employees.[3] Media also reported allegations of abuse, falsification of records, lack of care and "overmedication" The Salt Lake Tribune detailed how Utah brought "one of the strictest sanctions possible" from Utah authorities against another for-profit psychiatric hospital, due to a litany of issues, including failure to report sexual abuse allegations and improper medication practices. The sanction—short of closure—mandates the facility hire an independent monitor for 40 hours a week for a year.[5] Federal regulators also threatened to terminate Medicare funding to the facility.[6] CCHR says the meager penalties imposed for patient abuse in mental health facilities serve only to perpetuate further misconduct. Such leniency sends a dangerous message, suggesting that staff can act with impunity under the guise of mental health care. According to CCHR, there is an urgent need for tougher repercussions to deter coercive practices. Psychiatric Services reports that the use of seclusion and mechanical restraints in U.S. psychiatric hospitals is rife, despite the traumatizing effects and risk for lethality associated with these practices.[7] In May, media in Switzerland reported that "the line between help and deprivation of liberty is in danger of becoming blurred," as the use of restraints in psychiatric hospitals was exposed—some patients were strapped to their beds for six days, another "locked in an isolation room or tied naked to the mattress." As reported, "What sounds like a horror film actually happened in two psychiatric clinics in Switzerland." In May, the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) held its 60th Annual Congress, themed "Excellence and Empathy, Knowledge and Kindness."[9] A recent UK report found that over 2,000 mental health inpatients were subjected to restrictive interventions in one month alone.[12] Reported this month, more than 15,000 people are estimated to have died between March 2022 and March 2023, while being cared for by community mental health teams.[13] Laws allow mental health practices to be forced on individuals, which is hostile to the intentions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Guideline on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation. The guideline condemns coercive practices, which include involuntary hospitalization, forced drugging and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the use of seclusion, and physical, chemical and mechanical restraint, as these "violate the right to be protected from torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment…."[ CCHR says that psychiatric abuse and coercion are consistently overlooked during Mental Health Month. They advocate for the implementation of an annual report, akin to the one published in the UK on restraints and seclusion, called "Out-of-sight— About CCHR: CCHR was founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry, State University of New York Upstate Medical University. It has helped achieve over 190 laws that protect patients from abuse. Sources: [1] Judy D.J. Ellich, "Child therapist charged with **** of a boy while working at Somerset County Youth Aid Home," The Daily American, 2 May 2024 [2] www.wxyz.com/ [3] apnews.com/article/ [4] www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/ [5] www.sltrib.com/ [6] carolinapublicpress.org/ [7] ps.psychiatryonline.org/ [8] www.bluewin.ch/ [9] www.ranzcp.org/ [10] cchr.org.au/ [11] www.cambridge.org/ [12] www.cqc.org.uk/ [13] www.independent.co.uk/ [14] www.ohchr.org/ End
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