MindFreedom International News - 28 August 2007
http://www.mindfreedom.org  

For 2nd time in 1 month a forced electroshock is STOPPED!

Simone D. wins! John Kelly wins!

Simone D. is a psychiatric inmate in the Creedmoor psychiatric

institution in New York State.

New York State’s Office of Mental Health (OMH), using taxpayer money,

aggressively pursued obtaining a court order to give Simone D. forced

electroshock over her expressed wishes.

Simone D. had clearly said electroshock caused her pain and

suffering. She knew what she was talking about.

Simone D. had previously had 200 electroshocks, also known as

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Making it worse, Simone D. speaks only Spanish, but for years she's been

denied counseling or even staff fluent in Spanish, except for a few week

period.

Today, Simone D.'s attorneys announced that she won!

This morning, 28 August 2007, a court ruled that the two-year-old

order to give her forced electroshock had been set aside.

Said Kim Darrow, one of her attorneys, "I was able to get the

original judge to order a hearing, on the ground that his main reason for

granting the shock order -- that Simone might not eat and starve -- no

longer applies."

Simone D.'s attorneys were able to show that during the nearly 20

month delay as they fought for her right to say "no" to electroshock,

Simone did not starve as the doctors had predicted.

Far from it.

Free from electroshock during the court battle, Simone D. actually

experienced a 34 pound weight gain!

Kim explained, "The hearing was held this morning before a different

judge. He ruled that Creedmoor failed to carry its burden of proof." The

judge canceled out OMH's court order for Simone D.'s forced electroshock,

that has hung over her head these past two years, since 2005.

This is the second person to win a victory in one month over forced

electroshock by the New York State Office of Mental Health following a

campaign of public alerts and court battles.

David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International said, "Thank you to

Simone D. and her great attorneys, Dennis Feld and Kim Darrow. And thank

you to the many people who spoke out against her forced electroshock. The

fact that John Kelly and now Simone D. have both been able to stop their

planned forced electroshock shows there is hope! Keep up the pressure.

Let's end all forced electroshock!"

You are encouraged to read and act on original alert for Simone D. at the

end of the news release on this web page. This time call for ending all

future forced electroshock in New York State!

http://mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d

Or use this web address: http://tinyurl.com/26b28h

Read about John Kelly's victory earlier this month here:

http://mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/new-york/john-kelly-electroshock

More updates will be on the MindFreedom Free Live Internet Radio Show  

tomorrow, Wednesday, 29 August 2007, at 4 pm ET when electroshock

survivor Sue Clark of Canada is the guest. At that time click on

http://prncomm.net/  You may phone in comments and questions live, or

e-mail to radio@mindfreedom.org.

More info on the weekly MF Web Radio Show:

http://mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mfradio/sue-clark

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