Deborah Schwartzkopff, Author at ECT Justice!

Ending ECT: From a Lawsuit to a Novel – The Moment is Now! – BizOMadness

October 30, 2017 By Deborah Schwartzkopff

Eyes peer at me, then quickly look away.
Because they are afraid.
Because they sense the humiliation.
Because they know not what else to do.
Stretchers in front of me. Stretchers behind me.
Some poor soul being dragged where none of us want to go.

Who would have thought that a single shriek could fill the universe?

from Burstow, 2017—The Other Mrs. Smith

In the midst of flagrant professional misrepresentation of ECT, this article will provide hard-hitting and accurate information about the “psychiatric treatment” known as electroshock (ECT). This is a call to arms. Quite simply, the time has come for a frontal assault on the ECT industry and on the professionals associated with it. The time has come to rid society of this barbaric “treatment” altogether.

Naturally, it would make no sense to call for the end to a “treatment” unless it was, first and foremost, clearly profoundly injurious. So…

What are the Salient Facts about Electroshock?

There are so many horrific facts about ECT that it would take several articles to list them all. In a nutshell, however, some of the most pressing of these are:

Read full article in the BizOMadness Blog ->

A New Paradigm for Mental Health

October 19, 2017 By Deborah Schwartzkopff

I wanted to create a page for electroshock survivors that may be fearful to return to traditional psychiatry for help. Having been overly drugged for years (to the point I won a psychiatric medical malpractice lawsuit), and surviving many rounds of shock, I myself became disillusioned by the mental health system.

I originally turned to mental health professionals for a trusting relationship where my issues could be worked through. I was met by a very unequal power dynamic that was pathologizing and disempowering. Psychiatrists were intent on my assuming the lifetime role they picked out of the DSM. I was told my emotions had to be “managed” with drugs, not worked through. Meetings became about prescriptions, side effects, and drugs for those side effects. I was handed a fist full of prescriptions, and shown the door.

The system had a foundation of coercion. I handed my power and my opinion of myself over to a person in a suit, perched behind a desk holding the DSM, and it almost ended my life.

Dr. John Breeding told me about Process Work, and said it may be helpful. It is. I have found what I hope is the face of mental health to come. It is empowering, validating, non-pathologizing, welcomes extreme states, and an equal power dynamic. It is a spirit of cooperation, a focus on personal strengths and of wellness. It is a healing relationship where one is safe, heard, and validated. It is a welcoming one-to-one relationship. Process Workers also take the world stage in conflict resolution.

I hope that you will research this option.

Click here for more information.

Electroconvulsive Therapy Class Action Filed!

September 15, 2017 By Deborah Schwartzkopff

On September 11, 2017, DK Law Group LLP filed a class action in federal court against the manufacturers of Electroconvulsive Therapy devices (ECT) on behalf of every person who has been injured by electroconvulsive therapy in California since May of 1982. The lawsuit is based on traditional state-law negligence principles, and the manufacturers’ failure to comply with their obligations to the FDA.

ECT has been around for nearly eighty years, since about 1938. Since then, the practice has become widespread, even though the psychiatric community has never conclusively established any particular mechanism of action through which ECT treats any type of mental illness.

Medical Device Regulation

Medical devices in the United States are strictly regulated by the FDA under the

Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA),
Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (MDA),
and Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 (SMDA).

FDA The Medical Device Amendments determined that medical devices would be classified into three categories based on their safety and effectiveness.

Devices that present significant risks are classified into Class III, and these devices typically must satisfy a strict “premarket approval” process, which requires that manufacturers provide a strong showing of safety and effectiveness before such devices can be placed on the market. ECT Devices are classified as Class III.

ECT Devices “Grandfathered in”

When the Medical Device Amendments were passed in 1976, there were many existing devices, including ECT, which were allowed on the market without satisfying the premarket approval standard. Instead, they were “grandfathered in” as devices marketed before the MDA, or devices substantially similar to such pre-amendment devices.

Failure to Report

Despite being granted access to the market, manufacturers of devices that have been “grandfathered in” still must furnish certain information to the FDA. For example, under the MDA and SMDA, such manufacturers must report to the FDA all information reasonably known when their devices may have contributed to a death or serious injury. The “reasonably known” standard is broad, and requires a manufacturer to seek out information pertaining to adverse events resulting from use of their devices, instead of passively waiting for the information to reach them.

The DK Law Group’s lawsuit alleges that the manufacturers of ECT devices failed to meet these requirements, and as a result, placed a dangerous product on the market without an adequate warning.

View text of lawsuit here.

ECT Victims Sought

If you or someone you know has been been injured by electroconvulsive therapy in California, contact DK Law at (805) 498-1212 or by email at ECT@dk4law.com.

In addition, all ECT survivors (whether injured in California or not) are encouraged to fill out the ECT Justice questionnaire. ECT Justice will attempt to notify you as we learn of opportunities to participate in legal actions in other states and countries.

What the Science and Evidence Tell Us About Electroshock

September 10, 2017 By Deborah Schwartzkopff

James Moore interviews Professor John Read in this Mad in America podcast. Professor Read talks about his research into the safety and efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT).

Professor Read worked for nearly 20 years as a Clinical Psychologist and manager of mental health services in the UK and the USA, before joining the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he worked until 2013.

Click the play button below.

MAD IN AMERICA: SCIENCE, PSYCHIATRY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Click here for a detailed summary of this podcast, and to join the discussion on this topic.

Jonathan Emord Goes Round Two with the FDA on Electroshock Devices

August 24, 2017 By Deborah Schwartzkopff

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Attorney Jonathan Emord and his co-counsel Kendrick Moxon have filed a Supplement to their Citizen Petition of August 2016, protesting the FDA’s Proposed Order to reclassify and make more readily available the Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Device used to give “shock-treatment.” The reclassification would make it easier for doctors to give the treatment.

Shock treatment is well-known as the punishment given actor Jack Nicholson in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. More recently it was portrayed in the TV series Homeland when given to the star, destroying her memory and intelligence. Memory loss and brain damage are the central issue in the attorneys’ filing.

FDA This is shaping up to be a David and Goliath scenario with individuals damaged by ECT on one side and the FDA, under pressure from the industry that profits from ECT, on the other.

Click here to read entire article.

Have you been damaged by ECT?