Deborah Schwartzkopff, ECT survivor and founder of ECT Justice, talks about the medical and legal implications of electroshock.
Standard of care is currently being met with regards to approved use by the FDA for severe depression. However, physicians have deviated away from this singular use and are using it for other conditions. Standard of care is not being met with regards to informed consent.
If you have had shock it is important to try and identify injuries to pursue future suits. Tell your physician you want to have extensive neuro/cognitive testing and rehab.
The following tests may be useful. New blood test on the market S-100B (acute situations to id brain injuries, but get it anyway), MRI with and without contrast, Functional MRI, SPECT imaging, CT scan, EEG’s (standard, evoked potentials EPEEG, and quantitative QEEG), sleep study, and eye exam to reveal possible cataracts secondary to electrical trauma. Ask for any of the latest testing to identify brain trauma in patients. There is also a new exam called the MR spectroscopy that may be useful.
Have any test results immediately copied to a CD. Take it with you, and put it in a safe place. (This is the actual exam, not the radiology report).
Please pull your electroshock consents as well from medical records. Contact ectjustice.com with any abnormal reports and when you have obtained your ECT consents if you are willing.
Please fill out our ECT Questionnaire. Also, sign up on the ECT Justice media spokeperson page to speak out about this practice.
Recommended reading:
- Peter Breggin MD: Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry
- Linda Andre: Doctors of Deception: What They Don’t Want You to Know about Shock Treatment
- Robert Whitaker: Mad in America
- John Breeding PhD: The Necessity of Madness and Unproductivity