MFNews: Victory for Simone D.! No forced electroshock!

Tue Aug 28 15:34:52 CDT 2007

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

    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 at mindfreedom.org.

More info on the weekly MF Web Radio Show:

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see an important news item? Submit it to news at mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!

While you're on the MFI web site... just click on the button on the  
RIGHT to join or donate now, or go directly to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Become a member or renew your membership now! Build united strength  
in numbers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Do you want to...

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health?

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health?

MindFreedom is for people who care enough about human rights to take  
united action!

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor  
and affiliate groups with individual members, and is accredited by  
the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with  
Consultative Roster Status.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the  
mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,  
religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

While most of MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all*  
who support human rights are invited to join and become active.

Join or donate here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

For hard-to-find books and gear (including to pre-order new book  
Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry) go to the Mad Market! Proceeds  
support the work of MindFreedom. The Mad Market now has its own web  
address at:

http://www.madmarket.org

MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB  
11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org
e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
fax: (541) 345-3737

Please forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to get off this MF News e-mail announcement list? Two easy ways:

1) To unsubscribe e-mail a blank email to mindfreedom-news- 
unsubscribe at intenex.net. Be sure to "reply" when you get the  
automatic unsubscribe confirmation message.

2) If you have any trouble getting off this list e-mail to office(at) 
mindfreedom(dot)org with these words in the subject line: unsubscribe  
mindfreedom-news