Posted by Dan_MI on June 17, 2010, at 10:46:01
I know Scientology is a religion, and because of that it enjoys certain protections here and elsewhere, but Scientology also presents its self as a quasi-medical organization in its outspoken efforts to eliminate psychiatry, so I believe they are fair game for discussion here.
Lisa McPherson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_McPherson) was a woman who was a Scientologist, who also had a psychotic breakdown. She was in the emergency room about to receive psychiatric care when members of the Church of Scientology (CoS) swooped in and arranged for her to be discharged.
Once out of the hospital, they took her to a motel and instituted what is called an "Introspection Rundown" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection_Rundown), which consisted of restraining her to a bed and keeping her there until she was no longer psychotic.
To that end, McPherson was tied to the bed for so long waiting for her psychosis to disappear that she developed a pulmonary embolism and died, emaciated and dehydrated.
Just as certain members have every right to refuse treatment with drugs, in my opinion every mentally ill person has the right to receive drugs for their deadly ilness.
Lisa McPherson is the Matthew Shephard of mental illness. Hopefully her case will be the last vestige of an attitude that has pervaded society since humans became endowed with these big brains of ours: that we can just snap out of depression, psychosis, OCD, or whatever.
poster:Dan_MI
thread:951316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100615/msgs/951316.html