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CCHR Oregon

Citizens Commission on Human Rights

Investigating and exposing psychiatric violations of human rights since 1969
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New Law Will Protect Oregon’s Foster Children

June 10, 2021 By Ron

Photo by Pixabay (CC0)

Oregon governor Kate Brown signed into law House Bill 2333. It directs the Department of Human Services (DHS) to report information regarding the prescription of psychotropic medications to children in foster care.

The bill, introduced at the request of Brittany Ruiz of Oregon Foster Families First, seeks to correct a long-standing problem of neglect and lack of oversight in the care of Oregon’s foster children. According to a U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, nearly 1 in 5 Oregon foster children are taking psychiatric drugs. Yet, the DHS has not tracked this information for the children entrusted to its care. The lack of oversight has resulted in an extraordinary number of foster children taking psychiatric drugs, many of which are not approved for pediatric use.

One drug with serious side effects, often leads to many more. The child can be left in much worse shape than the original condition that was being treated. According to Brittany Ruiz,

In Yamhill County, I met with the District Manager who signs off on all prescriptions. She had no clue one of her foster kids was on 8 different psychiatric medications, each new med attempting to fix a side effect of the first med. In Multnomah County many kids were found on 5 or more. Once again those managers “did not know“.

In another case, a DHS contracted psychiatrist signed off on meds without having ever met the child, skipped months of follow up, and failed to check in on the child’s well-being as she was placed in several mental health facilities.

Children placed in foster care arrive there traumatized. A stable home, patience and understanding will often achieve more than psychiatric drugs used as an expedient to dealing with a troubled child. This law will go a long way toward correcting this practice by requiring oversight that will expose this kind of abuse.

Filed Under: Children, News

National Day of Action to Stop Psychiatric Profiling

January 20, 2013 By Ron

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 21st, 2013

 

CCHR Oregon supports the

National Day of Action to Stop Psychiatric Profiling

 

The reaction to recent events involving gun violence has been an alarming rush to enact laws promoting “Psychiatric Profiling”. These laws would restrict the rights of people labeled as “mentally ill”, and force them to endure harmful, counterproductive, psychiatric interventions.

Investigate the Cause:

There has yet to be a federal investigation into the link between psychiatric drugs and violence, despite 22 international drug regulatory agency warnings on psychiatric drugs causing violent side effects including

  • Aggression
  • Mania
  • Violence
  • Psychosis
  • Suicidal and homicidal ideation
  • 14 recent school shootings committed by those under the influence of, or withdrawal from, psychiatric drugs

Sign the Petition:

Click here to sign the petition:  Call for Federal Investigation of Psychiatric Drugs, School Shootings & Senseless Violence.

Filed Under: Drugs, Events, News, Violence

In Memoriam: Dr. Thomas Szasz

September 12, 2012 By Ron

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Professor Thomas Szasz, iconic champion for liberty, pioneer in the fight against coercive psychiatry and co-founder of Citizens Commission on Human Rights, has passed away at the age of 92. Considered by many scholars and academics to be psychiatry’s most authoritative critic, Dr. Szasz authored hundreds of articles and more than 35 books on the subject, the first being The Myth of Mental Illness, a book which rocked the very foundations of psychiatry when published more than 50 years ago.

To the world, he was the foremost critic on psychiatry and its abusive practices, a brilliant debater and orator. To those who had the privilege of working alongside him he was witty, charming, charismatic and fearless. But above all else he was a defender of personal liberty. As Professor Richard E. Vatz of Towson University stated, “Thomas S. Szasz has steadfastly defended the values of humanism and personal autonomy against all who would constrain human freedom with shackles formed out of conceptual confusion, error, and willful deception.”

Szasz had long criticized the use of psychiatry as a means of social and political control stating, “Although we may not know it, we have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of social control. When I use the term therapeutic state, I use it ironically, it’s therapeutic for the people who are doing the locking up, who are doing the therapy, it’s not therapeutic for the victims, for the patients.”

Dr. Szasz’s alliance with CCHR was formed out of this fundamental philosophy. He didn’t just write and speak about the use of coercive psychiatry, he personally represented the victims of it. In 1969 he spoke on behalf of a Hungarian refugee, Victor Gyory, who had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution, stripped naked, held in isolation against his will, and forced to undergo electroshock. Szasz established that it was solely due to Gyory’s inability to speak English that had resulted in psychiatrists labeling him schizophrenic. Szasz’s testimony led to the hospital director discharging Gyory, a precedent-setting victory against involuntary commitment and coercive psychiatry, and his co-founding of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights with the Church of Scientology in 1969 as a mental health watchdog.

Of his alliance with CCHR, Szasz stated, “They were then the only organization, and they still are the only organization, who were active in trying to free mental patients who were incarcerated in mental hospitals with whom there was nothing wrong, who had committed no crimes, who wanted to get out of the hospital. And that to me was a very worthwhile cause; it’s still a very worthwhile cause. We should honor CCHR because it is really the organization that for the first time in human history has organized a politically, socially, internationally significant voice to combat psychiatry. This has never happened in human history before.”

Since its formation more than 43 years ago, CCHR has helped enact more than 150 laws and reforms protecting individuals from abusive or coercive practices.

CCHR is honored and privileged to have worked alongside Dr. Thomas Szasz for more than 43 years and will continue his legacy of fighting against abusive and coercive psychiatric practices until personal liberty and human rights in the field of mental health are established for all.

What Others Have Said About Thomas Szasz

Dr. Szasz makes a real contribution by alerting us to the abuses—existing and potential—of human rights inherent in enlightened mental health programs and procedures. He points out, with telling examples, shortcomings in commitment procedures, inadequacies in the protections afforded patients in mental institutions and the dangers of over-reliance on psychiatric expert opinion by judges and juries.” — Arthur J. Goldberg, Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

It is no exaggeration to state that Szasz’s work raises major social issues which deserve the attention of policy-makers and indeed of all informed and socially conscious Americans…. Quite probably he has done more than any other man to alert the American public to the potential dangers of an excessively psychiatrized society.” — Edwin M. Schur, The Atlantic

No one attacks loose-thinking and folly with half the precision and zest of Thomas Szasz.” — John Leo, social science editor for U.S. News & World Report

Szasz is a brilliant debater…. He can turn a topic as somber as insanity and its social context into a book that is extraordinarily entertaining.”— The New York Times Book Review

Throughout his distinguished career…Thomas S. Szasz has steadfastly defended the values of humanism and personal autonomy against all who would constrain human freedom with shackles formed out of conceptual confusion, error, and willful deception.” — Dr. Richard E. Vatz, Professor, Towson State University, and Lee S. Weinberg, Professor of Legal Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Thomas Szasz remains unique among contemporary observers of the social, ethical, and political implications of psychiatry: every argument he makes, and each word he chooses, are deserving of our closest attention.” — Paul Roazen, author of Encountering Freud

For decades, Thomas Szasz has publicly challenged the excesses that obscure reason. The Medicalization of Everyday Life offers a no-nonsense perspective on prevailing dogma. It is only through clear vision that intelligent choices can be made. Required reading for all professionals in health care fields, and all those who are subject to their unwitting prejudices.” — Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D., Director, The Milton Erickson Foundation

 

Dr. Szasz photograph by J.A. Schaler, producer and owner of www.szasz.com.

Filed Under: News

Oregon Attorney General and 36 others reach $181 million Risperdal settlement

August 30, 2012 By Ron

Janssen Pharmaceuticals RisperdalJanssen Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $181 million to settle claims brought against it by Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum and 36 other Attorneys General alleging that the drug company used unfair and deceptive practices in marketing Risperdal and three related anti-psychotic drugs.

Oregon will receive more than $4.2 million in the case. Janssen is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

“This is our most important case settlement yet involving “Big Pharma,” Rosenblum said. “Some of Oregon’s most vulnerable citizens will be the beneficiaries. I am proud of the major contribution of the Oregon Department of Justice to this result — particularly the efforts of Assistant Attorney General David Hart.”

Hart, assistant attorney-in-charge of the Oregon Department of Justice financial fraud/consumer protection section, handled the case for the state.

The complaint, filed today in Multnomah County Circuit Court follows a four-year investigation. It alleges that Janssen marketed Risperdal, Risperdal Consta, Risperdal M-Tab and Invega for unapproved or off-label uses.

Federal Law prohibits pharmaceutical manufacturers from promoting their products for off-label uses. The complaint alleges that Janssen promoted Risperdal for off-label uses to both geriatric and pediatric populations, targeting patients with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, depression, and anxiety, when these uses were not FDA-approved and for which Janssen had not established that Risperdal was safe and effective.

It also alleges that Janssen paid doctors to learn about Risperdal’s unapproved uses and gave lucrative consulting contracts to those who promoted and prescribed the drug.

In addition, the complaint alleges that when marketing Risperdal, Janssen misrepresented the risk of diabetes and weight gain associated with the drug and that Jansen marketed Risperdal in nursing homes despite the fact that there are other serious risks associated with using atypical antipsychotic drugs with this population.

As part of the settlement, Janssen agreed to change not only how it promotes and markets its atypical antipsychotics but also agreed to refrain from any false, misleading or deceptive promotion of the drugs. The company also agreed to disclose the specific health risks of the drugs on its product labels and to present balanced information about the drugs’ effectiveness and risks in its promotional materials.

The Attorneys General of the following states and the District of Columbia participated in the settlement: Arizona, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Source:

Oregon Department of Justice: http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/Pages/2012/rel083012.aspx

Filed Under: Drugs, News

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Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights

All human rights organizations set forth codes by which they align their purposes and activities.  The Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights … Continue reading...

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