Torture and Ill-Treatment in State Medical Facility
New Zealand has been told to shape up or ship out. Well, loosely speaking, that is. The issue is what went on at the Lake Alice psychiatric hospital. The essence of the allegations is that patients were involuntarily belted down and subjected to shock therapy--as a deliberate punishment.
The Government should conduct an urgent investigation into allegations of torture at a New Zealand psychiatric facility, the United Nations says. The recommendation comes from the UN's Committee against Torture, which has upheld a complaint from former Lake Alice patient Paul Zentveld.These things took place in the 1970's. It is not ancient history. But Lake Alice is now closed. What it represented is framed by authorities as something which belongs to the ancient, dim, dark, and distant past. Unless one suffered the shock therapy, of course.
Zentveld was just 14 years old when he was first admitted to the Manawatū hospital's child and adolescent unit. There, he said he was given electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), was drugged and was placed in solitary confinement. Zentveld was admitted to Lake Alice five times, for a total period of nearly three years.
In an "advance unedited version" of the decision, the UN committee recommended the New Zealand Government conduct a "prompt, impartial and independent investigation" into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment at Lake Alice. [Newshub]
