OZschwitz slave pen: Shock therapy forced on patients

THE number of mental health patients forced to undergo electroconvulsive therapy in NSW has doubled in the past decade, and a lack of legal representation is leaving some of the state's most vulnerable patients without a say over their own treatment.

The case of one 84-year-old pensioner who did summon legal help to avoid ECT has highlighted a situation that leaves involuntary patients - and their families - powerless to challenge psychiatrists.

In NSW, involuntary ECT requires the approval of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. All mental health patients are entitled to a lawyer, but only one in 10 patients is represented in the tribunal's hearings.

The tribunal held 315 hearings for involuntary ECT in 1998. In 2007 there were 626 hearings. In that period legal representation in ECT hearings wavered between 4.9 and 8.9 per cent. Ninety-eight per cent of applications for involuntary ECT were approved.

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OZschwitz slave pen: Shock therapy forced on patients

OZschwitz slave pen: Shock therapy forced on patients

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