More SHOCKS info

[Marta Russell]

_New York Post_ June 17, 2001 COMMENTARY:
>
> DAD'S RIGHTS ZAPPED BY THE SHOCK DOCS
>
> By DOUGLAS MONTERO
>
> June 17, 2001  -- At age 5, Wilfredo Hernandez's daughter
> stopped learning. Since then, he has spent 38 years
> feeding, bathing, dressing his mentally retarded daughter -
> a task that became even harder in 1991 when his wife died.
>
> On Tuesday, a lawyer and some well-educated psychiatric
> doctors will attempt to snatch the girl from the
> 65-year-old Brooklyn man who has dedicated his life to her.
>
> They'll tell a Queens judge the girl should remain
> committed, needs an additional 21 sessions of electroshock
> therapy and that the father is an unfit guardian because he
> disagreed with the doctors.
>
> Hernandez, a church deacon, believes his daughter is as
> cured as can be, and further electroshock is unnecessary
> and abusive.
>
> "I don't think they have a right to circumvent me, because
> I'm the father, I'm the one who cared for her all these
> years, I know her better than they do," said Hernandez.
>
> "The doctor's position is that my opinion is not worth
> anything in her life," he said in a shaking voice. "The
> doctor is not the father. The doctor is not the one that
> suffers."
>
> The stench of electroshock abuse is stagnant over Hillside
> Hospital, the Queens psychiatric center where Hernandez's
> daughter, Dina, has spent the past three months.
>
> Court-ordered electroshock treatment has increased 73
> percent in New York since 1999 in state-run hospitals, and
> Hillside, which is policed by Albany, is going along with
> the program.
>
> Hernandez is a fit guardian. To say otherwise is an insult.
>
> He agreed to have Dina committed to the hospital, and even
> signed a consent form for electroshock to treat his
> daughter's anxiety attacks.
>
> She barely slept, paced constantly, and defecated on
> herself. The medication she was on didn't work anymore.
>
> After 21 zaps, Hernandez found his daughter left
> zombie-like. She reminded him of the heroin addicts in his
> Brownsville neighborhood.
>
> Two weeks ago, her Hillside doctor called requesting
> permission to zap her 21 more times.
>
> Hernandez refused. He told the doctor he wants to take Dina
> to Puerto Rico and surround her with close relatives,
> familial therapy that cheers her. "We don't need your
> permission because she's over 18," the doctor told
> Hernandez, before threatening to seize the girl.
>
> "I told him she can't decide, it's like talking to a
> child," Hernandez said. "It's OK," the doctor said. "We'll
> have to go to court."
>
> Hillside spokeswoman Michelle Pinto said privacy laws
> prevent her from talking about a patient. She, however,
> points out the state Office of Mental Health has "strict
> guidelines" that enable hospitals to zap patients through
> court action.
>
> That attitude mirrors the action of the state-run Pilgrim
> Psychiatric Center in Long Island, which is holding Adam
> Szyszko, 25, and fighting a court battle to re-zap him -
> despite his parents' objections.
>
> The stench convinced two state legislators to introduce two
> bills last week to rein in the zap-happy doctors, establish
> laws to better monitor the practice and increase parents'
> rights.
>
> Hernandez, who worked as a custodian at the Brooklyn Public
> Library for 27 years, is a simple man who's gearing for a
> do-or-die fight with the system. Every day he drives to the
> hospital on the Queens/Long Island border because he
> believes Dina, her illness, and the struggle to care for
> her, are a blessing from God.
>
> That's why a lightning pain rips his heart whenever he's
> about to leave his imprisoned daughter - she bolts to the
> locked door in her second-floor ward, grabs the doorknob
> and says:
>
> "Daddy, I want to go home."
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> http://www.nypost.com/commentary/32686.htm
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