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KBOO
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Air date:
Mon, 05/18/2015 - 12:00am
Civil Disobedience during protest at Kaiser Sunnyside in Clackamas
Electroshock survivor and activist Deborah Schwartzkopff was arrested for Criminal Trespass during a protest on Saturday against the controversial practice at the Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center .
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is still widely practiced in the United States, despite public perception that it is largely a thing of the past.
A campaign to ban the procedure in the 1970’s and 80’s had some visibility and achieved at least one outright ban in Berkeley, California in 1982, but since then it has mostly faded from public awareness.
Schwartzkopff underwent numerous series of shock treatments for depression and says she has lasting neurocognitive damage as a result.
She and two other electroshock survivors organized an international day of action on Saturday in fifteen U.S. cities, four in Canada and two others in Argentina and Australia.
During Saturday’s protest at the Kaiser facility in Clackamas, where Schwartzkopff underwent a number of her shock treatments, a dozen protestors stood at the Kaiser entrance on Sunnyside Drive carrying signs and banners.
One of the protestors, Steve McRae with Portland group Rethinking Psychiatry, had this to say:
After an hour and a half, at around 12:30, Schwartzkopff and three other protestors walked in toward the main entrance, but were stopped about 100 feet short by security guards.
Schwartzkopff sat down on the sidewalk, with a sign saying “Kaiser stop Electroshock” and waited for Clackamas Sheriff’s deputies to come arrest her.
She was taken to the Sheriff’s office in Clackamas, cited for Criminal Trespass and released. Her court date is June 15th.
KBOO reporter Paul Roland spoke with Schwartzkopff this afternoon by phone.
Schwartzkopff runs an advocacy website http://ectjustice.com/.
She will be speaking on the issue this Wednesday along with fellow electroshock survivor Jason Kalendak at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland. The address is 49 SW Porter and the event begins at 6:45 p.m.
She will also be on this Wednesday’s Talk Radio along with Rethinking Psychiatry members Marcia Meyers and Steve McRea.
Rethinking Psychiatry is at http://www.rethinkingpsychiatry.org/
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is still widely practiced in the United States, despite public perception that it is largely a thing of the past.
A campaign to ban the procedure in the 1970’s and 80’s had some visibility and achieved at least one outright ban in Berkeley, California in 1982, but since then it has mostly faded from public awareness.
Schwartzkopff underwent numerous series of shock treatments for depression and says she has lasting neurocognitive damage as a result.
She and two other electroshock survivors organized an international day of action on Saturday in fifteen U.S. cities, four in Canada and two others in Argentina and Australia.
During Saturday’s protest at the Kaiser facility in Clackamas, where Schwartzkopff underwent a number of her shock treatments, a dozen protestors stood at the Kaiser entrance on Sunnyside Drive carrying signs and banners.
One of the protestors, Steve McRae with Portland group Rethinking Psychiatry, had this to say:
After an hour and a half, at around 12:30, Schwartzkopff and three other protestors walked in toward the main entrance, but were stopped about 100 feet short by security guards.
Schwartzkopff sat down on the sidewalk, with a sign saying “Kaiser stop Electroshock” and waited for Clackamas Sheriff’s deputies to come arrest her.
She was taken to the Sheriff’s office in Clackamas, cited for Criminal Trespass and released. Her court date is June 15th.
KBOO reporter Paul Roland spoke with Schwartzkopff this afternoon by phone.
Schwartzkopff runs an advocacy website http://ectjustice.com/.
She will be speaking on the issue this Wednesday along with fellow electroshock survivor Jason Kalendak at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland. The address is 49 SW Porter and the event begins at 6:45 p.m.
She will also be on this Wednesday’s Talk Radio along with Rethinking Psychiatry members Marcia Meyers and Steve McRea.
Rethinking Psychiatry is at http://www.rethinkingpsychiatry.org/
- KBOO
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