CCHR Florida Joins Petition asking FDA Commissioner to Ban Shock Machine

CLEARWATER, Fla., May 11, 2017 -- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog co-founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969, working with its Florida chapter, formally requested that Dr. Stephen Ostroff, M.D., Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),  ban the electroshock device. According to the FDA, ECT may cause: prolonged or delayed onset seizures, cardiovascular complications (including heart attacks), breathing complications, confusion, permanent memory loss, brain damage and death.ⁱ CCHR noted in its request that despite the dangers an estimated 100,000 Americans receive electroshock annually including children, the elderly and pregnant women.

The only state in the country to issue an annual ECT report is Texas where in 2014 six deaths were reported following the use of electroshockⁱⁱ.  CCHR has now filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the remaining U.S. states for the purpose of obtaining statistics on how many children and others are receiving ECT.

These FOIA requests revealed that in one state alone, Utah, electroshock was administered 50 times to children and adolescents up to the age of 17 in recent years—including 15 times to those five years old or younger and that Tricare military insurance reported seven children aged 0 to 17 were given ECT in 2016.ⁱⁱⁱ

“We have found that visitors to our headquarters in downtown Clearwater are under the assumption that ECT is no longer used or even banned,” said Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida. “This mistaken belief is why our chapter decided to join CCHR International’s petition to ban the ECT device.”

In actuality only four U.S. states—Colorado, California, Tennessee and Texas—have banned the use of ECT in children and adolescents despite the fact that the World Health Organization's Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation, recommended in 2005: "There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation."^iv

For more information on electroconvulsive therapy or to report harmful side effects from the administration of ECT please fill out this form or contact CCHR at 1-800-869-2247.

About CCHR:
Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections.  It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world.  In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed.  All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org.

ⁱ Neurological Devices Panel, Center for Devices and Radiological Health Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Food and Drug Administration, pp 148-149, 27 Jan. 2011, 
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/MedicalDevicesAdvisoryCommittee/neurologicalDevicesPanel/UCM247594.pdf.%20Accessed%20December%20 "Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Devices for Class II Intended Uses," Draft Guidance for Industry, Clinicians and Food and Drug Administration Staff, 29 Dec. 2015, https://www.fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/%E2%80%A6/UCM478942.pdf

ⁱⁱ Jonathon Emord & Associates, Citizens Petition filed with the FDA Commissioner, 14 Aug. 2016; citing Texas Department of State Health Services. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Reports. FY 2014 ECT Annual Report, page 1. http://www.dshs.texas.gov/mhsa/bhmd/ect/

ⁱⁱⁱ "Evidence for Use of Electroshock on Veterans," 24 July 2015, 
https://talkwithtenney.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/evidence-for-use-of-electroshock-on-veterans/

^iv Benedetto Saraceno, MD, "WHO Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation Who 2005," p. 64.

Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
[email protected]
www.cchrflorida.org