BRIDGEPORT — A local man is fighting a court order forcing him to undergo shock therapy.
“This shouldn’t be happening in the state of Connecticut where they can strap you down and do something to you that can cause a person brain damage,” said Virginia Teixeira, a lawyer for the Connecticut Legal Rights Project.
A May 30 hearing in Superior Court here has been set for an emergency order to halt the therapy, which is expected to be done at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
The 26-year-old man, whose name is not being disclosed, is currently an inpatient at the Greater Bridgeport Community Mental Health Center. Following a hearing on May 3, Bridgeport Probate Judge Paul Ganim ordered involuntary shock therapy, or electroconvulsive therapy as it is also known, be performed on the man.
The probate court file is sealed. However, sources said two hearings were held before Ganim in which medical professionals testified the therapy is necessary for the man. The judge then empowered the man’s conservator to OK the therapy.
In documents filed in Superior Court, Teixeira, who was contacted by the patient, listed as John Doe, to represent him in the appeal, states that Doe has already been subjected to involuntary shock therapy at Yale, but health officials want to perform the therapy on him again.
Still controversial, shock therapy is generally accepted as a treatment by mental health professionals in this country for severe depression and mania. Connecticut has barred its use with children. Side effects can include confusion and memory loss.
State law generally prohibits shock...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Man-fights-shock-therapy-order-13900822.php
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