Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/nyregion/woods-center-abuse-neglect-disability-rights-report.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
Horrific details are pouring out from a center in Pennsylvania. The Disability Rights New York has reported illegal use of physical restraints, failed to set up behavioral interventions, run dirty facilities, and much more. Multiple interviews with patients, staff, and family members reveal that the abuse has been long-term. One instance involved a child who was intentionally suffocated. Said incident was never properly reported, and the child's parents were not informed that the child needed treatment inside a hospital emergency room. Neglect has also resulted in two deaths of residents. New York State is already under scrutiny for abuse, but this latest report enlarges the microscope. The state's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities plans to meet with Disability Rights New York to discuss the findings.
It was absolutely heart-breaking to read this article. I was disgusted at how these people who were supposed to be caretakers harmed and/or left their residents to die. Such abuse is hauntingly familiar to the treatment of the mentally disabled that Dorthea Dix strongly advocated against. She accomplished so much, yet even a hundred years later, there is still work left to do. Regardless, I hope justice is swift for those who suffered and those who made them.
This is disgusting and inhumane. This is a abuse of medical power over residents who cannot take care of themself because they are mentally ill.
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