HEALTH MINISTER Bill English 'HORRIFIED' BY LAKE ALICE
PATIENT-TORTURE ALLEGATIONS But now he is PM says was a long time ago and no point looking into it and dragging it all back up but dragging it up for who BILL the trauma as its never gone away for those of us abused in that place
The National Business Review -18 Dec 1998
BY JOCK ANDERSON
Tales of terror and torture of children at Lake Alice mental hospital emerged from a Dominion newspaper inquiry and in a TV3 20/20 documentary more than 16 months ago.
It was not the first time media exposure had detailed and questioned the strange goings on at Lake Alice.
But in earlier years allegations were swept under the carpet because the hospitals and their staff were deemed to be right and beyond reproach.
The former child patients from the 1970s whose shocking stories were told, particularly on television on July 8, 1997, changed that.
Now lawyers were talking to former patients and gathering chilling stories of their experiences. They wanted someone to pay.
The next morning a clearly shaken and genuinely concerned Health Minister Bill English told National Radio's Kim Hill he was horrified by what he saw on television.
The people who told their stories would have been his age, Mr. English said.
"When I was getting on the school bus and having a healthy, secure childhood, these people were being terrorized...," he said.
Mr. English said he had no reason to disbelieve the former patients. until he became PM then and in a position to help them instead set lawyers on them to discredit what they were saying
"The descriptions that they talked about of the places and the feelings and the fear, I found just awful," he said. and yet he refuses to help us by providing rehab
He said Lake Alice was being closed because it held a lot of terrible memories for a lot of New Zealanders. No, it was closed down to cover up what happened there
He described what he saw on television as cutting across "all our concepts of the dignity of New Zealand citizens". But nothing to how he would treat survivors on becoming PM
Mr. English said the state should not hide behind a whole lot of "legalisms".
He said the things that happened at Lake Alice in the 1970's -carried out under the power and protection of the state -would not be allowed to happen today. Because we are much better at hiding abuse now and preventing inquiries
Some of the claims made by former Lake Alice patients are barely believable. These were
children aged generally between 12 and 15.
The 20/20 documentary detailed the experiences of former patients subjected to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and paraldehyde drug injections.
One man claimed punishment time with "the doctor" was 1 pm on Saturday.
He claimed his punishment was getting ECT, which he likened as having two Black and Decker drills on either side of his head, in pain, eyes clenched tight, tears rolling down and light going through his eyes.
Another told of allegedly curling up on the floor trying to hide when they saw a doctor's van come up the street.
One patient claimed a boy caught masturbating was electrocuted on the penis.
One told of a patient who allegedly made homosexual assaults on others and how staff allegedly allowed other patients to "zap" him with the ECT machine. The power was turned up and down the pain was unbearable the screams would frighten the hell out of other from misbehaving and one Nurse used to look after you until you regained consciousness and then while still groggy rape you
The $38 million claim against the Crown, prepared on behalf of 76 former Lake Alice patients by Christchurch lawyer Grant Cameron, relies on this kind of evidence.
It relies on adult men and women, some of whom say they should never have been in Lake Alice hospital, standing up and demanding the Crown compensate them for the alleged state-inflicted horrors of their childhood.
�Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd (546 words)
my comments in blue
PATIENT-TORTURE ALLEGATIONS But now he is PM says was a long time ago and no point looking into it and dragging it all back up but dragging it up for who BILL the trauma as its never gone away for those of us abused in that place
The National Business Review -18 Dec 1998
BY JOCK ANDERSON
Tales of terror and torture of children at Lake Alice mental hospital emerged from a Dominion newspaper inquiry and in a TV3 20/20 documentary more than 16 months ago.
It was not the first time media exposure had detailed and questioned the strange goings on at Lake Alice.
But in earlier years allegations were swept under the carpet because the hospitals and their staff were deemed to be right and beyond reproach.
The former child patients from the 1970s whose shocking stories were told, particularly on television on July 8, 1997, changed that.
Now lawyers were talking to former patients and gathering chilling stories of their experiences. They wanted someone to pay.
The next morning a clearly shaken and genuinely concerned Health Minister Bill English told National Radio's Kim Hill he was horrified by what he saw on television.
The people who told their stories would have been his age, Mr. English said.
"When I was getting on the school bus and having a healthy, secure childhood, these people were being terrorized...," he said.
Mr. English said he had no reason to disbelieve the former patients. until he became PM then and in a position to help them instead set lawyers on them to discredit what they were saying
"The descriptions that they talked about of the places and the feelings and the fear, I found just awful," he said. and yet he refuses to help us by providing rehab
He said Lake Alice was being closed because it held a lot of terrible memories for a lot of New Zealanders. No, it was closed down to cover up what happened there
He described what he saw on television as cutting across "all our concepts of the dignity of New Zealand citizens". But nothing to how he would treat survivors on becoming PM
Mr. English said the state should not hide behind a whole lot of "legalisms".
He said the things that happened at Lake Alice in the 1970's -carried out under the power and protection of the state -would not be allowed to happen today. Because we are much better at hiding abuse now and preventing inquiries
Some of the claims made by former Lake Alice patients are barely believable. These were
children aged generally between 12 and 15.
The 20/20 documentary detailed the experiences of former patients subjected to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and paraldehyde drug injections.
One man claimed punishment time with "the doctor" was 1 pm on Saturday.
He claimed his punishment was getting ECT, which he likened as having two Black and Decker drills on either side of his head, in pain, eyes clenched tight, tears rolling down and light going through his eyes.
Another told of allegedly curling up on the floor trying to hide when they saw a doctor's van come up the street.
One patient claimed a boy caught masturbating was electrocuted on the penis.
One told of a patient who allegedly made homosexual assaults on others and how staff allegedly allowed other patients to "zap" him with the ECT machine. The power was turned up and down the pain was unbearable the screams would frighten the hell out of other from misbehaving and one Nurse used to look after you until you regained consciousness and then while still groggy rape you
The $38 million claim against the Crown, prepared on behalf of 76 former Lake Alice patients by Christchurch lawyer Grant Cameron, relies on this kind of evidence.
It relies on adult men and women, some of whom say they should never have been in Lake Alice hospital, standing up and demanding the Crown compensate them for the alleged state-inflicted horrors of their childhood.
�Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd (546 words)
my comments in blue
Class Action Litigation.
ReplyDeleteHigh Court Rules 2016:
4.24 Persons having same interest
One or more persons may sue or be sued on behalf of, or for the benefit of, all persons with the same interest in the subject matter of a proceeding—
(a)
with the consent of the other persons who have the same interest; or
(b)
as directed by the court on an application made by a party or intending party to the proceeding.
An option that perhaps needs to be looked into....
https://www.crowdjustice.com/lawyers/
*It would take courage for lawyers, barristers to take the intiative and set this up Yet where there is a will there is a way.
Justice Needs to Be Done!
Class action would be lengthy Yet it would enable individual cases to be heard and costs (compensation, rehab etc) to be awarded.
There needs to be lawyers, barristers that are less NZ government controlled (if this is an option in such a small country) and swayed by public policy including the ACC system.
*Now would be an opportune time as there is much more information coming out with regards to human rights violations in state care; past, present and Preventing Future violations.*
Perhaps publicity with the above ideas may be of help, unsure yet worth a try.
Take care, with you in compassionate essence from afar.