Video of Electronic Shock Treatment Played at Trial Helps Turn the Tide on Judge Rotenberg Center
As described by an article in New York magazine in April of 2012:
"For years, the state of New York has been sending troubled kids to a notorious 'school' in Massachusetts known as the Judge Rotenberg Center, where students who don't follow the rules receive painful electric shocks. The 'treatment' at the center has nothing to do with electroconvulsive therapy, where people with severe depression are induced into having seizures under anesthesia — it's behavior modification for troubled children, and the Rotenberg Center is the only place in America that uses this approach."Now, after two years of in-depth reporting and a significant medical malpractice settlement between the Center and Cheryl McCollins (the mother of a former patient who filed a lawsuit when her 18-year-old autistic child, Andre, received 31 skin shocks, while strapped to a four-point restraint board for 7 hours resulting in PTSD), change has finally come.
As the New York article points out, she was not the first parent to sue.
"But McCollins and her lawyer have accomplished something that no one else has managed to do: show the public exactly what it looks like when a student is being shocked."The disturbing video played a big part in illuminating the inhumane practice, reaching a settlement in the trial, turning public opinion and moving an FDA advisory panel to hold a hearing this week and make a recommendation to ban the practice. See the investigative report by Fox Undercover's Mike Beaudet below.
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