60 Mins. last night: The ultimate institutional horror story

[KamaAina]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/09/60II/main672701.shtml

Rosemarie had committed 3-year-old Mark to Sonoma State Hospital, the largest institution for children in California. At the time, the hospital housed 3,500 children with diverse needs, from babies born with minor defects, like a cleft palate or a club foot, to children with epilepsy and Down syndrome.

Things got stranger still when Karen noticed an article in the local paper saying 16,000 people, including children, had been used in radiation experiments. "Out of curiosity, I started to read it, and they mentioned patients that were in state-run hospitals being used," says Karen. "And I just go, 'Oh my God.' This could be it."...

"They were the raw material of medical research," says Susan Lederer, who teaches medical history at Yale University. She was a member of the presidential committee that investigated the radiation experiments, and she says she wasn’t shocked by the findings because researchers have been using disabled children in experiments for over a century.

"Children in orphanages, children in homes of the mentally retarded, these are all good populations from the sense of medical research, because you have an easily accessible group of people living in controlled circumstances, and you can monitor them," says Lederer.

"An easily accessible group of people living in controlled circumstances". Ask not for whom the bell tolls; in the world of the Patriot Act, it tolls for thee... :scared:

To recap, not only were children with disabilities exposed to deadly radiation -- in northern California, not Nazi Germany -- they were actually recruited into the institution specifically to serve as "the raw material of medical research" (there was a 300% spike in admissions of kids with CP to Sonoma at this time). And you wonder why some of us tend to regard the medical profession with something less than awe and reverence...

[burythehatchet]

1. this is almost too much to process right now

so sad

[atreides1]

2. The More We Find Out, The More I Wonder What's The Difference

I guess that means that at least one difference between the US and Nazi Germany, is that the US government was better at covering up its
experiments.

So what was this about the value of life that the RW keeps harping on?

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[skylarmae]

3. oh man, just when you think things couldn't possibly

be any more horrid, along comes something like this. I could kick myself in the butt for being surprised. Will I never learn??? This pisses me off..

[Niche]

4. Happening in NY too. It's horrific... They do it to the

military too. Aren't these crimes against humanity?

WHAT IS GOING TO STOP THESE CRIMINALS???! Do the animal rights activists need to also include people in their list of protecting... ahhh it is just toooooo much.

[aquart]

5. Mengele under Eisenhower?

EISENHOWER's watch. The Republican president we tend to think of as benign.

But this was different from the experiments in the Nazi death camps, how?

[China_cat]

7. You asked;

But this was different from the experiments in the Nazi death camps, how?

Our government didn't load them into an oven when the experiment was finished. They let them live with the results.

[cornermouse]

6. And if you think these days are past?

Destruction of the safety net will result in a return to the days of the institution and once again, free human guinea pigs.

[Sugarbleus]

8. Your reply is the scariest scenario of all...

to my utter revulsion, I can actually see something like that happening if these fascist neocons were to somehow continue in government longer than four more years. :scared:

I, for one, AM surprised that this type of thing still goes on. Didn't Gov Reagan, along with some well-meaning dems, decide to close the doors on these types of institutions for these types of reasons? What happened to that?

BTW, why the hell are people putting children with cerebral palsy or down syndrome into institutions in the first place? That's curious in itself. geez

[jwirr]

10. Institutionalization Still Happening!

In the early 70s there was a movement toward normalization - making life as normal as possible for disabled people - this meant moving people to community based settings. Some states - like Minnesota, Washington and Oregon - moved much of their populations into home like settings with no more than 4-6 clients each. Each client was to participate in community life as much as possible. This is a safety net because the community can see what is happening to them.

Unfortunately many states - Texas, Florida and other red states - have not followed this movement and that leaves large very vulnerable populations in hidden housing with very little protection from abuse. These places are also more expensive to run than community based homes and thus add to the cost of health care.

The use of "unfit" populations in both the US and Nazi Germany for experimentation has a common background which is very well portrayed in Edwin Black's book "War Against the Weak". It is a must read for all legislators, medical personnel and policy makers throughout the world.

[Sugarbleus]

11. Thanks for the reply... I want to get a copy of that book..

...I think; it might scare the living daylights outta me.

While I'm here, I wanted to add a thought on "disabled" housing issues. As you mentioned, there have been attempts at housing person's with special needs in a safe environment. We have a few of those complexes right in our area. They are for the elderly as well. Very nice places with raised garden areas out in back. The apartments are safely situated behind locking lobby doors to ward off ner'dowells.

Also in my area, however, are "nursing care" facilities that take low income individuals and let them "live there" (in a manner of speaking) while also providing a modicum of medical assistance. A certain facility comes to mind and it is aweful. One of our very dearest friends is stuck in one now. ...more on that later

My pinpointed concern is for whole families with disabled family members. I've yet to find ANY housing situation (outside of a personally owned home) that assists WHOLE families. Another man (an aquaintance of ours) whose wife uses a wheelchair and who also has a couple children, started this particular line of interest for me--currently they are housed in an old, used, cramped mobile/trailer w/a ramp. They don't appear to be very comfortable.

Where do whole LOW INCOME families with one or more disabled members live/go?

Clearly, the counties and HUD have not provided a resolution to these particular problems. Whole families cannot be crammed into boxy warehouse type apartments like those I mentioned above. The community type housing units are great for one person but are not suitable for whole families.

Anyway....thanks for the post; quite alarming to think people in all of these catagories (including the aged) may very well end up housed in some blimp hangar one day. :scared:

[pop goes the weasel]

12. Where do whole LOW INCOME families with one or more disabled members live?

You ask, "Where do whole LOW INCOME families with one or more disabled members live/go?"

They live in crappy trailers or shot-gun housing, just like your friends. If they are lucky, they can build a ramp. Sometimes they have to live in inaccessible places and the able-bodied family members carry the one who is not.

And then there is the problem of having friends and family who do not live with you but are mobility-impaired. Apparently no one is supposed to actually know disabled people and like them enough to want them to come over for dinner.

[happynewyear]

13. my brother was disabled

now he is deceased. My father worked 3 jobs; my mother 1 full-time job. My older brother & I took care of the disabled brother for the most part. I believe he was what they now call "autistic". He'd been in homes, etc. School was a nightmare at best for all of us.

They wanted to institutionalize him for life at age 5. My mother wouldn't allow it so they spent all of the family's assets on his care. In the meantime, my older brother & I were latch-key children. We did not live in a "crappy trailer", we lived in a house that my father managed to get a loan on being he was a WWII veteran. We did not have much, but we did have a roof over our heads.

Now there is no one left but myself and the older brother that I never hear from. You are quite right, no one invites "us" to dinner. :(

What happens to those of us with no relatives left to help? I'd say you are SOL so to speak; do you end up in an institution or a crummy nursing home? Many hang-on by their fingernails hoping to keep hanging.

Isn't anyone else on this disabled forum concerned or do they even care to discuss what will happen if we lose a large portion of our disability benefits because of *'s plans? What will happen to us and any survivors?

God I hate thinking about this. Worry + MS = very bad news for me. :(

[Sugarbleus]

16. Dearest Dumtacetclamat, Worry and MS are not good

All of us are hoping against hope that cuts will not come for those persons with serious disabilities. Housing is another thing though, for which I'm very worried. If you are already housed, then this point is moot for you.

I fear for all of us as well. One of our BEST friends, "K", developed MS. His wife left him and as his condition worsened he was unable to work therefore he was unable to pay rent. He gets a small pention from a former job and collects SSDI. Unfortunately, he did end up in a nursing facility. It is the pits BUT...he is bright and active in his approach to his situation. He complains all the time about the lousy treatment. He managed to get special treatment in terms of permission to fix up his own room and the facility letting him out for personal free time. The damned medicare/medicaid wasn't going to purchase a new specialized wheelchair for him because he was living in this nursing facility. All of his friends in the disabled community along with him, raised the roof! HE GOT HIS CHAIR. :evilgrin:

"K" calls his digs "The Club". He oversees for other disabled persons housed there. He's been in the local newspaper with his complaints. He has such resolve to fight back and not let crap just roll over him with impunity. He did want to move into an apartment style accessible unit but the state wouldn't pay for the nursing care he would need.

So, if you are already housed in a private unit/house, try asking for in home care...whether that's through your insurance or via the state programs. THEN, find it in you to locate an Independent Living Center where you could possibly get hooked up with other disabled persons to make friends, brainstorm, find info....just "get connected" somehow.

My hubby started with going to our junior college. There was a great disabled students services on campus at the time. From there, he started volunteering his time with several disabled and elderly counsils. He worked for ADA programs on accessibility issues (voluntarily), and finally spent his recent years volunteering with the transit district/city bus lines sitting on boards and working with task force groups to ensure the disabled/elderly riding population got it's needs met.

From all of this (22 years), he/we have made untold numbers of friends who have one disability or another. There's even a "Freedom Adventures" program that provides various specialized trips for those with differing disabilities. Hubby went White Water Rafting..woot! Sailing and canoeing is another "Adventure". This org has specialized ballon tired chairs that allow a person to travel over sand at the beach...all sorts of things, including "Blind Adventures". It's out there, ya have to dig for it.

It's a sad thing to be alone and afraid. If your diagnosis is MS, perhaps you can locate MS groups to get involved with also.

Again, it's a positive thing to meet up with other persons to brainstorm ideas and/or join activist groups that are concerned with the same things you and I are.

TRY COLLEGE FIRST; see if they have a disabled students service or something like it. That's a great place to start to make friends and keep active. My two cents :)

My VERY very Best to you always.....don't isolate. :grouphug: SB

[Sugarbleus]

15. BINGO Pop! You got that right!

You said it friend! Our words almost verbatim:"Apparently no one is supposed to actually know disabled people and like them enough to want them to come over for dinner."

We have many, MANY friends who use wheelchairs for freedom and mobility. In one unit we were lucky enough to rent, the threshold was almost flat so we could squeeze our friends into the house easily...(getting to the bathroom was something else).. But the unit was much better than most places. We were able to use homemade ramps to help when needed, the unit was "roomy" enough to get a bunch of folk inside. We could share a meal together, laugh, play, watch TV, have meetings etc. NOT ANYMORE.

Our dear single lady friend Leslie has MD. She is housed in a nice unit FOR ONE. It is accessible in all ways. It is an apartment style building with locking lobby doors. She has access to a beautiful backyard with raised garden beds if she wants to do that. We visited HER for dinner one night...yummy too...because she couldn't get into OUR CURRENT dive of a unit. No way,no how.

The place we are in now is 19 inches off the ground w/cement steps up to the threshold and no handrails. The doorway is too narrow and the unit is way too small for even my own hubby to use HIS wheelchair or medical equipment. He is forced to keep his wheelchair in a metal shed outside and carefully ambulate up the steps and into the house. He has fallen out the back door many times. I fell once. When at the local PT facility, we learned that anyone who does NOT use their wheelchair INSIDE a unit cannot purchase one from Medicare/medicaid. Ha, hubby has had several elec. chairs over the years, since 1979. I guess we'll keep the shed thing our little secret.:eyes:


So, Right on right on right on!!!!! for your insightful reply! :thumbsup:

[Banazir]

9. Those days never ended.

But you are right, it will become more commonplace.

There are still plenty of institutions (they are often much smaller now), still plenty of medical experimentation on disabled people, still plenty of other horrors hiding in plain sight. The bad old days are not behind us yet, they've just gotten a facelift.

[happynewyear]

14. yeah the facelift is now called

The Pharmaceutical Industy, the real whores of our society. Damn pigs is what they are and they love to experiment of disabled people, especially ones that have diseases for which the cause (muchless a cure) is known. :grr:

:kick: