Mental Health Commission Refuses to Investigate Cover-Up of Medical Misconduct Despite ‘Smoking Gun’

by abbeylubber - none Wed Apr 14, 2010 22:40

A horrible tale and quite believeable in this dysfunctional country, but.... while there is plenty of suspicion generated by the circumstances as outlined, there is little real evidence of the type required to prove the alleged offences committed.

I wonder what reasons,if any, exist to ground the decision that no further action was necessary?

However, there are the bones of a good case but a real risk of failure from lack of hard evidence. How do you prove the validity of the entry sighted by the solicitor; who actually made the entry and can it be attributed unequivocally to any one member of the medical profession - especially when the whole issue of time and date of administration of the medication is vital - and likely to be contested or, as seems to be alleged, to be mis-stated or covered-up?

by An tSionainn Thu Apr 15, 2010 13:34 antsionainn at swanriver dot com dot au

After numerous FOI appeals, clarifications, and further appeals to the Office of the Information Commissioner we obtained the medical Kardex for that period which identified the Clozapine prescription that started on 7/10/07. We also have fax and email copies of all the correspondences and documents cited. The key evidence was presented in this form to MHC's Ray Mooney two weeks ago, who communicated same to the Inspector Pat Devitt and to the CEO Hugh Kane of the Mental Health Commission (we have Mr Mooney's signed letter indicting the CEO and Inspector were informed of the evidence we provided them). We would not have published the story without the means to substantiate it. If anyone is interested in publishing the story beyond IndyMedia, we would be happy to provide copies of substantiating documents.

This is only one chapter in the story of these abuses, which started with the patient's involuntary detention in 2003 under the old Mental Treatment Act 1945. The patient has already been released on order of the High Court when his detention under the old Act was found to be unlawful. The patient was then immediately re-detained under the new Act and, once again, ordered released by the High Court for injustices suffered undr HSE's maladministration. He was again immediately redetained on order of the registrar of the approved centre - something that should never happpen under the new Act.

There are previous cases of medical misconduct for which we also have FOI documented evidence, including a period of three weeks in 2003 when the patient was overdosed (15x the ordinary BNF dosage) with both of the anti-psychotics Clopixol and Depixol immediately prior to a Gardai interrogation. Despite requests from the next of kin, the registrar of the approved centre did not see that the patient was provided with legal counsel. The patient suffered permanent damage (somatic delusions) from the overdose, which created presumably false memories. These "delusions" are his memories of being injected improperly at night. In fact, this is exactly what happened during the three weeks! Even though these are memories of the past, HSE still claims they represent active "delusions" and use the patient's accounts of these memories as a pretext for the continued involuntarily detainment. Really, HSE - and now the Mental Health Commission - are practicing the darkest form of damage control.

by Conor Thu Apr 15, 2010 16:03

Wow, this is serious stuff.

Presuming everything here is correct, it is something that should be picked up by the mainstream.

Funnily enough, I met a man in his 40/50s less than a week ago in Dublin city centre. He was also a 'patient' and the things he told me about where he was kept made me teary-eyed. I also had a good friend years ago and his older brother was put in Portrane mental hospital. The shit that happened to him there still makes my skim crawl.

This is quite disturbing stuff and I dont doubt it for one second. These facilities are really bizarre because you can get locked up like a criminal, even if you have never committed a crime or harmed anyone.

by An tSionainn Sun Apr 25, 2010 03:47

We contacted MHC's Health and Social Care Regulatory Forum. Dereck Beattie and Lisa O'Farrell there are doing some wonderful work proposing a framework for public and service user involvment in health and social care regulation in Ireland.

The family hopes some of their experiences will be valuable to MHC's forum and can help shape future regulator policy that requires accountability and transparency from organisations such as HSE and the Mental Health Commission. Unfortunately they found these qualities to be distinctly lacking in these orgaisations.

One quote from the forum's report stood out in particular:

A further rationale for involving the public directly in the work of regulatory bodies is a need to counteract the risk of regulatory capture.

This can occur when the regulator becomes too close to the professionals or organisations being regulated, as described by Ashworth,

Boyne and Walker:

“In these circumstances, the capacity for independent judgement is undermined or lost, and information on performance is likely to be biased."

Such capture may be especially likely to occur when the staff on the two sides of the regulatory relationship are drawn from the same professional group, when ‘poachers turn gamekeepers’ (or vice versa), and if there is a long-term relationship between individuals in the regulatory and regulated organisations”..

As evident above, there are numerous reasons why involving the public and service users in the work of regulatory bodies is important, but the salient reason for doing so is so that Ireland can provide a world class public service. Wherever public services are considered excellent around the world, three characteristics are typically present, new professionalism, strategic leadership and citizen empowerment.

This very well states the current situation between HSE and the Mental Health Commission. In our recent meeting with Ray Mooney, the Director of Corporate Affairs for MHC we discussed this problem, and in particular brought to his attention the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of former CEO Brid Clarke, former Inspector Rhona Jennings, and current Inspector Pat Devitt for failing to investigate indictable offences against the Mental Health Act 2001 for which we had written corroborating testimony and documented factual evidence obtained through FOI.

In a recent fax, Mr Mooney stated that nothing needed to be investigated, despite the fact that is the responsibility of the Inspector to inspect violations of the MHA 2001 at approved centres and, if warranted, to initiate a process of revoking the registration of that approved centre. The process for how MHC arriving at this decision not to investigate was entirely opaque.

Mr Mooney's explanation to us was:

"The present position is that your brother's case has been reviewed on a number of occassions and no further action is deemed necessary at this time."

It is quite clear in this decision that MHC is prioritising the interests of HSE above those of service users whose rights have been violated by cover-ups of medical misconduct. MHC has accepted the false statements of registered Proprietor Kinsella., when he denied the occurrences of medical misconduct, even though a solicitor's statement to the Inspector verified such an occurrence in the medicatio records. Documented evidence obtained under FOI proves the proprietor's statements to the Inspector to be false. Such false statements constitute an indicatable offence under the Mental Health Act 2001. By not investigating, MHC has now become a partner in this cover-up.

It is all very well to establish a framework for involving service users and the public in health care regulation, but what is the point if the regulations that already exist are not enforced by the very organisations that are charged with that oversight? MCH's refusal to act - even when presented with proof of indictable offences - does not bode well for initiatives such as those proposed by the Health and Social Care Regulatory Forum. A sharp change in attitude by MHC is needed to align their actions with the forum's report's proposed reforms now.

by children_of_lir Sun Apr 25, 2010 05:02

It's clear that the Mental Health Commission 'has the back' of' HSE; and the Mental Health Commission's Health and Social Care Regulatory Forum is just Public Relations candyfloss, while warehoused mental health patients continue to suffer Mengelean human rights violations.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney TD to ensure the Mental Health Commission is independent. If it is not, then Minister Mary Harney should be sacked and a new Commission, CEO and Inspectorate appointed.

by antsionainn Sun May 02, 2010 04:34

One could imagine that the Mental Health Commission could easily accomplish the “Vision for Change” for Ireland’s mental health care simply by applying the law (MHA 2001) as it stands and revoking the registration of all of the approved centres that are found to be in violation of the Act. This would cause the closure of these centres and instantly liberate the funds necessary to establish community-based treatment in those catchment areas.

A smooth transition, however, would not be easily accomplished with such a radical approach. In some cases new community facilities would need to be purchased or leased. Additional staff to supplement community teams would need to be hired and trained– likely many of the staff from the closed centres would be candidates. Funds already insufficient for running the current system are not likely to cover the cost of preparation for transitioning community-based treatment. Neither is the current economic climate amenable to these expenditures.

So one asks how, if ever, a transition to the new vision would ever occur?

It’s no wonder there is institutional resistance to the ‘Vision for Change.’ So many prestigious careers and pinnacles of power depend on keeping things just as they are, with Ireland’s mental health system stuck in the Victorian era, if not the dark ages.

In the end, I can only imagine two factors that will encourage and speed a transition to accomplish the ‘Vision for Change.’

1) Widespread public reaction to the current level of spending by the Mental Health Commission (over Euro 17 million annually) which currently accomplishes absolutely nothing in justice or reform within the mental health system. Such reaction must demand that Minister Harney see to it that the millions annually spent on the Mental Health Commission actually obtain the intended reforms, not just pad the accounts of innumerable useless bureaucrats, Tribunal panels, barristers, and solicitors involved in administering the cumbersome Mental Health Act 2001.

2) A credible threat of EU sanctions against Ireland (possibly resulting from European Court of Human Rights cases) for failing to satisfy human rights standards (Article 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17 from its Convention for the Protection of Human Rights). The EU is already under considerable stress from the Global Financial Crisis, with Ireland being one of the member states threatened to be cut off. Together with the (up until now) economic advantages, the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms espoused by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is one of the key elements in maintaining the cohesion of the European Union. Member states more economically viable may insist that Ireland more scrupulously uphold the articles and treaties to which Ireland is a signatory, and the Irish Judiciary may deem it in the interests of “general orderliness” to accept a less conservative and paternalistic attitude toward the care and treatment of those detained contrary to the Articles.

Like political and ecological activists, those in Ireland who express a world view disagreeing with the narrow minded and materialist interpretations of the current psychiatric establishment deserve the support of those of us who support human rights, and the right of each person to think their own thoughts and form their own opinions. Without mental freedom, what freedom do we have?

At the end of the day, those who champion freedom are all threatened by the asylum as gulag.

by children_of_lir Mon May 03, 2010 16:08

"At the end of the day, those who champion freedom are all threatened by the asylum as gulag."

Psychiatry as a tool of the State threatens each and every one of us (as documented in Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago). The psychiatric establishment has unbridled powers. The Mental Health Act 2001 is flawed in its implementation. This Act was meant to protect or ensure human rights, but is used to deny them.

by children_of_lir Thu May 06, 2010 14:18

If medication has been given to patients improperly at risk to their health, and this practice has not been recognised by or addressed by the Mental Health Commission, this might constitute an ongoing health risk to other patients who might be affected at the Cavan/Monaghan Mental Health Centres. The MHC has a code of practice suggesting “best practice” by doctors, which include addressing complaints quickly and professionally, however this complaint was apparently never addressed at all. There may be grounds for a class action for other patients at other centres who have similarly had their complaints of medical misconduct disregarded.

by Despairing Thu May 06, 2010 17:10

The sad (and sick) reality of the Republic of Ireland at the present time is that the "ruling elites" can commit crime (of all kinds and sizes) with impunity, and that nobody seems to know how (in practice) to "decommission" this deeply unhealthy and obnoxious social arrangement: even though there is an abundance of "law" in place for just such purposes.

Obviously, the Republic of Ireland legal profession now desperately needs to be PURGED of all the accumulating political and corporate corruption it has foolishly and irresponsibly been absorbing and embracing over the years.

Unfortunately, nobody here seems to have any idea of how -- in practice -- to successfully go about cleaning up our legal profession either.

To compound matters, most (close to all possibly) Republic of Ireland citizens appear to be either unaware of, in denial over, or feigning ignorance of, the MASSIVE problem which we actually have with our legal profession: even though -- for example -- our judges have in recent years very publicly jailed at least eight people (that I know of) who have tried to peacefully object to the "great (and unconstitutional and consequently unlawful) giveaway" of our oil and gas reserves, which have been valued at 5.4 trillion Euros.

Though it is the case that a number of small street protests have been tried, so far they appear to have produced just the odd "flash in the pan", and a few short-lived "false dawns" for some perhaps -- which is not by any means the fault of the street protestors concerned as far as I know, and much more likely to be the fault of all those who are so far completely failing to lawfully and peacefully protest in public: in the face of what they should sensibly be viewing as exceptionally serious and dangerous developments deep within our own society?

by children_of_lir Sat May 08, 2010 06:08

Despairing, It's clear to me that the mainstream media are trying to keep a cork on the People's unrest about everything in Ireland..

I have just published my condolences for Truth Warrior Elaine Boyle on Indymedia. I googled to get more information and found nothing about her apart from a link back to Indymedia. I am wondering if she ran away from the hospital because she had been threatened with involuntary detainment (Gulag). Does anyone know what happened? I'm shocked to the core about the loss of such a beautiful woman.

by children_of_lir Tue Jul 13, 2010 01:35

Does Head of HSE Prof Brendan Drumm's excuse sound familiar (please read below:)?

Carl O’Brien of the Irish Times reported in his article headed HSE Accused of Potential ‘Dereliction of Duty’ Over Foster Care:

“(Prof Brendan Drumm)... added that while it was crucial children were safeguarded, it would not be possible in the short term to fully comply with regulations and standards for children in care due to “legacy issues which emerged many years before the HSE was established”."

Related Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0713....html

Only a couple of weeks ago, Ombudswoman and Office of the Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly accused the monolithic HSE of having “a culture of secrecy and legalism.” Eithne Donnellan writing for the Irish Times reported the Ombudswoman as saying:

"“I think there is a huge issue around the excessive secrecy and legalism of the HSE and it strikes me that it is a cultural thing within the HSE, and it is redolent of a body that looks not to the public interest, which is the only reason it’s there, and seeks at times to protect its own interests and that’s very wrong,""

Related Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0702/1....html

by MLK8 Fri Oct 08, 2010 06:23 KevinLewis321 at gmail dot com

Don't forget the medical defence organisations/ medical malpractice liability insurance companies, especially the Medical Protection Society, and their corporate-sleaze law firms, like Richards Butler, would have had a hand in this - and all medical malpractice cover-ups- around the world.

Medical defence organisations are all part of the collusion and fraud we experience as malpractice patients from the medical profession. The loss of our rights has been legislated by our governments through tort malpractice laws. Medical boards and health commissions, together with personal injury lawyers, all collude with this system, each profiteeering in one way or another from the malpractice patient. Medical expert witnesses in the UK, for example, all collude with the Medical Protection Society ,or similar insurer , in writing reports that limit compensation to a victim or, as in our case, completely covering up shocking malpractice by falsifying records and photoshopping xrays.

We have to expose their secret processes and show the world how institutionalised corruption and cover-ups are effected by the very groups who claim to protect the public!

Bravo Indymedia for this website!

by children_of_lir Sun Oct 24, 2010 02:57

Related link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2010/102....html

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Sun Oct 24, 2010 13:40

In more than one sense. The problem is we have a sociopathic culture of the individual which has, literally, lost its balance, not least among our professional classes who have evolved into closed-shop white-collar causa nostra mafias for the self-serving of their restricted memberships.

The physicians have no incentive to heal themselves, by admitting they have no monopoly on mental health, any more than the legal eagles for all their jurisprudence have any monopoly on justice. Professional hijackers. And the spider of authority at the heart of their web is the professional media and its self-appointed experts who brook no argument that upsets their comfortable recieved wisdom. If we recognised that paying golfers in millions for strolling the fairway while keeping the cleaners of our hospitals on minimum wages is actually neither smart nor sane we might start to get towards a healthier, inclusive culture and society, and even have a chance of initiating that legendary structure those least capable of delivering it love to lecture us about,i.e. a slightly smart economy. One that doesn't splurge multiple billions on ever-growing arms investment while Haiti and Pakistan and so many other disasters are left to flounder on in neglect.

Our first mistake may just be our presumption that 'normal'(conforming to average or accepted norms)automatically confers the designation 'sane'.

Most of the evil geniuses of the world, whether political, financial, predatory sexual deviants, or whatever other stripe, are quite adept at maintaining fronts of propriety and social camouflage that elevates them above suspicion. The sociopaths of the untouchable corporate sector and their media cheerleaders who allow only the most superficial criticism employ skyscrapers full of graduates to keep the wheels of ignorance and complicity well greased. It does not remain as it is(deteriorating) by any accident.

Many of those who are incarcerated are less delude than those committing them, but also less capable of adapting to and profiting from a fundamentally sick society which alienates them by its inherent inhumanity of an ethic of competition which ultimately reduces us to dog-eat-dog conflict whose worst excesses, in the present generation, are comfortably outsourced to Fanon's wretched of the earth.

by children_of_lir Sun Oct 24, 2010 13:53

Where the hell was the Mental Health Commission? Charlie Maguire's doctor could have made him voluntary. Every year that they renew his detention, his doctor is required to offer him a choice to become voluntary. It had nothing to do with what Charlie's doctor was quoted as saying: "“If it were possible in some way to have the original charges processed so that he can remain on here as a voluntary patient, he would much appreciate it.” Charlie Maguire's doctor is misrepresenting the Mental Health Act 2001. Like many health professionals they still think and practice using the concepts of the old Mental Treatment Act 1945, which is no longer lawful. The doctor didn't care, he didn't care enough to look up the law [see below Mental Health Act 2001 - Section 16 (2) (g]).

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2001/en/act/pub/0025/sec...sec16

Related Link for Charlie ("The Hare") Maguire's obituary:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2010/102....html

by Medical Defence Busters Thu Oct 28, 2010 06:56

We’re a group of medical malpractice patients who have experienced cover-ups AND have been blacklisted/ ‘risk managed’ by medical malpractice insurance companies AND have had medical councils and various commissions fail to investigate the medical practitioners for the gross criminal negligence and professional misconduct that has occurred in our cases.

By posting this on your message board, we just want to warn genuinely helpful and important organisations like yours of something we’ve become aware of in recent times about how these insurers and their mates-in-high-places are censoring the internet. They are forcing the removal of content which might be critical and truthful about their corrupt practices and blocking searches on Google and some browsers. They must be paying kickbacks or using threats to remove them. They are also sending viruses of a very advanced nature to wreck websites and servers. We want to warn you to back everything up (including these postings) and ensure your Firewalls etc are in place. We think we know which U.K.-based medical malpractice liabilty insurer/ medical defence organisation (but operating in 30+ countries) is the ringleader is this kind of thug-mafia behaviour (but all of the insurance companies network with each other.)

The public should not be intimidated and know that if content relating to any issue about medical malpractice is TRUTHFUL and IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST it is not defamatory.

All the best to you and yours.