Originally published October 12 2005
Investigation uncovers brutal practices of Turkish mental healthcare
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), a Washington-based lobby group, conducted a long-term investigation of Turkish mental hospitals, and uncovered a system of brutal practices such as starvation and electroshock without anesthetic, further reducing the chances of Turkey's entrance into the European Union anytime in the near future.
TURKEY is to be pressed by the European commission to improve the treatment of its psychiatric patients after an undercover investigation found children in its hospitals dying from starvation, dehydration and lack of medical care.
Olli Rehn, the European enlargement commissioner, said last week that the commission would look into conditions in psychiatric hospitals as part of its assessment of Turkey's fitness to join the European Union.
"The EU has reflected its commitment and now I expect Turkey to respect its commitments and this means vigorously implementing political reforms in the area of human rights," he said.
A two-year investigation by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), a Washington-based lobby group, revealed a heart-wrenching picture of brutal abuse in Turkey's mental health system.
The group was especially shocked by what it said was the regular use of electroconvulsive or "shock" treatment on adults and children as young as nine without anaesthetic.
"A little girl, who looked to be about two years old, was crying and squirming in her crib," wrote one investigator.
"A full bottle of formula was lying in the corner of her crib, just out of reach.
I watched for over an hour and no one came to feed her.
Others were tied to beds or had plastic bottles taped to their hands to stop them scratching, permanently damaging their ability to move.
Children were given little stimulation or proper medical attention that could have improved treatable conditions while researchers claimed that the most severely ill infants were sometimes left to die.
"I observed one child, who had vomited all over himself and his bed sheets, left for more than half an hour covered with flies and without any help," wrote one.
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