Not only are the Ministry of Health deeply racist for denying a Maori solution for Sudden Unexpected Death in Infants they are also torturers…
Torture inspectors uncover ‘cruel, degrading’ care in hospitals
• More than 60 reports into mental health and disability units released to Herald following investigation into the care of Ashley Peacock.
• He is one of four cases which could be considered ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’ in secure units at New Zealand hospitals.
• Inspectors found other repeated examples of poor care, including overcrowding and untrained staff. Some patients did not have access to fresh air or water.
• The Chief Ombudsman is ‘sufficiently concerned’ to consider launching a special inquiry.Elderly, mentally ill patients were subjected to the “prolonged and excessive” use of restraint belts at a secure hospital unit – one of the potential human rights breaches uncovered by torture inspectors.
A Herald investigation has analysed more than 60 Crimes of Torture Act reports written about health and disability detention sites across New Zealand and will make them public for the first time.
…it is becoming increasingly apparent to me that the biggest agents of discrimination against the poor, against the sick and against the vulnerable in this country are the huge State agencies tasked with providing their welfare.
The horror stories of how Government frontline staff treat beneficiaries is now overwhelming. Any progressive Government coming into power in 2017 must consider a harsh crack down on state agencies. It’s not just the policy of a hard right Government, you have people employed by the State who enjoy the sadism and power over their fellow citizens.
Talk to AAAP about the cruelty of WINZ staff. Talk to those groups trying to help prisoners about how awful Probation staff are. Talk to anyone working in social housing how terrible Housing NZ staff are.
The Left traditionally look to the state as the answer, in these cases we need to seriously consider putting public money into NGOs who can advocate for the beneficiaries using these services and can independently critique agencies with annual reports.
I’m not sure just how much you realise how right you are, Martyn. It is plain staggering.
I’m thinking that at the end of the day, it’s ultimately another way of controlling the masses.
Every middle class New Zealander will eventually have to deal with WINZ after they retire. Boy, will that be a shocking eye-opener for them!!
My 15 year old son committed suicide, the CMDHB let him down badly. I have fought for 3 years to get an inquest, finally I got him one. It starts on the 5th Sept. The coroners office has been telling me that I am not allowed to attach blame to any organisation!!! What is the point of having an inquest if the truth isn’t allowed to come out? These incompetent health workers shouldn’t be allowed to keep practicing their witch craft. It may as well be, they don’t do any practical work. Through all his notes he was described as ‘chronically risky’ but also not ‘at risk’, at the same time. He didn’t even get to be seen by a real psychologist, a social worker was all he got. I fought so hard for this and now I’m left wondering, Why did I bother. It’s not going to change anything if nobody is held accountable.
I have fought for 3 years to get an inquest into the death of my son who was 15 when he killed himself. He was meant to be under the care of the CMDHB, what a joke. He was never even seen by a psychologist, just a social worker who called him ‘chronically risky’ although, not ‘at risk’ at this time. This was written the morning after a suicide attempt. Now that I have got this inquest, due to start Sept 5th, I don’t know why I bothered. I have been told already by the coroner, that “there will be no blame attached to anyone or any organisation”. What is the point of the inquest then? Without the truth coming out, how can there be change? I am disgusted, to the bone, with the corruption that I have uncovered since this happened, the other people I now know who have such tragic stories to share of the cruelty and the damage inflicted by these so-called “public servants”. Clean the bloody lot of them out. Between their incompetence and their carelessness, they are killing people. I have seen some of these workers, who have been found to be incompetent and corrupt get punished – they get promotions to other offices. It’s shocking how corrupt our country is.
So many people in New Zealand over the last few years have awaken to the realisation that the people who write the laws and those who administer them, do not have the best interests of our society at heart, the putrid stench of self interested parasitical kleptocrats defile the memory of decent Kiwi’s who lost blood, sweat and tears to build our once was great country, these leeches on society pat each other on backs as they strut down the hallowed halls of parliament and courthouses, they churtle, and laugh as they recite their mantra, “its for the greater good of the community” as they collude, and close yet another file of a victim of New Zealand’s state sanctioned torture and murder.
So many people in New Zealand over the last few years have awaken to the realisation that the people who write the laws and those who administer them, do not have the best interests of our society at heart, the putrid stench of self interested parasitical kleptocrats defile the memory of decent Kiwi’s who lost blood, sweat and tears to build our once was great country, these leeches on society pat each other on backs as they strut down the hallowed halls of parliament and courthouses, they churtle, and laugh as they recite their mantra, “its for the greater good of the community” as they collude, and close yet another file of a victim of New Zealand’s state sanctioned torture and murder.
This is an extremely important area of coverage. I was utterly outraged when I first heard about Ashley Peacock’s treatment; it is grotesque and inhumane, and the public just don’t know what goes on behind those closed doors. NZ ought to be in the streets fighting for the man and others like him.
There are extremely serious philosophical and ethical problems in the current “mental health” establishment, particularly in neoliberal biomedical psychiatry (which rules the industry); things like the nature of mental illness, drugging, the influence of big-pharma money, the pseudo-science of “mental disorders”, psychiatric labelling and so on – to which people like Ashley and Nicky Stevens are victims.
I’d love to see coverage on my favourite show, Waatea 5th Estate about this, bringing expert discussion to some of these issues to be honest. Psychiatry is pure pseudo-science, and yet the industry has so, so much power, no public visibility, and so very much to answer for.
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