Jerry Brown, the Attorney General of California has indicted a doctor, a nurse, and a pharmacist for elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon for forcing high doses of psychotropic medications on Alzeimer’s and other patients to shut them up and keep them in a zombie like state. Three patients died due to results of these wrongful acts.

In Illinois it is illegal to involuntarily force psychotropic drugs like Haldol, Zyprexa, Ativan and even Benedryl by injection on patients unless they are an immediate danger to their own life or someone else’s life and then a court order must be obtained to continue the medication involuntarily. Also Haldol has very unpleasant side affects in a large proportion of patients including akisthesia (an inability to stay still – the person has to get up from bed and from sitting down – so the guards will think they are uncooperative and will assault the person even more), dystonia (muscle spasms, involuntary movements, tongue handing out, inability to control muscles of speech so slurred or difficult speech, if it happens with muscles of larynx the person will spasm down the airway and suffocate).

Cook CountyDept. of Corrections (Cook County Jail or CCDOC) officers constantly request nurses to give such medication to shut up complaints by inmates, to quiet them even though they are not harming anyone and are locked in their cells, and in retaliation for disagreements with the officers. Nurses call doctors on the phone and ask for prescriptions and the doctors illegally prescribe the medication without examining the patients. Even if they examine the patients, doctors at CCDOC Cermak Infirmary under the direction of the Director of Psychiatry, Dr. David Carrington, continue to violate ethical standards and the law with such prescriptions when they are not needed and when there has not been adequate evaluations or diagnoses that require such medication. Even if the medications may be indicated, they cannot be given involuntarily except under strict guidelines. Haldol is a dangerous drug that should not be used like a pair of handcuffs and the person must be carefully monitored. It is a drug of last resort, not a weapon of restraint. Anyone using it as a restraint tool should be arrested.

I complained to the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commissions Human Rights Authority Branch that by law must investigate complaints of violations of the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. They sustained my complaint that psychotropic drugs were being given illegally to inmates to shut them up. After the HRA warned Dr. Carrington that this illegal practice must stop, Dr. Carrington and his staff with assistance of the officers are continuing to violate the law. Each act of forcing psychotropic drugs on an inmate/patient without proper diagnosis and without documentation that they are a danger to their own life or the life of others is a class A misdemeanor.

For more details about this “Haldol Menace” see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2S-oOOJyY&NR=1

A second investigation concerning the illegal involuntary drugging of Mr. More is occurring right now.

Dr. Carrington should be disciplined, his license revoked, the nurse’s involved licenses revoked, and the officers retrained to understand the law and how to properly help in the mental health care of mentally ill persons without assaulting them.

If this was California, Dr. Carrington would be charged with abuse of patients and assault with a deadly weapon and face up to 11 years in prison. Why is State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez doing nothing? Why is the United States Attorney who came to the same conclusion about this medical battery and malpractice doing nothing? We need a public outcry, legislative hearings, and indictments and action by the Illinois Department of Professional Responsibility.

Please complain to:
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney, 50 W. Washington, Room 500, Chicago, IL 60602,

Patrick Fitzgerald and Joan Laser, Asstant United State’s Attorneys at 219 S. Dearborn, 5 th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, and

the press.

This barbaric medical battery and abuse must stop! Injection of these drugs into asthmatics or others without careful review of their medical records and careful diagnosis is malpractice, assault with a deadly weapon, and medical battery. It may cause death in certain persons (fatal laryngospasm in asthmatics) and permanent brain injury. Haldol has now been documented to cause brain atrophy in long term use and has a half life of 8 days in the brain – and leads to serious complications in at least half of people it is given to.

 In retaliation for my whistle blowing, in that I have turned over evidence of criminal acts by Sheriff staff, the Sheriff courtroom services have been illegally stating that I have to be “escorted” around the Daley Center, when I go there for any reason. This is felony harassment of a federal witness, as I have turned over evidence of criminal conduct of Sheriff Dart, Sheriff Sheahan, and Sheriff staff to the FBI. It is also official misconduct, felony violation of civil rights under color of law, felony conspiracy to violate rights under color of law, felony retaliation against a witness, felony interference with the exercise of constitutional rights, felony theft of honest services, excessive force, assault and battery, maybe violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and maybe even felony sedicious conspiracy against the United States.

I stated there was no order for an escort. I demanded written proof of an order and of course they didn’t produce any. They have never produced any. I clearly stated to all the deputies surrounding me that they were committing a federal felony crime – harassment of a federal witness against Sheriff staff, official misconduct, violation of civil rights under color of law, conspiracy to violate civil rights, etc., and were committing the Illinois crimes of interference with service of process and assault and battery.  I told them all they would be sued and have to explain their criminal acts to a federal judge. I repeatedly told this to every officer who followed me or harassed me since this harassment began months ago.

I told them they were causing a disturbance, being disorderly, and interfering with my legitimate business in the building. A deputy said I had to leave the building because I was causing a disturbance. I told them no I don’t have to leave the building and they had no authority to assault me, harass me, make a scene, and then order me to leave the building. This is entrapment, defamation, and assault and battery. They then grabbed me. I thought they were forcibly going to throw me out of the building – which they have done before.

I did verbally continually protest. They simply grabbed my walker away from me and grabbed me, handcuffed me, and I continually said I would not condone their criminal acts of assault and battery, etc. As they were grabbing me and handcuffing me, they said that I was under arrest. They took me down to the lock-up. I refused to sign any documents except for the bond slip and refused to answer any of their questions. I continually told them I would kick their ass legally in federal court with suits for their misconduct.

Many deputies and members of the public, including lawyers, witnessed the assault on me on the first floor between the West side security entrance and the elevators. Ed Carik, “security for the Daley Center” working for “NB Real Estate” came up to me as I was being assaulted and said that I had to do whatever the deputies told me including leave the building. I said “who are you” and he stated the above. I told him I don’t have to follow illegal orders of the deputies and submit to assault.

In the lock-up the deputies put me in a cell and searched me and assisted me in using the facilities because I was dizzy and had trouble getting up from sitting. I have had increasing difficulty with dizziness lately due to neurological disorder and after this incident have changed my medications and I’m doing a little better. I was becoming overheated (I’m also having a lot of trouble lately with hot flashes – I had to stop hormonal therapy for this because of the danger of it inducing the hemiplegic migraines I suffer from which can lead to stroke) even though there was a fan outside the cell and they were quite rude in not giving me water to drink except for a tiny cup of water. The fountain in the cell sink didn’t work well. Deputy Soto 11086 was there as she is the lock-up officer and had seen me go down there before and called an ambulance in the past. She had poured cold water on me at my request in the past when I got overheated and was passing out. Other deputies whose names I don’t know were there .

Sgt. Griffin, badge number 1048, came to the door of the cell. A deputy was sitting between me and Griffin. Griffin, astout fat black woman was being nasty as usual. She always has a smile with a smerk. She has a sadistic streak in her personality and will exagerate and make up false statements whenever possible. I told her the arrest was unlawful, they were committing crimes as I detailed to her the same as what I said above, and that she would have a lot of explaining to do in federal court. I said I would “kick her ass in federal court” and she would be held accountable by the court. She immediately said, “now I got you on assault” and I immediately responded “no I didn’t assault you, I’m telling you the truth that you will be in trouble in federal court because I will legally kick your ass.”

In the lock-up it was rather warm and they were using a fan. They handcuffed me in front and put me in the back of a squad car in the basement to transport me to the Maywood Sheriff’s lock-up for processing. The squad car must have been sitting outside during this very hot day as the back seat was like an oven. With the plastic shield between the front and back and only a little screen opening between them, I was getting very little air conditioning.  I don’t sweat much because of congenital nerve injuries. This causes a life-threatening condition where I easily get heat exhaustion and then heat stroke. I also have a serious fainting problem where I go into cardiac arrest for up to 60 seconds and a problem with flashbacks (post-traumatic-stress disorder) when I feel I am suffocating (I was previously attacked, tied down, and suffocated). This made me overheat along with having a hot flash. I became very anxious and panicked thinking I was suffocating, pleading and crying that I could not tolerate this and could pass out and go into cardiac arrest (which has happened in the past). I removed as many clothes as possible in a panic because Iwas so hot and feeling like I was suffocating.

I unsuccessfully tried my best to meditate through this and remain calm, trying to think about the advice given to me by a psychiatrist during treatment for PTSD. During a flashback, a person is in an altered state of consiousness, like a dream, reliving the life-threatening and terrorizing incident that induced the PTSD. I started going into flashbacks where I though I was suffocating and ripped off my clothes. I was so extremely panicked and anxious that I got out of the handcuffs. I screamed that I couldn’t breath and was short of breath. I screamed repeatedly – “help me, help me, I can’t tolerate this, I have medical problems, I can’t breathe”. Then during periods of being a little lucid I cried and screamed to please poor cold water on me, that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The deputies in the car, a man and woman, were verbally very abusive and didn’t help at all, but did not drive off and instead went and got a supervisor.

Heat stroke is a life-threatening condition where you can’t control your temperature and it starts going up, you stop sweating and you die. It is preceded by heat exhaustion. People who take certain medications that interfere with sweating or who have spinal cord injuries like I do cannot sweat well and go into heat stroke more easily. The person starts feeling nauseated, uncomfortable, like they are smothering, and is very uncomfortable in indescribable ways. Imagine feeling you are sealed in a hot coffin with no air and you are dying. The ER report from Northwestern shows that AFTER cold water was poured on me, AFTER I was transported to the ER by ambulance, AFTER I was in the air-conditioned ER for three hours, my temperature was 100.9 (fever) – obviously it was likely much higher prior to this point in time. This was absolute medical neglect to not admit me and give me lots of cool fluids to drink, even involuntarily if necessary as there was a danger this was heat stroke or the deadly neuroleptic malignant syndrome. This is absolute proof I was suffering early heat stroke and this was very dangerous. Unfortunately the ER docs were jerks, injected me with psychotropic drugs assuming I was crazy, didn’t treat anything, and released me even with a fever – the drugs making me even more anxious, dizzy, and confused. I am suing Northwestern for medical battery and for willful indifference to medical needs in aiding and abetting the abuse by the Sheriff.

Besides heat stroke, which can have serious complications including death, and requires admission – usually to the ICU -  for at least observation, Haldol® has a serious complication called neuroleptic malignant syndrome, which is a hypermetabolic state that kills 30 % of its victims. The symptoms are fever after injection, high pulse, respiratory rate and blood pressure, confusion, agitation, increased white cell count, muscle rigidity. I had all these symptoms except muscle rigidity.  The drugs didn’t sedate me but caused increased agitation.

Deputy Soto came out and let me dangle my legs out of the car and poured several glasses of cold water over me which got me back into reality and I clung on to her and cried and asked her to protect me because I didn’t want to pass out, while they applied a belly chain, stating that a belly chain made the feeling worse as I couldn’t push my hands out in front to  prop my shoulders up, and told her I had flashbacks. Then they took me back into the lock-up cell, allowed me to get dressed and poured more water on me. Finally they took me to Northwestern by ambulance telling them FALSELY that I was crazy, attacked an officer and a paramedic, was spitting on everyone, and was arrested because I refused to be escorted in the Daley Center and had a history of serious mental illness. The only mental illness I ever suffered from was PTSD induced by attacks on me and mild depression. Their statements were grossly defamatory.

(People in respiratory distress “tripod” in that they feel compelled to put their hands in front against something so that they can push their shoulders up, elevating the top of the lungs, which increases lung volume and makes them feel less short of breath. Asthmatics have to do this during an asthma attack – they have to lean forward and push shoulders up or they feel like they are smothering)

In the ambulance, I was in and out of flashbacks, really freaking out by this time due to feelings of suffocation, overheating, and feeling like I was dying, while being forced to sit back while fully restrained.  I went completely out not knowing where I was and in kind of a shock like state several times, several times I remember seeing (in a dream like state) a former attacker, Sgt. Anthony Salemi, attack me and choke me (I realized these were flashbacks after I came out of it). I apparently was violently struggling to sit up and get out of the handcuffs (probably to lean forward and tripod) like a FOX chewing his leg off to get out of the trap as a last resort to save life. I’m surprised my hands were not more damaged – just a lot of bruising and a scrapes.

At the Northwestern Memorial Hospital ER I wouldn’t let anyone do anything, was screaming to “get off of me and don’t touch me” per the ER report. They injected me with Haldol® and Ativan® (psychotropic drugs used to sedate people and as a chemical strait jacket) which made me go into mild respiratory distress and become more agitated and dis-inhibited. Haldol® is contraindicated in people with laryngospasm like me – I have a severe asthma condition due to an accident where I was overcome by gasoline fumes. (I have adverse and paradoxical reactions to these drugs previously documented by them in a previous episode of medical battery and violation of mental health laws, when I didn’t need sedation, was wrongfully defamed by police, and which has resulted in a pending suit against Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Northwestern has this in their computer under my name.) I started acting in self-defense by stating I would “tear up the hospital” and began pushing on the bed rails trying to break them and tearing up the sheets and anything on the bed despite being handcuffed. I was “moving all around the bed” in a very agitated and panicked irrational state due to the affects of the illegally injected drugs which dis-inhibit a person and due to the flashbacks of being attacked and choked.

I refused to let them put an oxygen mask on me or treat me with a nebulized medication as I was in my mind fighting off being choked and suffocated. Every time they came at me with a mask if felt like Sgt. Salemi was choking me. I cried and kept pleading with them to let my hands loose enough so that I could lean forward and tripod. I was terrorized badly. They refused and just changed the cuffs to full medical restraints tightly tied to the bed. They refused to instruct the officers to release my hands except for handcuffing one to a railing, as is normally done with prisoners in ERs. They violated the mental health laws in being so aggressive with me instead of backing off and asking what the problem was and what I needed, or listening to my pleas that I had to put my hands in front of me and tripod, or simply as the law required put me into a secure seclusion room prior to trying restraints or drugs to calm me down. They did nothing except forcibly tightly tie me down, attack me with injections of psychotropic drugs, and draw blood, and then released me 3 hours later back to the Sheriff’s custody. Medical personal are not legally allowed to give forced injections of drugs or tie a person down unless they are an IMMEDIATE danger to their own life or to other’s lives. Delusions, uncooperativeness, screaming, arguing, are not legal reasons to  do this. Medical personnel, by law, are required to try secluding a person in a safe room, to allow the person to call family members and a lawyer, to give a person fluids and food as needed, to allow a person to use a bathroom as needed, and obtain consent from a person before giving them drugs, unless they are an IMMEDIATE, REAL, and APPARENT danger to themselves or others. I clearly did not meet these criteria, and if they had given me cool water, allowed me to tripod, and simply backed-off and listened to me, instead of ignoring my concerns and treating me like an excapee form a mental hospital with disgust, disdain, and arrogance.

It is grotesque and unethical for ER personnel to only listen to officers who have no more than a high school education and a few months of training, concerning a patient’s medical history, behavior, and symptoms, while ignoring the patient. Officers are very biased against prisoners, especially prisoners who have been unlawfully arrested and are federal witnesses agaisnt the criminal conduct of their colleagues.

The deputies then transported me by squad car to the Maywood Sheriff’s lock-up for processing and eventual release. There I was processed and released and I took a taxi to the Grant Park garage. This was crazy as I was suffering complications of Haldol® and Ativan® including agitation, akathisia (a sense of having to keep moving – can’t sit or lay down except for short times).  It was dangerous for me to drive as by then I was very dizzy having not taken my medications (felt like sea sick with intense vertigo) and was a bit confused and unable to think real clearly due to the illegally given drugs. I got home and the home health aide who helps me take care of my Dad, and Dad noticed my odd behavior of walking around and not able to sit long, flopping down onto the floor dizzy on and off, unable to think clearly, agitated and panicked. Eventually I remembered that Benadryl® was an antidote to the Haldol® complications and the aide went to the store and got some. I had to take it for several days to control the complications, and it made me drowsy. The aide and Dad had to keep asking me not to go anywhere or drive because it was dangerous. It was very negligent of Northwestern to inject me with such drugs and then release me so that I could drive alone. People given powerful sedatives should not be left alone for the next day or so.

 I called the next day to the lock-up and told Soto or another lady who answered that my IL Supreme Court documents had not been returned to me. She said she would look for them. I later received a call that they were found.

 A friend later called Lt. Prescott 512 and complained that I was being followed around the building illegally and that my IL Supreme Court documents had not been returned to me. Lt. Prescott said they would no longer follow me and I should return and pick up my documents. A few days later I went and got the documents from her and then served them on the judges and Dorothy Brown. Lt. Prescott confirmed they were no longer going to follow me around or prohibit me from entering the building. She confirmed that there were no written orders to follow me around the building.

I have now been charged with resisting arrest, trespass to state supported land, disorderly conduct, and Assault. Anyone who wishes to help me and support me can donate funds to pay for legal fees at: Shelton legal fund, Albukerk & Associates, 3025 W 26th St. 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60625 or can e-mail me for dates and time of court hearings and trial at: picepil@aol.com.  The FBI is being informed and I will file a civil rights suit for unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, assault and battery, emotional distress, etc.  I will also file a suit against Northwestern Memorial Hospital for medical battery, aiding will indifference to medical need, violation of civil rights (1983 civil rights action), violation of mental health laws (per se negligence), etc.  Next Court hearing is at 555 W. Harrison, courtroom 304, at 1:30 pm on September 21, 2009. This is a pre-trial status hearing.

By Eugene Schmukler; PhD, MBA [Certified Trauma Specialist] 

www.HealthcareFinancials.com

An invaluable tool for healthcare violence prevention program establishment is the Haddon Matrix. In 1968, William Haddon, Jr., a public health physician with the New York State Health Department, developed a matrix of categories to assist researchers trying to address injury prevention systematically. The idea was to look at injuries in terms of causal factors and contributing factors, rather than just using a descriptive approach. It is only recently that this model has been put to use in the area of workplace violence.

The Matrix Framework

The matrix is a framework designed to apply the traditional public health domains of host, agent, and disease to primary, secondary, and tertiary injury factors. When applied to workplace violence, the “host” is the victim of workplace violence, such as a nurse. The “agent” is a combination of the perpetrator and his or her weapon(s) and the force with which an assault occurs. The “environment” is divided into two sub domains: the physical and the social environments. The location of an assault such as the ER, the street, an examining room, or hospital ward is as important as the social setting in patient interaction, presence of co-workers, and supervisor support.

Modifications

Subsequent versions of the matrix divide the environment into Physical environment and Social, Socio-economic, or Sociocultural environment. Each factor is then considered a pre-event phase, an event phase, and a post-event phase.

Medical / Healthcare Setting

The Haddon Matrix lends itself to a medical setting in that it uses a classical epidemiological framework to categorize “pre-event,” “event,” and “post-event” activities according to the infectious disease vernacular, host (victim), vector (assailant or weapon), and environment. The strength of the Haddon Matrix is that it includes the ability to assess “pre-events” or precursors in order to develop primary preventive measures.

Assessment

From the perspective of administration, the Haddon Matrix does not implicate policy. This means that the matrix does not necessarily guide policy. When implemented, the Haddon Matrix can be a “politically” neutral, trans-or multi-disciplinary, objective tool that identifies opportunities for intervention. Furthermore, it outlines sensible “targets of change” for the physical and social environment.

Conclusion

And so, your innovative thoughts and constructive comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated?

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com  or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm

Get our Widget: Get this widget!

Our Other Print Books and Related Information Sources:

Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/prod.aspx?prod_id=23759

Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790

Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421

Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Health Administration Terms: www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Subscribe Now: Did you like this Medical Executive-Post, or find it helpful, interesting and informative? Want to get the latest ME-Ps delivered to your email box each morning? Just subscribe using the link below. You can unsubscribe at any time. Security is assured.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

In Illinois it is illegal to involuntarily force psychotropic drugs like Haldol, Zyprexa, Ativan and even Benedryl by injection on patients unless they are an immediate danger to their own life or someone else’s life and then a court order must be obtained to continue the medication involuntarily.

Cook CountyDept. of Corrections (Cook County Jail or CCDOC) officers constantly request nurses to give such medication to shut up complaints by inmates, to quiet them even though they are not harming anyone and are locked in their cells, and in retaliation for disagreements with the officers. Nurses call doctors on the phone and ask for prescriptions and the doctors illegally prescribe the medication without examining the patients. Even if they examine the patients doctors at CCDOC under the direction of the Director of Psychiatry, Dr. David Carrington, continue to violate ethical standards and the law with such prescriptions when they are not needed and when there has not been adequate evaluations or diagnoses that require such medication. Even if the medications may be indicated, they cannot be given involuntarily except under strict guidelines.

I complained to the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commissions Human Rights Authority Branch that by law must investigate complaints of violations of the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. They sustained my complaint that psychotropic drugs were being given illegally to inmates to shut them up. After the HRA warned Dr. Carrington that this illegal practice must stop, Dr. Carrington and his staff with assistance of the officers are continuing to violate the law. Each act of forcing psychotropic drugs on an inmate/patient without proper diagnosis and without documentation that they are a danger to their own life or the life of others is a class A misdemeanor.

For more details about this “Haldol Menace” see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2S-oOOJyY&NR=1

Dr. Carrington should be disciplined, his license revoked, the nurse’s involved licenses revoked, and the officers retrained to understand the law and how to properly help in the mental health care of mentally ill persons without assaulting them.

If this was California, Dr. Carrington would be charged with abuse of patients and assault with a deadly weapon and face up to 11 years in prison. Why is State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez doing nothing? Why is the United States Attorney who came to the same conclusion about this medical battery and malpractice doing nothing? We need a public outcry, legislative hearings, and indictments and action by the Illinois Department of Professional Responsibility.

Please complain to:
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney, 50 W. Washington, Room 500, Chicago, IL 60602,

Patrick Fitzgerald and Joan Laser, Asstant United State’s Attorneys at 219 S. Dearborn, 5 th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, and

the press.

This barbaric medical battery and abuse must stop! Injection of these drugs into asthmatics or others without careful review of their medical records and careful diagnosis is malpractice, assault with a deadly weapon, and medical battery. It may cause death in certain persons (fatal laryngospasm in asthmatics) and permanent brain injury. Haldol has now been documented to cause brain atrophy in long term use and has a half life of 8 days in the brain – and leads to serious complications in at least half of people it is given to.