Electroshock

A bill regulating the use of electroshock therapy for mental patients will be filed by state senator Jack H. Backman '48, on the heels of a protest rally last Saturday at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Backman's bill aims to prevent indiscriminate war of electroshock. It would limit the number of treatments to an individual to 12 per year, compared to the current limit of 35.

Electroshock therapy is used by approximately 10 hospitals in this area, according to Martin Bander, director of news and public affairs at MGH. Two of Harvard's 13 affiliated hospitals offer electroshock therapy.

Bander says the procedure is "a life-saving treatment for many, such as the severely depressed, with approximately 90 percent of the patients showing improvement following treatment."

The Mental Patients Liberation Front, the group which staged Saturday's rally, feels electroshock therapy should not be allowed. "It is harmful and should be banned, like heroin," Carol Maddox, a protestor, said. "Electroshock works by destroying brain cells and tissue."

One staff researcher for the Senate Committee on Human Services who wished to remain unidentified said profit motives often influences the decision to use electroshock therapy.

"There is good money involved. It can be quite lucrative for private hospitals, with cost ranging from about $300 to $400 per treatment," he added.

Present psychiatric procedure employs electroshock therapy in cases of severe depression with suicidal possibilities, according to Dr. David Edelstein, a clinical psychiatrist with the Mental Health Association. "All medication or treatment administered requires the consent of the patient or guardian," he added.

Under the bill, no person under 21 years of age would be allowed electroshock therapy, and all those opting for treatment would undergo a seven-point health examination insuring the patient's ability to withstand the treatment.

The bill also includes establishment of a facilities board to study the positive and negative aspects of electroshock and guard against an institution harboring vested interests.

If passed, the bill would require hospitals to file monthly reports on their therapy, 'and also to undergo routine inspection of the electroshock equipment.

The bill is expected to come up for vote in the House next January Backman anticipates much opposition from the medical community.

Consent of the patient remains a hotly debated issue. "Sure the patient may give consent, but there are many tricks involved. The doctor is usually trusted with knowing what is good for the patient, and a patient usually follows his recommendation without being fully aware of the consequences of treatment, such as loss of memory," says Judi Chamberlin, spokesman for the Mental Patients Liberation Front.

Bander denied widespread use of financial motives, saying, "I don't think the profit motive is a concern when the method is used by trained physicians. The treatment has been tested and proven effective."