Sunday, July 30, 2006
A child psychiatrist who used electric-shock therapy and pain-inducing injections to punish children as young as eight, and who allegedly fondled and requested sexual acts from one of his patients, will not face any charges.
Dr Selwyn Leeks agreed to stop practising, on the eve of hearings by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria into his use of "aversion therapy" on young children in the 1970s. Dr Leeks is 77 years old, well past the normal male retirement age of 65.
The board had been investigating Dr Leeks for seven years. Last week it wrote to the complainants, saying that after receiving Dr Leeks' undertaking, it had decided not to proceed with a formal hearing into his professional conduct.
Earlier, it had decided to formally investigate complaints from 16 of the 50 people who had provided statements about the psychiatrist.
The move has outraged his victims, many of whom have waited years for their day in court. Most were children aged between eight and 16 when they were given the shock treatment.
They were sent to New Zealand's Lake Alice Hospital, where Dr Leeks ran the child and adolescent unit, after welfare authorities decided they were too difficult to manage.
They say they were punished for minor breaches of discipline by electroconvulsive therapy, administered by Dr Leeks, and with pain-inducing injections.
Victim Kevin Banks said of the medical board's decision: "He has stuffed up so many lives. This is just terrible and very upsetting."
Sharyn Collis, who was in Lake Alice Hospital in 1973 and 1974, said "this is a kick in the teeth. We just want someone to be accountable for this."
New Zealand police are reviewing complaints from 34 of Dr Leeks' former "patients" to determine whether criminal charges can be considered.
Another complainant, who does not wish to be identified, claims that Dr Leeks fondled her and requested sexual acts in 1979 and 1980. After a preliminary examination, the medical board determined to conduct a formal inquiry into the claims, but this is unlikely to proceed.
The woman said: "The cowardice and arrogance of the man is unbelievable."
Almost 100 former Lake Alice Hospital patients shared $NZ6.5 million in compensation and received a public apology from NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark in settlement of a class action in 2001. No action was taken against Dr Leeks.
An inquiry by retired New Zealand High Court judge Sir Rodney Gallen found that the Lake Alice children were controlled by "aversion therapy".
They were given unmodified (that is, with no anaesthetic or muscle relaxant) electroconvulsive therapy to their heads, legs and even genitals as a punishment. The patients lived in a state of "extreme fear and hopelessness", Sir Rodney said.
"Statement after statement indicates that the children concerned lived in a state of terror during the period they spent at Lake Alice. All were in need of understanding, love and compassionate care. That is not what they received."
Giving ECT to defenceless children was "outrageous in the extreme". He said it "was plainly delivered as a means of inflicting pain in order to coerce behaviour".
Sir Rodney said children were required to assist bringing the ECT machine into the room where it was used and at times watched it being administered to other patients. "Claimant after claimant speaks of the screaming which was plainly audible to other children in the unit when ECT was administered," he said.
Dr Leeks established the 46-bed child and adolescent unit at Lake Alice Hospital in 1972. He moved to Australia in 1978 after two inquiries into his use of ECT. One investigation found that a boy of 15 was given unmodified electric shocks against his will and without the knowledge of his parents or welfare officers. It found the boy had been dealt a grave injustice and that the treatment "may have been contrary to law".
When Dr Leeks came to Melbourne in 1978, he was made director of child psychiatry at a child guidance clinic. From 1982 to 1984 he lived in Canada. He returned to Melbourne in 1984 to establish a private practice in Cheltenham. In 1986, he worked as a part-time psychiatrist at the Children's Court outpatients' clinic.
(Source: The Age)
Dr Selwyn Leeks agreed to stop practising, on the eve of hearings by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria into his use of "aversion therapy" on young children in the 1970s. Dr Leeks is 77 years old, well past the normal male retirement age of 65.
The board had been investigating Dr Leeks for seven years. Last week it wrote to the complainants, saying that after receiving Dr Leeks' undertaking, it had decided not to proceed with a formal hearing into his professional conduct.
Earlier, it had decided to formally investigate complaints from 16 of the 50 people who had provided statements about the psychiatrist.
The move has outraged his victims, many of whom have waited years for their day in court. Most were children aged between eight and 16 when they were given the shock treatment.
They were sent to New Zealand's Lake Alice Hospital, where Dr Leeks ran the child and adolescent unit, after welfare authorities decided they were too difficult to manage.
They say they were punished for minor breaches of discipline by electroconvulsive therapy, administered by Dr Leeks, and with pain-inducing injections.
Victim Kevin Banks said of the medical board's decision: "He has stuffed up so many lives. This is just terrible and very upsetting."
Sharyn Collis, who was in Lake Alice Hospital in 1973 and 1974, said "this is a kick in the teeth. We just want someone to be accountable for this."
New Zealand police are reviewing complaints from 34 of Dr Leeks' former "patients" to determine whether criminal charges can be considered.
Another complainant, who does not wish to be identified, claims that Dr Leeks fondled her and requested sexual acts in 1979 and 1980. After a preliminary examination, the medical board determined to conduct a formal inquiry into the claims, but this is unlikely to proceed.
The woman said: "The cowardice and arrogance of the man is unbelievable."
Almost 100 former Lake Alice Hospital patients shared $NZ6.5 million in compensation and received a public apology from NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark in settlement of a class action in 2001. No action was taken against Dr Leeks.
An inquiry by retired New Zealand High Court judge Sir Rodney Gallen found that the Lake Alice children were controlled by "aversion therapy".
They were given unmodified (that is, with no anaesthetic or muscle relaxant) electroconvulsive therapy to their heads, legs and even genitals as a punishment. The patients lived in a state of "extreme fear and hopelessness", Sir Rodney said.
"Statement after statement indicates that the children concerned lived in a state of terror during the period they spent at Lake Alice. All were in need of understanding, love and compassionate care. That is not what they received."
Giving ECT to defenceless children was "outrageous in the extreme". He said it "was plainly delivered as a means of inflicting pain in order to coerce behaviour".
Sir Rodney said children were required to assist bringing the ECT machine into the room where it was used and at times watched it being administered to other patients. "Claimant after claimant speaks of the screaming which was plainly audible to other children in the unit when ECT was administered," he said.
Dr Leeks established the 46-bed child and adolescent unit at Lake Alice Hospital in 1972. He moved to Australia in 1978 after two inquiries into his use of ECT. One investigation found that a boy of 15 was given unmodified electric shocks against his will and without the knowledge of his parents or welfare officers. It found the boy had been dealt a grave injustice and that the treatment "may have been contrary to law".
When Dr Leeks came to Melbourne in 1978, he was made director of child psychiatry at a child guidance clinic. From 1982 to 1984 he lived in Canada. He returned to Melbourne in 1984 to establish a private practice in Cheltenham. In 1986, he worked as a part-time psychiatrist at the Children's Court outpatients' clinic.
(Source: The Age)
Job Network staff entrusted with helping the unemployed into work are burnt out, frustrated and sick of having to focus on the demands of the Federal Government, rather than on the needs of their clients.
Research released at the Welfare-to-Work conference in Brisbane shows "significant unhappiness" among staff with the bureaucratic way the system operates.
The Job Network replaced the Commonwealth Employment Service in 2001. Far from being "flexible and responsive", as promised at the time, it is burdened by new bureaucratic constraints due to the requirements of Federal Government contracts.
The research, based on 1140 responses from case managers in Job Network agencies across the country, shows that some managers say up to half of their time is spent on paperwork and contract compliance.
Many say the original intention of the Job Network, to help people into work, has been lost in the continual round of administration. Job seekers are seen, as one case manager said, "purely as a potential outcome, not as a person in need of guidance or help".
The research by two University of Queensland academics, Greg Marston and Catherine McDonald, said it would be almost impossible to overstate staff unhappiness with the contractual requirements and "outcomes' focus" of the system, "and the resulting degrees of frustration and job dissatisfaction".
When the Job Network was established, it was regarded as one of the world's most radical experiments in producing a national job placement service. Today, 103 non-profit and for-profit organisations in 1000 locations are contracted to the Government to help the unemployed find jobs. They are rewarded according to the numbers placed in employment or education.
The research found that the constant pressure to meet targets, and to achieve a high "star rating" for the agency on which future contracts could depend produced staff stress, burn-out, and high turnovers. In one agency, three-quarters of the staff had left in a four-year period.
One case manager said the focus on outcomes meant staff concentrated their efforts on the most job-ready people to the detriment of the most disadvantaged.
"It's not unlike processing 'cattle', or should I say 'stock', which was the term DEWR [the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations] used at the start of the contract to describe their unemployed clients," another case manager said.
There was dissatisfaction on the other side of the counter, Dr Marston and Associate Professor McDonald found in interviews with 70 unemployed clients.
"The concept of a personalised, tailored service was far from the reality for most of the people we interviewed," the researchers said.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Research released at the Welfare-to-Work conference in Brisbane shows "significant unhappiness" among staff with the bureaucratic way the system operates.
The Job Network replaced the Commonwealth Employment Service in 2001. Far from being "flexible and responsive", as promised at the time, it is burdened by new bureaucratic constraints due to the requirements of Federal Government contracts.
The research, based on 1140 responses from case managers in Job Network agencies across the country, shows that some managers say up to half of their time is spent on paperwork and contract compliance.
Many say the original intention of the Job Network, to help people into work, has been lost in the continual round of administration. Job seekers are seen, as one case manager said, "purely as a potential outcome, not as a person in need of guidance or help".
The research by two University of Queensland academics, Greg Marston and Catherine McDonald, said it would be almost impossible to overstate staff unhappiness with the contractual requirements and "outcomes' focus" of the system, "and the resulting degrees of frustration and job dissatisfaction".
When the Job Network was established, it was regarded as one of the world's most radical experiments in producing a national job placement service. Today, 103 non-profit and for-profit organisations in 1000 locations are contracted to the Government to help the unemployed find jobs. They are rewarded according to the numbers placed in employment or education.
The research found that the constant pressure to meet targets, and to achieve a high "star rating" for the agency on which future contracts could depend produced staff stress, burn-out, and high turnovers. In one agency, three-quarters of the staff had left in a four-year period.
One case manager said the focus on outcomes meant staff concentrated their efforts on the most job-ready people to the detriment of the most disadvantaged.
"It's not unlike processing 'cattle', or should I say 'stock', which was the term DEWR [the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations] used at the start of the contract to describe their unemployed clients," another case manager said.
There was dissatisfaction on the other side of the counter, Dr Marston and Associate Professor McDonald found in interviews with 70 unemployed clients.
"The concept of a personalised, tailored service was far from the reality for most of the people we interviewed," the researchers said.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Labor leader Kim Beazley has announced his intention to have the ALP drop its opposition to new uranium mines.
The plan has been opposed by some left-wing ALP figures, as well as West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter, who fears the state would become 'the world's nuclear waste dump'.
However Mr Beazley's proposal has been endorsed by Labor's resources spokesman Martin Ferguson, industry spokesman Stephen Smith, and prominent union leader and Victorian ALP President Bill Shorten.
(Source: The Age)
The plan has been opposed by some left-wing ALP figures, as well as West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter, who fears the state would become 'the world's nuclear waste dump'.
However Mr Beazley's proposal has been endorsed by Labor's resources spokesman Martin Ferguson, industry spokesman Stephen Smith, and prominent union leader and Victorian ALP President Bill Shorten.
(Source: The Age)
Monday, July 24, 2006
Changes to juvenile justice centres in New South Wales could breach Australian and international conventions on children's rights, according to lawyers.
Recently passed laws have given the centres new powers to control detainees, including using attack dogs.
Young detainees can also be given medical procedures without permission, and can be isolated indefinitely.
Public Interest Advocacy Centre spokeswoman Anne Mainsbridge thinks some of these changes go against the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as some international conventions.
The Juvenile Justice Department has rejected concerns about the changes.
(Source: ABC News website)
Recently passed laws have given the centres new powers to control detainees, including using attack dogs.
Young detainees can also be given medical procedures without permission, and can be isolated indefinitely.
Public Interest Advocacy Centre spokeswoman Anne Mainsbridge thinks some of these changes go against the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as some international conventions.
The Juvenile Justice Department has rejected concerns about the changes.
(Source: ABC News website)
Doctors in the US military have been intimately involved with torture, including more than one death, according to a new book.
'Oath Betrayed', by medical ethicist Dr Stephen Miles, is based on 35,000 pages of government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The US military's new interrogation rules allow doctors to provide a prisoner's medical information to interrogators, to help guide them to what Donald Rumsfeld called the prisoner's "emotional and physical strengths and weaknesses".
One intelligence officer testified that at one US facility, every "harsh interrogation" was approved in advance by both the facility's commander and medical staff. Similarly at Abu Ghraib, according to the Army's surgeon general, only 15% of inmates were examined for injuries after interrogation.
In one high-level interrogation, doctors were present during the process of depriving a prisoner of sleep for 55 days. Doctors also involved in inducing hypothermia and the use of threatening dogs on the prisoner.
Elsewhere in Guantanamo, one prisoner had a gunshot wound that was left to fester during three days of interrogation before treatment, and two others were denied antibiotics for wounds.
In Iraq, according to the Army surgeon general "an anesthesiologist repeatedly dropped a 2-lb. bag of intravenous fluid on a patient; a nurse deliberately delayed giving pain medication, and medical staff fed pork to Muslim patients."
Doctors were also tasked at Abu Ghraib with "Dietary Manip (monitored by med)". That is, using prisoners' food intake to weaken or manipulate them.
In Mosul, according to Miles, one medic witnessed guards beating a prisoner and burning him by dragging him over hot stones. The prisoner was taken to the hospital, treated and then returned by doctors to his torturers. An investigation into the incidentwas closed because the medic didn't sign the medical record and so he couldn't be identified.
Of the 136 documented deaths of prisoners in detention, Miles found, medical death certificates were often not issued until months or even years after the actual deaths. One prisoner's corpse at Camp Cropper was kept for two weeks before his family or criminal investigators were notified. The body was then left at a local hospital with a certificate attributing death to "sudden brainstem compression." The hospital's own autopsy found that the man had died of a massive blow to the head.
Another certificate claimed a 63-year-old prisoner had died of "cardiovascular disease and a buildup of fluid around his heart." According to Miles, no mention was made that the old man had been stripped naked, doused in cold water and kept outside in cold temperatures for three days before cardiac arrest.
(Source: Time magazine [US])
'Oath Betrayed', by medical ethicist Dr Stephen Miles, is based on 35,000 pages of government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The US military's new interrogation rules allow doctors to provide a prisoner's medical information to interrogators, to help guide them to what Donald Rumsfeld called the prisoner's "emotional and physical strengths and weaknesses".
One intelligence officer testified that at one US facility, every "harsh interrogation" was approved in advance by both the facility's commander and medical staff. Similarly at Abu Ghraib, according to the Army's surgeon general, only 15% of inmates were examined for injuries after interrogation.
In one high-level interrogation, doctors were present during the process of depriving a prisoner of sleep for 55 days. Doctors also involved in inducing hypothermia and the use of threatening dogs on the prisoner.
Elsewhere in Guantanamo, one prisoner had a gunshot wound that was left to fester during three days of interrogation before treatment, and two others were denied antibiotics for wounds.
In Iraq, according to the Army surgeon general "an anesthesiologist repeatedly dropped a 2-lb. bag of intravenous fluid on a patient; a nurse deliberately delayed giving pain medication, and medical staff fed pork to Muslim patients."
Doctors were also tasked at Abu Ghraib with "Dietary Manip (monitored by med)". That is, using prisoners' food intake to weaken or manipulate them.
In Mosul, according to Miles, one medic witnessed guards beating a prisoner and burning him by dragging him over hot stones. The prisoner was taken to the hospital, treated and then returned by doctors to his torturers. An investigation into the incidentwas closed because the medic didn't sign the medical record and so he couldn't be identified.
Of the 136 documented deaths of prisoners in detention, Miles found, medical death certificates were often not issued until months or even years after the actual deaths. One prisoner's corpse at Camp Cropper was kept for two weeks before his family or criminal investigators were notified. The body was then left at a local hospital with a certificate attributing death to "sudden brainstem compression." The hospital's own autopsy found that the man had died of a massive blow to the head.
Another certificate claimed a 63-year-old prisoner had died of "cardiovascular disease and a buildup of fluid around his heart." According to Miles, no mention was made that the old man had been stripped naked, doused in cold water and kept outside in cold temperatures for three days before cardiac arrest.
(Source: Time magazine [US])
Friday, July 21, 2006
Quote of the Moment:
"A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone."
The blurb for 'Mercenaries 2: World In Flames', a computer game by US Army and CIA subcontractor Pandemic. Pandemic claims the game is completely unrelated to the US government's hostility to Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chavez.
"A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone."
The blurb for 'Mercenaries 2: World In Flames', a computer game by US Army and CIA subcontractor Pandemic. Pandemic claims the game is completely unrelated to the US government's hostility to Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chavez.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Quote of the Moment:
"We're racist, we're sexist, we're homophobic."
Footage aired on ABC's 'Lateline' program shows members of the NSW Young Liberals chanting this slogan.
"We're racist, we're sexist, we're homophobic."
Footage aired on ABC's 'Lateline' program shows members of the NSW Young Liberals chanting this slogan.
Monday, July 17, 2006
At least two British prison officials have been promoted despite overseeing a prison where an Asian man was murdered after being put in the same cell as a known racist.
Zahid Mubarek was beaten to death in Feltham Young Offenders Institution by his cellmate Robert Stewart, on the morning before he was due to be released.
Stewart was known to be a racist, as well as mentally unstable and aggressive.
The institution is said to have had a climate of racism; officers have been accused of provoking, and then betting on, fights between black and white inmates.
Despite this, John Byrd, a prison governor who was also part-time race-relations liaison officer, and Feltham governor Niall Clifford, have both been promoted since the murder.
(Source: The Observer [UK], Wikipedia)
Zahid Mubarek was beaten to death in Feltham Young Offenders Institution by his cellmate Robert Stewart, on the morning before he was due to be released.
Stewart was known to be a racist, as well as mentally unstable and aggressive.
The institution is said to have had a climate of racism; officers have been accused of provoking, and then betting on, fights between black and white inmates.
Despite this, John Byrd, a prison governor who was also part-time race-relations liaison officer, and Feltham governor Niall Clifford, have both been promoted since the murder.
(Source: The Observer [UK], Wikipedia)
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Quote of the Moment:
"No blood, no foul."
According to Time magazine, the "unofficial motto" of Camp Na'ma, an American interrogation centre known for torturing prisoners.
"No blood, no foul."
According to Time magazine, the "unofficial motto" of Camp Na'ma, an American interrogation centre known for torturing prisoners.
A Mount Eliza nursing home ignored "numerous" complaints about a worker accused of raping four elderly residents, and later dismissed workers for not speaking up sooner, a court has heard.
One worker at the George Vowell nursing home told Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday how she was sacked last year after complaining about the man's behaviour.
Janine Blythe, a personal carer who allegedly witnessed the other worker sexually assaulting a resident on November 4, said she waited three weeks to submit a complaint to the chief executive, partly because other complaints had been ignored.
"No one took any notice of anything there...We verbally complained all the time and nothing was done," she said.
Ms Blythe said chief executive Heila Brooks ripped the complaint up in front of her.
Ms Blythe said she and another colleague were later sacked for not reporting their concerns sooner.
(Source: The Age)
One worker at the George Vowell nursing home told Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday how she was sacked last year after complaining about the man's behaviour.
Janine Blythe, a personal carer who allegedly witnessed the other worker sexually assaulting a resident on November 4, said she waited three weeks to submit a complaint to the chief executive, partly because other complaints had been ignored.
"No one took any notice of anything there...We verbally complained all the time and nothing was done," she said.
Ms Blythe said chief executive Heila Brooks ripped the complaint up in front of her.
Ms Blythe said she and another colleague were later sacked for not reporting their concerns sooner.
(Source: The Age)
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Up to a quarter of Australian workplace agreements - the centrepiece of the government's industrial relations reforms - are being investigated for breaches of pay and conditions.
About 14 per cent of the agreements examined by the Office of the Employment Advocate underpaid workers, and 11 per cent breached leave standards.
(Source: The Age)
About 14 per cent of the agreements examined by the Office of the Employment Advocate underpaid workers, and 11 per cent breached leave standards.
(Source: The Age)
The James Hardie company has claimed that the future of its fund to compensate its asbestos victims is in doubt.
James Hardie CEO Louis Gries said the future of the fund was still in doubt, despite the Tax Office ruling the company could claim tax deductions on payments made into the fund.
Mr Gries criticised the Tax Office's decision not to give the fund tax-free charity status.
The company gave Mr Gries a 65 percent pay rise this year, taking his total annual pay to $4.7 million. It also paid $US2.9 million in bonuses to other senior executives in the year. Company Chairman Meredith Hellicar will seek to increase the pay of her fellow directors at the company's shareholder meeting in September.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
James Hardie CEO Louis Gries said the future of the fund was still in doubt, despite the Tax Office ruling the company could claim tax deductions on payments made into the fund.
Mr Gries criticised the Tax Office's decision not to give the fund tax-free charity status.
The company gave Mr Gries a 65 percent pay rise this year, taking his total annual pay to $4.7 million. It also paid $US2.9 million in bonuses to other senior executives in the year. Company Chairman Meredith Hellicar will seek to increase the pay of her fellow directors at the company's shareholder meeting in September.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Half a million bars of Cadbury's chocolate suspected of being contaminated with salmonella were eaten in Britain, after the company discovered that the bacteria had gotten into its products but failed to alert authorities.
The Food Standards Agency accused Cadbury of failing to alert the agency after a leaking waste water pipe at a chocolate factory contaminated the milk chocolate crumb, which is blended with fillings to make Cadbury's sweets.
The FSA said that Cadbury's discovered the contamination in January but only approached them in late June - after a the Health Protection Agency, which was investigating an outbreak of salmonella among more than 40 people, made an exact match of the strain with a sample of bacteria found in Cadbury's chocolate.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
The Food Standards Agency accused Cadbury of failing to alert the agency after a leaking waste water pipe at a chocolate factory contaminated the milk chocolate crumb, which is blended with fillings to make Cadbury's sweets.
The FSA said that Cadbury's discovered the contamination in January but only approached them in late June - after a the Health Protection Agency, which was investigating an outbreak of salmonella among more than 40 people, made an exact match of the strain with a sample of bacteria found in Cadbury's chocolate.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
Rather than independent coverage, television news reporting of the Iraq war has tended to simply reflect government policy, according to a new study.
The report by by European media research institute Media Tenor compared TV news about the war from the US, UK, Czech Republic, South Africa, Germany, and Qatar.
"The results suggest that, in times of war or crisis, media coverage tends to toe the government's line", according to study author Dr Christian Kolmer.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
The report by by European media research institute Media Tenor compared TV news about the war from the US, UK, Czech Republic, South Africa, Germany, and Qatar.
"The results suggest that, in times of war or crisis, media coverage tends to toe the government's line", according to study author Dr Christian Kolmer.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
