Coping with Life: Mistreatment of mental health issues is not just an American problem

Monday, March 10, 2008

Mistreatment of mental health issues is not just an American problem

Following a four year investigation, Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) recently released a report detailing the human rights abuses perpetrated against children and adults in Serbia with disabilities, forced to live out thier lives in institutions.

"Torment not Treatment: Serbia's Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities" describes children and adults tied to beds or never allowed to leave their cribs - some for years at a time. In addition, filthy conditions, contagious diseases, lack of medical care, rehabilitation and judicial oversight renders placement in a Serbian institution life threatening for both children and adults.

"These are Serbia's most vulnerable citizens. Thousands confined to institutions are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and abuse. Children and adults tied down and restrained over a lifetime is dangerous and painful treatment tantamount to torture - clear violations of the European Convention on Human Rights," said Attorney Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of MDRI and an expert on human rights law.

"We call on the government of Serbia to stop these abuses immediately and to respect the human rights of all people with disabilities," Rosenthal added.

An article from a recent issue of the International Herald Tribune further outlines MDRI's findings. For more information or to read our report, please visit the MDRI website.

MDRI is an international human rights and advocacy organization dedicated to the full participation in society of people with mental disabilities world wide. For more information, visit our website.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I only wish MDRI had the resources to look at America's mental health system. While our system is not so abjectly cruel and brutally negligent, our institutional providers frequently assert a high standard of care while failing to deliver that which supports the assertion. Consider New Jersey's Ancora which had been covered earlier.; March 11, 2008 at 9:31 AM

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Susan has served as president of Postpartum Support International. She is a certified therapist who serves on the national board of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. She is an adjunct assistant professor in the Silver School of Social Work at NYU, where she teaches cognitive therapies. She also writes for the Empowher blog.

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