Woman tells of 'hell on earth' at Limerick psychiatric unit

A Sad story of a woman trying to get help, and the failure of the psychiatric system in here city to help.

Snippet from a much longer story

The HSE has said it is to investigate concerns raised by a well-known Limerick businesswoman after she experienced "hell on earth" in a psychiatric hospital unit in Limerick.

Last November, Leona O'Callaghan, 35, spent two months at the 5B Psychiatric Ward in University Hospital Limerick, which she described as a "violent" and "uncaring" place.

"The HSE need to hear the voice of the service users," the mother of three said.

Ms O'Callaghan said she was forced to speak out publicly about her experience, because she got "no reply" to letters she sent to the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, and his Junior Health Minister, Kathleen Lynch.

In a searingly honest interview she described how after approaching a nurse in 5B, she was told she should kill herself if she really wanted to.

[...]

"There's an epidemic in suicide in Limerick. Obviously something is going wrong."

Patient at Cavan hospital given ECT without proper medication

From a Report in the Irish Times

Inspectors at a psychiatric unit in Cavan General Hospital investigated a “serious” incident where a patient was administered electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) without the required muscle relaxant medication.

An unannounced inspection was carried out at the acute psychiartirc unit of the hospital on June 3rd and 4th 2014 .

Inspection of one individual clinical file found a detained patient had consented to a course of electroconvulsive therapy treatment.

The anaesthetist failed to administer the required muscle relaxant medication before one of the treatment sessions.

The medical record stated that the patient has complained of joint stiffness and that the consultant psychiatrist would inform the patient of the drug administration error.

“However, there was no record in the patient’s clinical file that this adverse incident has been discussed with the patient,” the report said.

At the request of the inspectors, a review report in relation to the incident was provided.

Inspectors said there was no record in the of the event entered in the incident log or reviewed by all relevant clinical personnel and the manager.

“The clinical governance in response to this incident appeared to be lax” the report said.

The Inspectorate Mental Health Services immediately requested a report on the incident from the clinical director and notified the Mental Health Commission of this “matter of serious concern”.

[..]

While it is good news that ECT is on the the decline, it is shocking that not only is it still practiced in Ireland, but that they cannot even follow their own safety rules

Irish Psychiatrist leading campaign against use of 'archaic' electro-shock therapy in hospitals

And now for a small bit of sanity from Ireland. As seen in the Irish Independent.

According to a leading doctor, thousands of Irish psychiatric patients experiencing psychological distress have had electric shocks of up to 400 volts administered to their brains, frequently against their will.

This controversial treatment, known as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), works by artificially inducing epileptic fits.

Those who endorse it believe that the seizure triggers a surge of "well-being" which soothes the symptoms of the psychological distress being targeted, such as depression, schizophrenia, mania, obsessive convulsive disorders and anorexia.

The last recorded figures reveal that, in 2003, 1,483 people here were treated with ECT, 859 of whom were in the south of Ireland and 624 in the north.

Dr Michael Corry, consultant psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, contends that the state of confusion, sometimes tinged with a mild euphoria, that is regularly encountered in the aftermath of some types of head injuries, temporarily obscures the patient's original symptoms, which is then erroneously classified by psychiatrists as an "improvement".

"The fact that these results wear off is underlined by the reality that some patients have literally had hundreds of shocks. Why is this terrible and devastating human rights abuse allowed to go on?" he asks.

Dr Corry is leading the Irish campaign to abolish ECT. "It's irrational, archaic and barbaric it has no place in the 21st century" he says.

"It is universally agreed that the occurrence of seizures in a patient is always harmful to their brain. Within neurology as a speciality, every effort is made to prevent seizures but, incredibly, psychiatry stands out as the only branch of medicine that specialises in deliberately causing seizures."

ANALYSIS LIVING, PAGE 13

He first witnessed ECT being administered during his psychiatric training at St Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital in the Seventies, where the shock of what he saw caused him to faint.

"I couldn't work out how this could possibly be done to human beings," he says. "I saw it as abuse from very beginning, because it was being given to people on the premise that they had a disease of the mind. When I realised that people were basically being given it to control behaviour, it was just like the end of the world to me."

He refused to fulfill the compulsory ECT component of his course and ended up transferring to Guy's Hospital in London to complete his studies. After he qualified as a GP, and prior to embarking on his psychiatry studies, he achieved higher qualifications in obstetrics and paediatrics.

His long-held belief is that mental distress is a valid human experience that doesn't emanate from a malfunctioning, diseased brain.

He believes that abolishing ECT would allow a psychosocial, humanistic understanding of mental distress to emerge, paving the way for prevention and healing, and facilitating a person-centred approach, through counselling, cognitive therapy, and other techniques that are based on individual hearts and souls.

"Mental distress results from the problems of living," he says. "Using ECT is the equivalent of sending the TV or computer for repair if the programmes are not to one's liking."

Many studies have demonstrated that memory loss is the first obvious result of electric shock treatment, plunging the patient into a state of confusion, fear and vulnerability. Other areas of intellectual functioning are also compromised, as is the ability to experience the full range of feelings, creating a state of emotional numbness.

"To isolate a depressed, suffering human being from their thoughts, behaviours, and the workings of their world is a tragedy beyond words, as it reduces them, and the rest of us, to a chemical soup encapsulated in skin.

In this soup, there is no place for uniqueness, imagination, will, acceptance, compassion, love, peace, creativity, personal freedom and the unfathomable depths of the human spirit."

Aside from the mental damage ECT causes, brain autopsies on patients have revealed physical damage. Some elderly people have died from strokes and pneumonia in the days and weeks following a course of ECT treatment, as they are known to do after any major trauma.

"Given these effects, it would be inconceivable that anyone in their right mind would sanction such a procedure for administration to a developing foetus as it floats in fluid suspended within the uterus, with the goal of improving its 'well-being'," says Dr Corry. "You'd have to ask whether the adult brain is any less fragile? It is self-evident that ECT is unsustainable, because if it were seeking a licence today, it would be rejected on safety grounds."

"ECT is a holocaust of the brain, and a brutal final solution which must be stopped," he says. "The time to abolish electric shock treatment is now."

If you would like to share your experiences of ECT as part of a research study, please contact the Institute of Psychosocial Medicine in Dun Laoghaire (01) 2800084 or email ipmed@eircom.net. You can also visit a website, wellbeingfoundation.com, which is dedicated to the abolition of ECT

As one clever person noted:A *psychiatrist* asks "Why is this terrible and devastating human rights abuse allowed to go on?"!!!

Of interest: "I am also against the forced use of ECT on any human being." Which forced psychiatric procedures (treatments?) are you not against?

Irish Mental health tribunals have cost over €10 million to date

An interesting story, but what is utterly missed is the point that this is the cost in trying to establish at least some justice in the Irish system of involuntary commitment to mental hospitals. The tone is slightly weird, like this is some unwanted expense. From the Irish Medical News

Over €10 million has been spent on mental health tribunals since they were first established in 2006, it has emerged.

In response to a recent Parliamentary Question, Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Dr Jimmy Devins stated that €1,001,174 was spent in 2006 and €9,008,051 was spent in 2007 on tribunals.

The Mental Health Comm­ission did not give a further breakdown of the figures when requested by IMN.

A total of 2,423 tribunals were held during this period, meaning that the average cost of each tribunal is approximately €4,130.

The figures do not include a number of outstanding attendance fees, which have yet to be submitted by mental health tribunal panel members to the Mental Health Commission or the overheads associated with the administration of the mental health tribunals by the Commission, according to Minister Devins. The costs of the tribunals are met from the budget of the Mental Health Commission.

Consultant psychiatrist Prof Patricia Casey has branded the figures as “extraordinary”.

She told IMN that it was of the utmost importance that the Mental Health Commission provide a detailed breakdown of the figures given the costs involved. In particular, Prof Casey said in the interests of transparency and accountability it should be reported how much is being spent on solicitors fees.

Out of the 2,248 hearings held in 2007, 256 cases were revoked at hearing.

Psychiatrist denies murdering her teenage daughter

As reported in the Irish Independant

A jury of nine women and three men has been selected to hear the trial of a psychiatrist charged with murdering her teenage daughter.

Lynn Gibbs (46), a psychiatrist from Killure in Gowran, Co Kilkenny, is charged with murdering her 16-year-old daughter Ciara at Killure, in November 2006.

Mrs Gibbs denied the charge when she appeared at the Central Criminal Court at Dublin yesterday morning.

The court heard the trial will start today and turns on a single issue that will be determined by expert psychiatric evidence.

Brendan Grehan, for the Director of Public Prosecution, said the case is expected to take between one and one-and-a-half days.

Mrs Gibbs is represented by Patrick Gageby.

262 freed from Irish psychiatric hospitals in the past year.

Around 20 Irish psychiatric patients are now being released every month after pleading their case before special tribunals. They were originally detained in mental hospitals against their will, and now have the option of independent tribunals. The mental health tribunals were set up over a year ago to allow patients who were the subject of involuntary detention orders to make their case to have it lifted. Previously, they had to rely on the sympathy of psychiatrists to deem if they were suitable to have the order lifted. Apparently, there was an obvious need for this sort of procedure in the name of ordinary justice and human rights. From the Irish Idependent

New figures from the Mental Health Commission show that 262 involuntary patients had the orders removed after appearing before the tribunals between December 2006 and November 2007. There have been a total of 2,227 hearings to date.

The tribunals are made up of doctors, members of the public and psychiatrists. The patient is able to appear in person to put their case forward.

There were 1,504 people detained against their will during that time -- down on the previous year following the introduction of more complex procedures for admission.

The detainee can opt for a Mental Health Commission-appointed solicitor and can appeal a tribunal ruling in the circuit court.

Since the beginning of the new legislation, 216 children have been detained in adult psychiatric facilities because of a lack of beds. Five of these children were detained against their will, and 12 were aged between 13 and 14.

However, psychiatrist Dr Patricia Casey said this situation was unacceptable.

"The HSE and also the Department of Finance need to be reminded that this situation is in breach of all international standards for the treatment of children with mental health issues. Children need facilities of their own," she said.

Woman committed suicide after release from psychiatric hospital

A woman who was released from a mental hospital due to a legal difficulty took her own life by leaping from a balcony five days later.

Carrie Lyons (26) died at the Mater Hospital on July 19, 2006, hours after sustaining a severe head injury when she leaped from a third-floor balcony at flats in Morning Star Avenue, Dublin.

Three hospital assessments in the previous week had found she was not at risk of suicide.

Speaking outside the court, Ms Lyon's father, Patsy Lyons, expressed anger that his daughter had been released from hospital.

"I can't understand why she was released. She had lost a baby at two-and-a-half and that was the start of her problem.

"She was in the Central Mental Hospital for about three weeks. I didn't get word she was released.

"I'm sad and so angry that I wasn't informed she was released. I feel I should have been notified and I wasn't."

Dublin City Coroner's Court heard Ms Lyons had been detained at the Central Mental Hospital suffering from paranoid beliefs after being arrested for shoplifting.

But she was released from the facility on July 14 when the Prison Service informed the hospital that Ms Lyons had to be discharged because there was no bench warrant for her.

She was brought directly to the Mater Hospital where she was assessed by a psychiatrist who found she had no thoughts of self-harm or psychotic symptoms, the inquest head.

Ms Lyons, of Lurgan Street, Dublin 7, discharged herself while the doctor was on the phone to her grandmother.

She returned to A&E on July 15 and 17 and reassessments found she was neither suicidal nor homicidal. She was given an appointment for an out-patients' clinic on July 20.

Ms Lyons died on July 19 after she jumped from a balcony at Kevin Barry Flats, near the Regina Ceoli hostel where she was a resident.

She told staff at the hostel earlier that day she wanted to call an ambulance, but was persuaded to contact the community mental health nurse, who spoke with Ms Lyons and advised her to see her GP and to then come immediately to see her at Norman Connolly House, the court heard.

A nurse from the service had seen Ms Lyons at the hostel two days before her death and had been in contact with the hostel with regard to her condition earlier that day.

A resident in the area, Patrick Gilmore, told the court he was returning home with his daughter on July 19 when he saw a person with a leg and an arm hanging over the balcony of Kevin Barry Flats.

"Within a couple of seconds she got her other leg over and let go," he said.

The Dublin City Coroner Brian Farrell recorded a verdict of death by suicide.

Ex mental health worker charged in massive child sex case

From the Belfast Telegraph

This is the former Ulster charity worker accused of storing more than 23,000 images of child sex abuse on his computer.

Londonderry man John Llewelyn James (39) is now at the centre of one of the biggest alleged cases of child pornography ever uncovered in Northern Ireland.

The 39-year-old, from Garvagh Road in the city, was allegedly found to be in possession of 23,642 indecent images of children. Some of the material was classed as level five - the most serious level.

A court has refused him bail after police said he admitted having a " strong sexual interest in children".

James was a part-time worker with the North West Forum for people with disabilities when indecent images were allegedly found on his work computer in March 2006.

Police were informed and seized the computer along with his laptop.

He had previously worked with a mental health charity which trained GPs and emergency staff in Derry on how to deal with mentally ill patients.

At a recent bail hearing in the High Court the judge was told that James admitted he had accessed the images via the internet at work and at home.

He also admitted to having a sexual interest in children aged six to 14 and police said they feared he posed a significant risk to children.

High Court Judge Mr Justice Gillen refused bail saying that the protection of vulnerable children was one of the highest priorities invested in the courts.

When James first appeared in court charged with making and possessing indecent images of children reporting restrictions were enforced to prevent him from being named over fears for his safety. However, the restrictions were lifted in the High Court last week.

During his first court appearance, his defence solicitor Charles Kane said that James was willing to undergo therapy.

He raised concerns that his client might self-harm and added that there was no risk of James reoffending if he had no access to the internet.

Charging him with the offences at Londonderry Magistrate's Court in April, resident magistrate Mr Barney McElholm described child pornography as "a cancer" in society and said there does not appear to be "any way to successfully treat people with paedophile tendencies".

He added: "There would not be the amounts of money to be made by criminal elements if it was not for people willing to download, view and pay for [child pornography]. This cancer in our society has to be tackled at every level."

"It's a well known fact Lexapro makes your symptoms worse for seven days"

From the Irish Independent

A man who suffered from polio shot himself with a home-made gun eight days after starting a course of medication for depression, an inquest heard yesterday.

Patrick Fitzpatrick (58), of 9 Shanid Road, Harold's Cross, died in a downstairs room at his home after shooting himself with a brass pistol he had made himself, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard.

The retired watch-repairer was discovered in his home by his brother, Anthony Fitzpatrick and a locum doctor, Dr Ronan Donohoe on September 28, 2006. He had attached a note to the door on the downstairs room which read: "Do not open. Call the guards. I have shot myself."

A subsequent post mortem by Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis revealed that Mr Fitzpatrick died from a gunshot wound to the head. There were no suspicious circumstances.

The inquest heard that Mr Fitzpatrick, who suffered from polio since the age of two or three and spent many years in hospital when he was young, attended his local GP, Dr Robert Hickey on September 19, where he was prescribed the anti-depression medication, Lexapro.

He returned to the practice three days later on September 22, and told Dr Hickey that he was still feeling very down. The doctor told him that "it takes 10 days to kick in".

Anthony Kelly told the court that the family are concerned that Dr Hickey failed to stress to Patrick that "it's a well known fact Lexapro makes your symptoms worse for seven days".

Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, adjourned the inquest to a date in September to give Dr Hickey to answer the issues raised.

Trial date set for psychiatrist accused of killing daughter

As seen in this report from the Irish Independent

The trial of a psychiatrist charged with the murder of her teenage daughter will begin in February of next year.

Lynn Gibbs (46), from Killure, Gowran, Co Kilkenny, is due to appear at the Central Criminal Court from February 11.

She is charged with the murder of her daughter, Ciara Gibbs, at the family home some time between 11pm on November 25 and 10am on November 26, 2006.

Dr Gibbs was found in a collapsed state in the house by her husband Gerard and young son Gearoid on their return home on the morning of Sunday, November 26, after an overnight trip to Co Tipperary.

Ciara's body was found in the bath in the house, and a post-mortem later revealed she had died from drowning. Dr Gibbs, who is a locum psychiatrist with Carlow-Kilkenny mental-health services, has undergone psychiatric treatment since Ciara's death. She is currently a patient at the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin.

Hundreds attended the 16-year-old's funeral. Ciara was a popular fourth-year transition student at Loreto secondary school in Kilkenny city.

The drugs don't work, warn top psychiatrists

From The Sunday Independent (Ireland)

A damning indictment by the country's most eminent psychiatrists paints a picture of patients' lives being needlessly put at risk by a cocktail of dangerous drugs, and a profession which is in the back pocket of vested interests in the pharmaceutical industry.

"The psychiatric world has to be cleaned up - it's appalling. There are over 200,000 people on over-the-counter tranquilliser drugs," says Dr Michael Corry, a consultant psychiatrist.

"In Ireland, there are 25,000 people on Zyprexa and 20,000 people on Seroxat. With Seroxat, there is a one-in-500 suicide risk. They get totally overwhelmed by a sense of disinhibition, and they literally feel they can't go on, and they kill themselves."

Coincidentally, a damning Oireachtas report on the adverse side effects of pharmaceuticals, which was released last week, has come to more or less the same conclusions.

The report stated that "the influence of the pharmaceutical industry is unhealthy". It also called into question the relationship between the pharmaceutical companies and psychiatric doctors, who are financially rewarded in the form of payments for ghostwriting medical-research reports, get free travel, research grants and numerous other perks.

The all-party committee report also took a swipe at the widespread prescribing of psychiatric drugs. "Their [drugs] use in therapy represents unwarranted medical intervention in what are often normal emotional difficulties," they said. "The side effects include behavioural disorders, physical illness, dependence and even suicide."

The report went on to say that some of the drugs "were of doubtful benefit" and that "where side effects are well known, they seem not to be appreciated or are ignored by prescribers".

The Oireachtas Committee is now calling for the setting up of a Patient Safety Agency.

Other senior doctors raise the issue of the use of drugs such as Clozaril, a widely used schizophrenia drug which can produce a litany of life-threatening reactions.

"It's a very dangerous drug - and it's not the only one," said Dr Corry, who runs the Dun Laoghaire-based Institute of Psychosocial Medicine.

"It's an absolute scandal that the Medicines Board has licensed these drugs - surely they can unlicense them, seeing as we have clear irrefutable evidence they are dangerous?"

Professor Pat Bracken, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of the West Cork Mental Health Service, says that many of the woes befalling psychiatry can be directly traced to the vast influence which the pharmaceutical industry now wields over the academic faculties that teach psychiatry - an influence gained through the doling out of vast research grants.

"There are growing concerns about the way in which the pharmaceutical industry has come to dominate psychiatry," he warns. "The profession should be independent and be seen to be independent. And if it is not, it is a concern for everyone."

The drugs, like infamous internet goggles, don't work. They do nothing.

Psychiatrist accused of murder sent for trial

From the Irish Independent

A psychiatrist charged with the murder of her 16-year-old daughter at their Co Kilkenny home last November was yesterday sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

Lynn Gibbs (47) appeared before Dun Laoghaire district court and was remanded in custody by Judge Claire Leonard.

She was charged that between 11pm on November 25 last and 10am on November 26 she murdered Ciara Gibbs at their home at Killure, Gowran, contrary to common law.

On the application of defending solicitor, Bob Eager, the court certified free legal aid in the case and granted two counsel for the trial.

Gardai in Thomastown were called to their detached two-storey red brick home in the townland of Killure on a back road between Gowran and Paulstown on Sunday, November 26, by an ambulance crew that had been summoned to the house.

Ciara's body was found by her father, Gerard, a lecturer at Carlow Institute of Technology, and her brother, Gearoid, when they returned home from an overnight visit to a relative in Clonmel.

Ciara was a highly popular fourth-year transition student who attended the Loreto secondary school in Kilkenny city.

Psychiatrist charged with murdering her own daughter

As seen here

A woman charged with murdering her teenage daughter at their family home in Kilkenny on 26 November 2006 has appeared before Dún Laoghaire District Court.

Lynn Gibbs, 46, a psychiatrist from Killure, Gowran, County Kilkenny was charged last week with the murder of her 16-year-old daughter Ciara.

Her father, Gerry, and her brother, who had just returned from an overnight trip, discovered her in the bath, but attempts to resuscitate her failed.

Mrs Gibbs was also found collapsed near her daughter’s body.

She was remanded in custody at Mountjoy Women’s Prison and is due to appear before court on June 22.

Kilkenny psychiatrist charged with daughter's murder

From the Irish Times

A Kilkenny woman (47) has been charged with the murder of her daughter in November last year.

Dr Lynn Hutchinson, a psychiatrist from Killure, Gowran, Co Kilkenny, was charged with murdering Ciara (16) at Dún Laoghaire District Court this morning.

The daughter was found on the morning of Sunday, November 26th, in the bath at her home near Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny.

Her mother was found in "a collapsed state" and taken to St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny and was then transferred to St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin.

The two were discovered in the house by Dr Hutchinson's husband, Gerard Gibbs, and Gearóid (14), who had been away overnight and returned to the house on the Sunday morning.

Dr Hutchinson did not speak in court and was remanded in custody until May 29th when she will appear before Justice Clare Leonard.

Psychiatrist, heal thyself.

NY State cites Psychiatric center. Clinic is fined, forced to stop taking new patients

The psychiatric center in upstate Brewster where accused murderer Evan Marshall of Glen Cove was once treated has been fined $80,000 and ordered not to accept new patients after regulators discovered several violations.

The state Office of Mental Health placed Supervised Lifestyles Residential, or SLS, under a temporary "cease-and-desist" order after visits at the center Nov. 6 and 7.

"Although the final report of this review has not yet been finalized ..., the results of the visit indicated serious regulatory violations," according to a Nov. 17 letter addressed to Alfred Bergman, co-chairman and chief executive, and Joseph Santoro, co-chairman and chief operating officer.

Violations include the lack of criminal background checks for staff, use of manual restraints and required jail-like jumpsuits in a community service program that humiliated some patients, according to the Office of Mental Health letter.

Spokesman Gerald McKelvey said yesterday the center has requested an agency hearing to contest the allegations. He also said most of the violations stemmed from insufficient record-keeping and some had been voluntarily addressed before the visits.

Marshall, 31, was a patient at SLS for at least four months, and police said he had been granted a leave to visit his mother in Glen Cove when he beheaded and dismembered Denice Fox, 57. McKelvey couldn't comment on Marshall, citing privacy concerns.

SLS, a private center founded in 1987 that provides a dorm-like setting for 140 patients a year, has never had its license suspended, state regulators said.

The order stopping admissions remains "until an acceptable plan of corrective action has been reviewed and accepted," said Jill Daniels, a spokeswoman for the Office of Mental Health.

Such a plan has been sent to the agency, said McKelvey, who added, "We will appeal this matter."

The violations prompted some mental-health professionals to remind care-seekers to thoroughly research facilities like SLS before signing up.

"In some cases, people are receiving poor treatment," said Carol Smaldino, a Port Washington therapist, who has a patient who once lived at SLS for about four months.

Smaldino's patient of six years said the reported violations only skim the surface of problems at SLS. The client, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some patients were unnecessarily strong-armed and some were given so-called "med holidays," which meant they were taken off their medication.

McKelvey said psychiatrists routinely stop medication for some patients when the treatment has been deemed ineffective or when prescriptions are based on the wrong diagnosis.

Lance, a 31-year-old resident of upstate Mahopac with a personality disorder who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used, said SLS turned his life around and he wrote a letter recently to the Office of Mental Health praising the center after receiving treatment there from 2001-03.

"I never witnessed anyone being abused," he said. "I witnessed a girl take a kitchen knife and plunge it into her arm repeatedly. Obviously, there's restraint needed there."

What the state said

Some of the violations outlined by the state at Supervised Lifestyles Residential, a rehabilitation center in upstate Brewster. SLS spokesman Gerald McKelvey said the allegations are being contested.

State officials questioned the number of times SLS used manual restraints, pointing to at least 25 instances in the past 10 months. SLS initially reported to state regulators in September that restraints were used three times in 12 months, officials said.

SLS had not performed criminal background checks on staff hired since April 2005, state officials said. SLS said in October the center, which has 60 to 70 employees, performed the necessary background checks. No criminal records turned up for the six employees checked so far, SLS said.

State officials said a program at the center required some patients to perform community service while wearing jumpsuits, humiliating them. SLS said use of the jumpsuits ended in August.

Psychiatric Patient Found Dead

Ireland's Health Board has begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a psychiatric patient after he had gone missing while under the care of two nurses in County Roscommon. He has been named as 40-year-old John Gallagher of Cresslough, Letterkenny, County Donegal. The man's body was recovered from the River Shannon near Rooskey last night.

Patients endure horrific conditions

As reported in the Galway advertiser

Psychiatric Patients in Connemara (Ireland) are being forced to endure horrific conditions at a daycare centre.

The day support centre in Clifden was used during the filming of the film Sinners outlining the horrors suffered by women in Magdalene homes, and according to Previte patients at the facility have to endure similar conditions to those depicted in the historical drama. "There is sewerage flowing into the day room and the kitchen," he said of the centre. "It's the most disgusting and disgraceful situation.

The centre caters for some 40 patients who avail of a range of treatments and therapies in the building.