A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has recommended banning devices that deliver electric shocks to kids and adults with autism and other developmental disorders, taking aim at a school where the shocks are given to students with special needs.
Such electrical stimulation devices were used at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center, a special needs school in Canton, Massachusetts, which came under criticism after 2002 video surfaced showing a student being shocked 31 times.
A hearing on the devices turned emotional on Thursday, as some recounted experiences with the devices akin to "torture," while others begged health officials to keep what they say is a life-saving treatment.
The device is designed to administer a current that immediately stops people from behaviors ranging from eye-gouging to sexual assault, but some former JRC students told the FDA they were shocked for minor disruptive behavior and occasionally by accident.
"I was never shocked for aggressive behavior. It was for saying no, messing around with a boy," Ian Cook, a 26-year-old former student at the school, told NBC News.
A video surfaced in 2002 showing a student at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center being shocked 31 times.
Cook, who now lives as a man, arrived at the school as a girl named Hillary just before turning 18. For several months Cook received "behavioral rehearsal lessons" and was restrained in a device day and night, given shocks that were so painful they were "almost like giving birth." Cook never knew when the shock would come and was in constant fear of it.
"I now suffer from a fear of authority, a fear of being controlled and panic when presented with either," Cook, of Gardner, Massachusetts, told the panel.
Former teacher Gregory Miller testified that he left the school because his students were in pain. Another former student testified that she has recurring nightmares and flashbacks about the devices.
"If I hear certain noises, like the Velcro that used to keep them closed, I freeze," said Jennifer Msumba. "I feel like it's about to happen to me."
See original here:
Shock Treatment: Ban Proposed for School's 'Electrical Stimulation'