More Restaint Deaths and Abuse
In 1998, psychiatric staff forced 13-year-old Stephanie Jobin of
Canada to lie face down on the floor and placed a beanbag chair on top
of her. A female staff member sat on the chair to pin her down while
another staff member held her feet, after she had already been dosed
with five different psychiatric drugs. After 20 minutes of struggling,
Stephanie stopped breathing and later died. Her death was ruled an
accident.
The night before 15-year-old Edith Campos was sent to Desert Hills psychiatric hospital in Tucson, Arizona, she made colorful computer drawings for her family. If her mother missed her, all she needed to do was look at the picture and think of her daughter and that she would soon be home. Two weeks later, Edith came home in a coffin. During the time she was hospitalized, her parents were not allowed to speak to her. On February 4, 1998, Edith apparently died of asphyxiation, her chest compressed when she was held to the ground for at least 10 minutes after reportedly raising her fist during a confrontation with staff members.
On August 18, 1997, 16-year-old Roshelle Clayborne died during restraint at a psychiatric facility in San Antonio, Texas. Roshelle was slammed face down on the floor, her arms yanked across her chest, her wrists gripped from behind by a mental health aide. “I can’t breathe,” she gasped. Her last words were ignored. A syringe delivered 50 milligrams of Thorazine into her body and with eight staffers watching, Roshelle became suddenly still. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she lost control of her bodily functions. Her limp body was rolled into a blanket and dumped in an 8-by 10-foot room. There she lay in her own waste and vomit for five minutes before anyone noticed she hadn’t moved. By the time a registered nurse arrived and began CPR, it was too late. Roshelle never revived.
In Denmark in 2002, a patient who was punished by being put into restraints was compensated in a damages suit against the treating psychiatrist. This was the first time ever that compensation was awarded to a patient harmed by the restraint procedure.
