School in Massachusetts 'corrects behavior' of children with electric shock: the court decided it was legal

A federal appeals court ruled that a school for children with disabilities in Massachusetts may continue to administer electric shocks to its students. Writes about it Independent.

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously banned electric shock therapy used at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts. The facility has developed controversial treatments to correct aggressive behavior or self-harm in adults and children.

The school, along with a group of students' parents and guardians, challenged the previous FDA ban. The appellate court ruled that the treatment falls under medical regulations and is therefore outside the scope of FDA control.

“Through treatment, these residents can continue to enjoy visits with their families and, most importantly, live safely and free from self-harm and aggressive behavior,” the school said in a statement.

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“We have fought and will continue to fight to keep our loved ones alive and to maintain access to this life-saving treatment,” added the parents of the facility’s patients.

The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton is the only school in the United States that uses electrical shock treatment on its students. It has come under fire from disability rights advocates, including Disability Rights International (DRI) and the United Nations, which views the practice as torture.

“The idea of ​​electrocuting children has been recognized as unethical throughout the world,” said DRI President Laurie Ahern.

“The children are being truly tortured,” said Matthew Israel. “They are pumped full of drugs that make them so sedated that they essentially sleep all day.”

The Judge Rotenberg Center has about 300 students, including 48 permanent residents. About 55 of them are using Graduated Electronic Decelerator shock devices, which remotely affect the wearer's skin with a powerful electric shock.

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"One of our clients is a woman who hit her head against a wall so many times that she suffered a detached retina," said attorney Max Stern, who represents the center's parents and guardians.

“It was only after she was admitted to the JRC and received treatment that the woman was able to get the behavior under control so that she could have surgery and be able to see again,” Stern says.

However, a 2006 NYS Department of Education report found that the device was routinely used with little disobedience and “behavior that was not aggressive, hazardous to health, or destructive. For example, grumbling, swearing and not being able to maintain a neat appearance. "

The report also found no evidence that the school "accounts for the potential negative effects, such as depression or anxiety, that may result from using aversive behavioral strategies with individual students."

The school claims that it "provided very effective education and treatment for both emotionally unstable students with behavioral, emotional or psychiatric problems and those with mental disabilities."

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