Skip to main content
The largest online newspaper archive
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper

Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 93

Publication:
Star Tribunei
Location:
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Issue Date:
Page:
93
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Dec. 10, 1978 13F Minneapolis Tribune Expert shoe repairs. Visit our newly remodeled ahoe repair dept. are "inappropriately diagnosed," Including those who have "situational" depression, not the "organic" Save Wed. While you walt-or-shop service.

'J -i, six got ECT at St. Paul-Ramsey, Butzer said. Late afternoon, Sept. 29. Benson Is resting alter ECT that morning, lying fully dressed on his hospital bed.

He props a pillow under his armpit so he can talk with the stranger who has returned to his bedside. His eyes are clearer now, but he still remembers nothing about the moments just before the morning's shock treatment. He doesn't smile much, and his voice Is flat. Reviewing the events that landed him in the hospital, he relentlessly blames his "mistakes. And It's to the psychiatrist's financial advantage, Butzer said, to prescribe ECT rather than more time-consuming therapy.

At St. Paul-Ramsey, he said, a psychiatrist gets $37.50 for each shock treatment. And that, Butzer said, "Is $37.90 for pushing the button," a job he said could be done just as well by the Halfaolee.compoaltloru rtA Women'eheellifta Men's pr.O.99 (ixoptnti pr. C9 Leather SlMtri Women'a Toe pieces and half soles pr. 9.99 plates, women's pr.

O.H9 rubber Ane Plastic handbag AQ heela pr. 4.Jw handles start at tiHO udCPenney Charge it only at JCPenney Downtown: 8th Nicollet Mall 339-1 110 Open Monday thru Friday nights; open Sunday at noon. At his hospital, Butzer said, a psychiatrist also gets $30 a day, eeven days a 'week, while a patient Is hospitalized for shock, which normally is given three times a week. But of nearly 1,500 psychiatric patients in Shock From 1JF glvea against a patient's will. "The forcible 'treatment' of any Individual with any 'therapeutic' tool Is by my definition torture and should be out lawed," wrote Dr.

David Rich- man. a Berkeley, psycliophy. siologlst who helped form a group called the Network Against Psychlat- Bernstein, who also is one of the few Minnesota psychiatrists prescribing psychosurgery, disagrees. "I as a psychiatrist believe that people have a right to good medical treatment," he said. "And sometimes people can't judge what is good medical treatment." i In Minnesota, "forcible" shock treatment is legal, but not without a quasi-judicial hearing The consensus is that shock is Inappropriate for "situational depression" grief over the death of a loved one, for example, or brooding over catastrophic financial loss.

It Is more apt to be recommended- for organic or depressions, those coming "from within." The Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry calls such use of EOT "one of the most spectacular therapeutic responses In metilcine." Shock 15F Dr. Margaret Keenan Benson Is lying on his back, about to get bis second shock treatment. He's in a small room, not nearly so frightening as an operating Positioned about him are Fisher, his psychiatrist; Dr. Harold Coulter, anes thesiologist; a nursing supervisor, and a male attendant. Coulter quickly finds a vein In Ben son's wrist and Infuses his blood with Sodium Pentothal, which renders him unconscious, then with Anec- tine, a muscle relaxant.

An elastic "gag" has been placed In Benson's mouth so he won't bite his tongue. Coulter now stands behind Benson's head to "breathe" for him by rhythmically squeezing a flexible mask covering the patient's nose and mouth. Fisher flips the switch sending cur rent through Benson brain, when the spasms die down, he Is wheeled unconscious Into an adjacent recov ery room, where he Joins two or three unconscious middle-aged wom en. Nobody knows exactly how ECT works to ease depression or other mental Ills. Bernstein, In an Interview, called it "serendipity or some thing." noting that emotions nowa days are believed to be "some kind of electrical current" Bernstein, an associate of Fisher.

was Imprecise about how often he uses shock. But "because of the pressures" (from outside groups) we are probably using less than we should," This isJhntmc gift ideas W' JP a for men. 18 1R I The XPenney Sweater is a golf 1 I I cardigan of link-stitch Orion A ff I'' l) JL I Why wait till Saturday night? I I acrylic knit. Terrific colors to- 'A' Vi I I Body hugging nylon knit disco I I choose from in sizes S.M.L.XL. VhH yk I shirt for men.

Long point I I A-''V i' 1 I collar, long sleeves, hi I I i' if i I attractive solids. I K-px MirlMMf $16 I Ksil MpnkJ "'VfA yri I Real hand-embroidery on I I "4t2v7 l(vl 'i il I acrylic knit ski sweater. I rW' YK J) set V-y-- I Choose from several I CAlV '1m) rl fT Scandinavian-inspired pat- I I ji Long sleeve shirt and V-neck I I jf I il3k2atrOOOVJl sweater set off ers shirt in I I 1 bVtWVJVVCrSC2a plaids, checks, tattersalls, and I I rp- I I ggi' Cabled acrylic knit pHiHover I jj patterns in his favorite colors. 1 2Q $10 ''( I Men's classic crewneck Posh acetate nylon velour I I irfzffltiZ! sweater of 100 virgin wrap robe comes in rich solid vy I VSZlii tJ Shetland wool in new fashion colors. One size fits all.

It even I I pTT jeSsf colors. Sizes has its own gift box. I 1 113 1 he said. Because he elves shock. Bernstein said, his malpractice Insurance cists I 11,200 a year, compared witn ihuo for his psychiatrist wife, Dorothy, who doesn give it.

Dr Margaret Keenan. another Min neapolis psychiatrist. Is skeptical, at best, about ect. "I haven't run across a oetlent in 4V4 years of practice that I would give shock to," she told an "it's some sort of infringement of an individual's potential for change and srowth" to be treated with "some thing potentially traumatic like shock," she said. i ECT should be used "as a last resort for somebody who la suffering in tensely and not responding to other forms of treatment," Keenan saw.

She and others prefer to emphasize Individual counseling, in conjunction with drugs. If necessary, to help the patient face problems that lead to depression. i To hospitalize a depressed patient for shock after a one-hour Interview Is "lazy psychiatry and Inhumane patient care," she said. Keenan recalled her days as a psy chiatric resident In a Minneapolis-area hospital. The hospital's pro-shock doctor was secretly dubbed "Reddy Kilowatt," she said, and resi dents were required, on rotation, to show up at 7 a.m.

for their turns at pressing the shock button ror a pa tient they might not know. After a tew minutes In the recovery room, Benson returns on foot to his hosoltal room with the help or a hospital aide. His gaze Is foggy, and he moves hatlneiy. appearing oerua- died that a visitor Is waiting at his bedside. It It the same visitor he talked with at length less than an hour earlier.

"Remember, me?" the visitor asks. Benson doesn t. "You got a shock treatment," the visitor says. "I did?" Benson says. "I didn't even realize that." "You know where you are?" a hospital." "You know which one?" "I'll remember If I think about It 1S7 JCPWwy Ino Charge it at any of these Twin Cities JCPenney stores: tunRn KnoSwood Plaza Mdoodal RoMdM mdeodal Signal Hill SI PM BwntvW touthdsle Mtfi A fVenoe ft MO10I Hr tt-i ton (444O0O Hl-Uk mi! rai-MM Downtown Mod tfllMooMMM 3tmo Brookdtf HvyKIONlHaylU U2100 Apaetw Plata Mm At St Paul-Ramsey Hospital, Dr.

Stephen Butzer, director of in-patient psychiatry, said many shock patients Open Sunday at 1 1 a.m. Downtown MaH, Hl-Lake, Knollwood open at noon i.

Get access to Newspapers.com

  • The largest online newspaper archive
  • 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
  • Millions of additional pages added every month

Publisher Extra® Newspapers

  • Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the Star Tribune
  • Archives through last month
  • Continually updated

About Star Tribune Archive

Pages Available:
3,156,115
Years Available:
1867-2024