CLEARWATER, Fla., April 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog group established by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, announced that according to the Annual Report of Baker Act Data, 13,856 individuals 65 and older were sent for involuntary psychiatric examination in 2015. Throughout the month of May, CCHR Florida is inviting the public to visit their center at 109 N. Fort Harrison Avenue in downtown Clearwater where they can learn more about patient rights under the mental health law, commonly referred to as the Baker Act, and the dangerous trend of drugging the elderly.
The President of CCHR FL, Diane Stein said, “While the 13,856 number of individuals 65 and older who are Baker Acted is only about 7% of the total number of initiated involuntary examinations, it is known that there is a real danger of harm being caused in the transfer of senior citizens from long-term care facilities to Baker Act facilities i.” CCHR Florida is holding an open house for Older American’s Mental Health Week in order to educate seniors and their care givers on the over drugging of seniors and patient rights under the Baker Act.
“The number of retirement-age Americans taking at least three psychiatric drugs more than doubled between 2004 and 2013,” said Diane Stein. “Almost half of these seniors had no mental health diagnosis on record and this abuse needs to be investigated and stopped.” ii
It is know that the rate of psychiatric drug prescriptions increase sharply with age and that community-dwelling older adults are 7 to 18 times more likely to be on psychotropic drugs compared to their middle-aged counterparts. Even more disturbing is that the statistics are worse for those diagnosed with dementia. According to the Office of the Inspector General, 304,983 elderly nursing home residents in the U.S. were given dangerous and often deadly antipsychotic drugs, of which 88% were prescribed off-label for dementia.iii
For more information on the open house, the drugging of seniors or the protection of elder rights under the mental health law, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR:
Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections.
It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org
i A Brief Literature Review of the Effects of Relocation on the Elderly http://www.heu.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research_reports/HEU_Literature_Review_Sept23_2002.pdf
ii Sharp Rise Reported in Older Americans’ Use of Multiple Psychotropic Drugs, Benedict Carey - February 13, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/health/psychiatric-drugs-prescriptions.html?_r=1
iii Psychiatric Abuse of the Elderly, CCHR International https://www.cchrint.org/issues/protectelderly/