July 15, 2024 Update
1:00 PM CST Annie Singer has made a YouTube Video that can be shared on social media, Mayo Clinic is STILL torturing David Russell — You can help! She also has the video on TikTok.
8:00 AM CST. David has now been electroshocked ten times against his will.
| 1. June 13, 2024 2. June 14, 2024 3. June 17, 2024 4. June 19, 2024 5. June 24, 2024 |
6. July 1, 2024 7. July 3, 2024 8. July 5, 2024 9. July 9, 2024 10. July 12, 2024 |
David has been told they are going to reduce the frequency to once a week and then maybe to once a month. David thinks they are planning on moving him to a less restrictive setting and hoped that would mean no more electroshock, but both Charles Helmer and Ray Sandford were electroshocked against their will on an outpatient basis in Minnesota.
David was asked if he still wanted people advocating to stop electroshocking him against his will in light of the apparent lack of effect and he said yes. In fact, it took a sustained effort to stop the electroshocking of Charles Helmer and Ray Sandford before success was achieved.
Therefore we are asking people to continue to press the Mayo Clinic, especially Dr. Schak, and Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota (Catholic Charities), which was granted dominion over David as guardian to stop the shock. David has not been told what they are trying to accomplish with the electroshock. The reason given in the Electroshock Order is that since David has “failed multiple neureleptic drug trials . . . [electroshock] is the next medical step.” As far as we know Schak.Kathryn@mayo.edu is still Schak’s e-mail address and the phone number of Schak’s Medical Secretary is 507-255-2326.
Bishop Barron, the head of the archdioces and president of Chatholic Charities, can be contacted and urged to intervene to stop the shock. We think Bishop Barron’s phone number is 507-858-1242, and his e-mail address bishop@dowr.org.
Bishop Barron’s X (Twitter) account has over 200,000 followers and posts and replies can be sent to .@BishopBarron asking that he intervene to stop David from being electroshocked. Bishop Barron’s YouTube Channel has over 525,000 followers and you can comment on the individual videos.
In addition, you can contact Governor Tim Walz and demand he look into the abuse of David Russel.
Additional contact information is available on David’s MindFreedom Shield Alert Page.
We are certainly open to suggestions for other actions that might be taken on David’s behalf. If you have any, please e-mail shield@mindfreedom.org.
Please comment below sharing the actions you have taken. The system requires us to approve comments so it may take a bit of time for it to show up.
July 1, 2024 Updates
11:30 AM Central Time
Jim Gottstein talked to David and he was electroshocked against his will this morning, making it number 6 by our count.
4:00 AM Central Time.
As we mentioned last time, the head of Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota, Bishop Barron, is one of the most-followed Catholics in the world on social media. if we can get David’s Alert noticed on Bishop Barron’s social media that would be very good. The idea is to get him to intervene to stop the electroshocking of David Russell against his will.
Bishop Barron’s Facebook Page has over 3 million followers and while you can’t post on his main page, you can comment on his posts. It would not be surprising if these were deleted and people posting the comments were blocked, but we wonder how fast they can do that and how many of us will post there. That they remove the posts and block people over it, can be publicized as well. It will be interesting to see, and if you e-mail shield@mindfreedom.org about your experience with Bishop Barron’s social media we can post it on David’s MindFreedom Shield Alert Auxiliary Page.
Bishop Barron’s X (Twitter) account has over 200,000 followers and posts and replies can be sent to .@BishopBarron pleading that he stop David from being electroshocked. Susan Roger’s post on X can be reposted
Bishop Barron’s YouTube Channel has over 525,000 followers and you can comment on the individual videos. One has almost 2,000 comments, so it is hard to get noticed there, but if enough comments are made that can have an impact.
Jim Gottstein’s e-mail to Bishop Barron might serve to provide talking points for your own actions in support of David, as well as the e-mails posted on David’s MindFreedom Shield Alert Auxiliary Page.
Finally, you can share Annie Singer’s TikTok Video on your social media. It uses the F word a few times so that is a consideration of whether and where you might post it. It is focused on getting people to contact Bishop Barron to get him to stop the electroshocking of David.
Calls and e-mails to Bishop Barron should also be continued; 507-858-1242, bishop@dowr.org.
Until our comment function is working reliably, please e-mail us with the actions you take so we can post them in the auxiliary pages we have set up as a work-around. Especially if you tried to leave a comment and were stymied. Unless you tell us otherwise, when we post your e-mails, we will remove your e-mail address.
As always, remember that David and Jill are at risk of retaliation and you are supporting them under the MindFreedom banner. MindFreedom International does not condone threats of violence or harm. Our mission statement is:
In a spirit of mutual cooperation, MindFreedom International aims to lead a non-violent revolution of freedom, equality, truth, and human rights in mental health care by uniting psychiatric survivors, consumers, and allies through movements for justice everywhere.
This is the spirit we want to bring to this effort. MindFreedom thanks you for your support of David.
June 26, 2024, Update
4:30 PM Central Time. An Auxiliary page has been set up for additional information and as a workaround for the comments feature not working at the present time.
- Fabulous TikTok Post by Annie Singer
2:30 PM Central Time. The Mayo Clinic is electroshocking David against his will again in spite of it causing a potentially deadly blood clot last Wednesday. The callous disregard of David’s health, and even life, is stunning.
We understand David has been subjected to five electroshocks against his will:
- June 13, 2024
- June 14, 2024
- June 17, 2024
- June 19, 2024 (Blood Clot)
- June 24, 2024
They were going to shock him again this morning, but there was a mix-up and he ate breakfast so they didn’t subject him to it.
A volunteer has been able to obtain some of the court filings in the commitment/electroshock case. They are very short on facts as to why all this is being done to David. The Electroshock Petition does state that David cannot breathe on his own during the procedure. There is also a recording of the hearing last October in the guardianship case on David’s motion for a new attorney. His supposed lawyer essentially testifyied against David, demonstrating why David should get a new lawyer. When David accurately says the lawyers assigned to him do nothing for him, that is attributed to the ravings of a lunatic. We hope to get transcripts of the psychiatric imprisonment, forced drugging, and forced electroshock hearings.
Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota, which has been granted dominion over David as guardian has done nothing to protect David. They could almost certainly have the electroshocking of David stopped. We have asked you to contact people in its guardianship office without response, and now we are asking you to also contact the bishop of the diocese and higher ups at Catholic Charities. Mike Hanratty who we have asked you to contact in the past should continue to be urged to do the right thing and stop David from being electroshocked. He has the power to do so. E-mails are good, but phone calls are better.
Bishop Robert Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester.
507-858-1242
bishop@dowr.org, or contacted through his secretary, Leandra Hubka, at lhubka@dowr.org.John Meyers, Catholic Charities Executive Director
507-454-2270
jmeyers@ccsomn.orgIsaac Landsteiner, Catholic Charities Director of Parish Social Ministry
507-848-8303
ilandsteiner@ccsomn.orgMike Hanratty, Guardian/Conservator Program Director
507-454-2270 ext. 233
mhanratty@ccsomn.org
You might use their Catholic Social Teachings webpage and/or Jim Gottstein’s e-mail to Bishop Barron for talking points in your phone calls and e-mails .
Let’s also try to shame Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic leadership and board of trustees on social media.
Bishop Barron’s bio says he is one of the most-followed Catholics in the world on social media. Thus, flooding his social media could have a big impact.
3.1 million Facebook fans (https://facebook.com/BishopRobertBarron)
529,000 YouTube subscribers (https://youtube.com/user/wordonfirevideo)
205,700 Twitter followers (https://twitter.com/BishopBarron)
The commenting function on David’s Alert Page is mostly not working at the moment so, if you could e-mail shield@mindfreedom.org to inform us of your social media posts that would be great. Or any other actions you take to support David. We will try to at least add the social media posts here so people can can repost them or otherwise use them to support David. Frankly, “liking” posts does not accomplish anything in our view. We want to shame Catholic Charities, the Catholic Church in Southern Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic as well as enlist the public in the effort to stop David from being electroshocked against his will.
Please remember that David is at risk of retaliation and you are supporting him under the MindFreedom banner. We ask you to take this into account in your social media posts, and when you call or write. MindFreedom’s Mission Statement is:
In a spirit of mutual cooperation, MindFreedom International aims to lead a non-violent revolution of freedom, equality, truth, and human rights in mental health care by uniting psychiatric survivors, consumers, and allies through movements for justice everywhere.
This is the spirit we want you to bring to this effort. MindFreedom thanks you for your support of David. David also always expresses his gratitude for you trying to help
June 22, 2024 Update
First, an update on David. When he woke up Wednesday after being electroshocked for the fourth time, he had a blood clot in his arm. This is a known effect of electroshock and can be fatal. Presumably for this reason he was not electroshocked Friday. It seems likely their plan is to resume the electroshock once the clot has dissolved so we don’t know how much of a reprieve this might be. Therefore, the pressure should be kept on.
However, it turns out the phone numbers we were provided for Schak and Zorn are their personal cell phones and people were calling in the middle of the night. Or, at least that is what Mayo’s lawyer wrote in his cease and desist letter. In our Alerts and Updates we say to to take into account you are advocating under the MindFreedom banner. We haven’t specified what that means exactly, but it doesn’t mean calling people in the middle of the night. While what Schak and Mayo are doing is reprehensible to say the least, constituting torture, MindFreedom chooses to take a higher road than Mayo. Not only do we think it is the right thing, we believe it is more effective, especially in the long run. We therefore ask that you stop calling those phone numbers. We have gotten Mayo’s attention. You might be interested in Jim Gottstein’s response to the cease and desist letter.
Over the weekend, let’s see if we can build a social media campaign focusing on Mayo’s Leadership and Board of Trustees. The idea is to draw their attention to what Mayo is doing and ask them to stop the Mayo Clinic from electroshocking David Russell against his will, as well invite others to join this effort. Are they pleased with being associated with an organization that is inflicting torture? “Liking” a post doesn’t accomplish this. The goal is to get wide exposure of what the Mayo Clinic is doing, garnering support, sympathy, and empathy for David. Sarah Price Hancock’s e-mail to Governor Waltz and people at the Mayo Clinic can be used to make points. So can PsychRights’ 2011 letter to the FDA.
Please put a link to your social media posts in the comments below so others can repost. Our system requires approval so it might take a bit before it shows up.
Also, again, please remember that David is at risk of retaliation and you are supporting him under the MindFreedom banner. We ask you to take this into account in your social media posts, and when you call or write. MindFreedom’s Mission Statement is:
In a spirit of mutual cooperation, MindFreedom International aims to lead a non-violent revolution of freedom, equality, truth, and human rights in mental health care by uniting psychiatric survivors, consumers, and allies through movements for justice everywhere.
This is the spirit we want you to bring to this effort. MindFreedom thanks you for your support of David. David also always expresses his gratitude for you trying to help.
June 20, 2024 Update
David Russell has been electroshocked against his will four times now: Thursday, June 13th, the very next day on Friday, June 14th, Monday June 17th, and Wednesday, June 19th. They won’t tell him how many times they are going to electroshock him, but it is likely he will be shocked again on Friday, June 21st, unless we can get it stopped. We need to keep the pressure on.
It would be great if you would call them and demand that the Mayo Clinic quit electroshocking David Russell against his will. It is believed Dr. Schak can have the shock stopped on her order.
Also, Catholic Charities, the guardian granted dominion over David, should not be let off the hook. The legal rationale for overriding David’s choice not to take electroshock is he lacks capacity (is imcomptent) to make such a choice. As his guardian, Catholic Charities is almost certainly allowed to choose that David not be electroshocked. However, instead of exercising independent judgment, Catholic Charities is just accepting what Mayo wants to do to David. There is a new person assigned to David by Catholic Charities, Lydia Stiehl. Ms. Stiehl’s e-mail address is lstiehl@ccsomn.org and her phone number is 507-454-2270. It would be great if you could contact her and demand she have the shock stopped. We don’t have her extension so you will have to ask to be transferred to her. The head of Catholic Charities guardianship program is Mike Hanratty and he should be called as well. He is at extension 233 of the same phone number, 507-454-2270, and his e-mail address is mhanratty@ccsomn.org.
Jim Gottstein wrote Ms. Stiehl an e-mail that you can look at for ideas about what to say or write. Also, Sarah Price Hancock wrote an especially excellent e-mail to Governor Waltz and people at the Mayo Clinic that can also be used for talking points.
We will appreciate it if you let us know about e-mails you send or about calls you make in the comments below. Our system requires approval so it might take a bit before it shows up. If you have any problems, please e-mail shield@mindfreedom.org.
Also, please remember that David is at risk of retaliation and you are supporting him under the MindFreedom banner. We ask you to take this into account when you call or write.
David always expresses appreciation for what you are doing to try to stop him from being electroshocked. As do we at MindFreedom.
June 16, 2024, Update:
David Is Getting Electroshocked Repeatedly
Jim Gottstein has been speaking with David most days since April 29th . Before he was electroshocked on Thursday, June 13th, David did not exhibit any memory deficits. David did complain about the drugging affecting his thinking. After he was electroshocked against his will on Thursday David said it took him 30 minutes to remember where he was and had a splitting headache. It is believed David was electroshocked against his will again the next day, Friday. Normally, electroshock is not given two days in a row. David was very disoriented, he couldn’t remember what day it was and was unclear on when he had been electroshocked. He was sure he had been electroshocked twice. When I talked to him later in the day, he didn’t remember he had talked to me earlier in the day. On Saturday, June 15th, David was feeling a little better, but was still having problems with his memory. Today, Sunday, June 16th, David says his memory has come back some, he is groggy and sore all over.
He understands they are going to continue to electroshock him against his will this coming week. Throughout this whole time David has said he is “scared shitless” as he saw someone being electroshocked to the point where they couldn’t talk and needed help eating. The brain damage from electroshock is cumulative, so the fewer electroshocks the better. David is a software engineer and he is legitimately worried the electroshock will make him unable to do that any more.
In addition to continuing to urge Dr. Schak to stop having David electroshocked against his will, you can contact Gianrico Farrugia, MD, Mayo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by e-mail mailing him at Farrugia.gianrico@mayo.edu. Christina Zorn is Mayo’s Chief Administrative Officer and her e-mail address might be zorn.christina@mayo.org. Jim Gottstein e-mailed her, requesting a delivery receipt, which he has not received, nor has he received a bounce message.
Also, please contact Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz and ask him to have the forcible electroshocking of David Russell stopped.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
130 State Capitol
St. Paul, MN 55155
Fax:(612)296-2089
Tel:(612)296-3391
email: tim.walz@state.mn.us
web: http://www.state.mn.us
Alternate Telephone Numbers
Telephone: 651-201-3400
Toll Free: 800-657-3717
Minnesota Relay: 800-627-3529
Even though it is hard to imagine things getting worse for David, please recognize that he is at risk of retaliation and you are supporting David under the MindFreedom banner, so we ask you to take these into account when you call or write.
We will appreciate it if you leave a comment below with a copy of your e-mail and/or a description of your phone call or whatever else you might have done on David’s behalf and the response, if any. Our system requires approval of comments so it will take a bit for it to show up.
June 13, 2024, Updates
Tell Dr. Schak and Others to Stop the Shock
Noon Central Time. Another volunteer has identified the following Mayo Trustees’ e-mail addresses.
- Dr. Katherine Baicker kbaicker@uchicago.edu
- Dr. Matthew R. Callstrom callstrom.matthew@mayo.edu
- Dr. Rafael Fonseca fonseca.rafael@mayo.edu
- Dr. Charanjit S. Rihal rihal@mayo.edu
Jim Gottstein’s e-mail to Michael Powell, the chair of the Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees, might be useful in drafting e-mails to these trustees. It might also be useful to keep in mind these are all MDs.
10:40 AM Central Time. Jim Gottstein talked to David and he was electroshocked. He said it took him 30 minutes to remember where he was, has a splitting headache and other typical electroshock negative effects.
10:20 AM Central Time. It appears Dr. Schak changed her e-mail address and it is now Schak.Kathryn@mayo.edu.
10:00 AM Central Time. One of our volunteers tells us the phone number of the Medical Secretary to Dr. Schak is 507-255-2326. Calls could be made to Dr. Schak there.
3:00 AM Central Time. David Russell is scheduled to be electroshocked against his will in a few hours, presumably on the order of the psychiatrist assigned to him, Kate Schak. It is believed Schak testified in court to obtain the court order and then in the face of our efforts to stop it told David she had decided against it. On May 8th, Jim Gottstein wrote to Schak asking her to get the court order revoked (vacated) because David was concerned Dr. Schak or someone else might change their mind. That certainly proved prescient.
Jim Gottstein just wrote Dr. Schak again, demanding that she stop the shock. She can almost certainly still stop the shock as of the time this is posted. Please e-mail or call Dr. Schak to stop the shock. Her e-mail address is schak.kate@mayo.org. [Note: This is a bad address. Use Schak.Kathryn@mayo.edu instead] You can also try calling her at (507) 255-5555. This is where the Mayo Clinic has locked David up. If you can’t get through to her, please leave a message for her to stop the electroshocking of David Russell.
Please leave a comment below with a copy of your e-mail and/or a description of your phone call or whatever else you might have done on David’s behalf. Our system requires approval of comments so it will take a bit for it to show up.
Thank you for your support of David.
June 12; 2024, Update
Betrayal: David to be Electroshocked Tomorrow
Today, June 12th, around 2:00 PM, David was informed they are going to start electroshocking him against his will tomorrow. They wouldn’t answer any of his questions, such as how many times they plan to electroshock him, what they expect to accomplish, or even why they decided to subject him to electroshock when they had previously informed him they were not going to. David suspects it is because he has been telling them about the corruption he has knowledge of. Even if David is incorrect about the corruption, it is no justification for electroshocking him. If it is true, which probably at least some of it is, the electroshock could erase his memory about it. Electroshock is sometimes used for just this sort of purpose. David witnessed another patient who was rendered unable to talk by electroshock and is terrified of that happening to him. Whether it gets that bad or not, Electroshock always causes brain damage, usually causing at least some memory loss. It is unpredictable, but many people are brain damaged so much they can no longer engage in their profession or are otherwise disabled.
It is unlikely Mayo Clinic executives and especially trustees know about the despicable actions of their employees and this should be brought to their attention. The Chair of the Board of Trustees is Michael Powell. Powell is the President & CEO of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, and is the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The e-mail address we have found for him is mpowell@ncta.commpowell@ncta.com
You can look at the e-mail Jim Gottstein sent Mr. Powell. Please let us know what you do on David’s behalf by putting it in the comments. Copying and pasting e-mails work. The system requires us to review comments so it might take a bit of time before it shows up.
We expect to be updating this page frequently in the next day or so with additional people to contact to try and stop the Mayo Clinic from electroshocking David. It is hoped Mr. Powell, or Eric Schmidt for that matter, who ran Google for ten years and is now the executive chairman of its parent company, would not be happy about bad publicity over this. If you find information on how to contact Mr. Schmidt, or other members of the board of trustees, please let us know. It also seems like a social media campaign could be good–if we got some reach with it. We could use some help with that, too. If you initiate or participate in a social media campaign to stop David from being electroshocked, please also put that in the comments or otherwise let us know.
May 8, 2024 Update:
Success!!!–At Least for Now
David just informed us he has been told they are no longer planning to electroshock him and going to work on discharge planning to a theoretically slightly less restrictive environment. YOU HAVE DONE IT!!! There is no doubt David would have been electroshocked against his will without your efforts on his behalf. David wants everyone to know how appreciative he is. David said he called many agencies supposedly standing up for people’s rights and no one cared until he reached MindFreedom. He said he can’t believe people who don’t even know him have tried to help him. When he has a chance, he plans to thank us in the comments section.
The court order will likely still be hanging over David’s head so that is of some concern, but for now we should stand down from the advocacy. If they change their minds again David will try to let us know and we can start the advocacy again. We will also try to keep in touch with David just to make sure.
David is still trapped by the guardianship imposed on him and it would be great if he could get out from under that.
May 7, 2024, David Russell Alert Update:
Progress?
This evening David informed us his new psychiatrist, Kate Schak, who testified in favor of electroshocking David against his will on Monday, told him today they were thinking about not going forward with the electroshock. While not definitive, it does seem hopeful. We had asking the president/CEO of the Mayo Clinic to stop his organization from electroshocking David against his will on deck as the next action to take and Mr. Gottstein’s e-mail to Dr. Farrugia is in the comments below. It is still okay to e-mail Dr. Farrugia, but with the thrust being they should indeed decide not to electroshock Mr. Russell and inform him so. Dr. Farrugia’s e-mail address is probably Farrugia.gianrico@mayo.edu.
May 6, 2024, David Russell Alert Update:
Forced Electroshock Authorized
The court authorized the forced electroshocking of David Russell today. We understand the lawyer did not present any evidence against electroshock to rebut the untruthful testimony of the doctor. David’s statements about the harms were ignored, presumably as a product of his “mental illness,” i.e., that he was delusional in believing electroshock is harmful. There were at least eight people from MindFreedom who tried to attend the Zoom hearing, told they had been changed to observers but not let in. There were probably more who haven’t informed Jim Gottstein. If you are one of those people, you might drop in a comment below. We are not giving up.
May 5, 2024, Update — Zoom Into Hearing?
The court hearing to authorize electroshocking David against his will is scheduled for 10:00 AM Central Time, Monday, May 6th. We have found out it is going to be held by Zoom that one can join using ID Number 1613247575 and Pass Code 246968. We don’t know if you will be thrown out if you join the Zoom, but it could have a salutary effect on the participants to know that people are watching what they are doing. Court rules will generally not allow you to speak. We don’t know if chat will be enabled. If it is enabled, we know it will be hard to be civil in light of what they plan to do to David, but please be courteous and respectful in spite of that. You can comment about your experience of and observations about the hearing at the bottom of this page. Our system requires approval of comments so it may take a little while before it shows up.
It is conceivable they will cancel or postpone the court hearing at the last minute. That is what happened Thursday when there was a retention hearing scheduled on whether to continue locking up David. The last we heard, David has not been told of the reason for the delay. Maybe his appointed lawyer just agreed to have David continued to be locked up? However, we don’t see anything to that effect on the docket sheet.
May 2, 2024, Update
David signed a release of information to provide information to James B. Gottstein, Esq., of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights), but they won’t honor it, saying only his guardian can. This is another reason to contact Mike Hanratty at Catholic Charities, David’s Guardian. His phone number is 507-454-2270, and his e-mail address is mhanratty@ccsomn.org. Jim Gottstein e-mailed Mr. Hanratty asking him to send him the Electroshock Petition and sign an Authorization for Release of Information to communicate with Jim. This e-mail is in the comments below. So, today’s action is to contact Mr. Hanratty and demand (respectfully) that he send Mr. Gottstein the Electroshock Petition and sign an Authorization for Release of Information. His phone number is 507-454-2270, and his e-mail address is mhanratty@ccsomn.org. You can post your e-mail and/or describe your phone conversation or voice mail in the comment section below. Our system requires moderation so it may take a bit for your comment to show up.
May 1, 2024 Update
May 1, 2024. At this point, the prime suspect for who filed the Electroshock Petition is Rob Morgan, the psychiatrist in charge of David where he is locked up at the Mayo Clinic. His e-mail address is Morgan.Robert@mayo.edu. We don’t have his direct phone number, but Jim Gottstein was able to reach him by calling the Unit at (507) 255-5555 and asking for Dr. Morgan. Dr. Morgan didn’t deny he had filed the Electroshock Petition and Jim asked him to withdraw it. Jim then e-mailed him, which is posted in the comments below.
Please e-mail and/or call Dr. Morgan and ask him to withdraw or dismiss the Electroshock Petition. While it is good to be firm and direct about the harm inflicted by Electroshock, please be respectful and courteous,. You can then post what you e-mailed, or describe your phone call or voicemail, in the comments. If you previously contacted Catholic Charities and have yet to post what you did in the comments, you still can. Speaking of Catholic Charities, as David’s Guardian, it should vehemently oppose the Electroshock Petition. They should not be let off the hook even if they didn’t file the Electroshock Petition. Mike Hanratty is the Program Director of the Catholic Charities guardianship program, his phone number is 507-454-2270, and his e-mail address is mhanratty@ccsomn.org.
April 30, 2024 Update
Catholic Charities denies it filed the Electroshock Petition and has been asked to vehemently oppose it and to identify who did. See, the exchange in the comment by Jim Gottstein below.
Shield Alert: Stop David Russell
from being forcibly electroshocked
April 29, 2024. David Russel is terrified. He is currently a psychiatric prisoner at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and there is a court hearing scheduled for this coming Monday, May 6th, where they are on track to get a court order through a sham legal process to electroshock him against his will. David is terrified because he saw another patient who was electroshocked who now can’t even talk.
They really have David boxed in, taking his rights away through a guardianship/conservatorship and assigning him the same lawyer in both cases, who does nothing on his behalf according to David and as far as we can tell. Having a guardian means David is not allowed to make his own decisions, essentially putting him in the position of a small child with the guardian taking the place of his parents. The Conservator has control of David’s assets, including his income and bank account. David is an employed software engineer and the guardianship/conservatorship is absurd, bud sadly we see this all the time.
He is currently forced to take Zyprexa and has experienced the typical large weight gain associated with it. Zyprexa also dramatically increases the risk of diabetes. Previously, he was forced to take Risperdal, which has caused his breasts to swell up and lactate. This is called gynecomastia and is a well-established consequence of taking Risperdal.
This is all terrible and it would be great for David to be freed, both physically from psychiatric incarceration and forced drugging, and from the guardianship, but right now he desperately wants to avoid being electroshocked. We are still trying to find contact information for some of the people we would like to influence, but we do know Catholic Charities has been appointed guardian over David. The person there who is making decisions about David’s life is Brittany Dannehy whose phone number is 507-454-2270 ext. 241 and e-mail address is bdannehy@ccsomn.org. Mike Hanratty, is the Program Director of Catholic Charities’ euphemistically named Adult Advocacy Program and his phone number is 507-454-2270 and e-mail address is mhanratty@ccsomn.org.
David says he has not been given the electroshock petition, even though it is almost certainly legally required that he be given it. We can’t know for sure, but the Minnesota statute about the Guardian’s Power (see § (c)(4)(ii)) says it is the Guardian who is to file a petition for electroshock, so it seems good to call and e-mail Ms. Dannehy and Mr. Hanratty demanding that they withdraw the petition for electroshocking David against his will. Information on Electroshock is available here that might be useful in crafting e-mails or for phone calls. What they are planning on doing to David is truly barbarous and the United Nations has determined it can constitute torture (see ¶ 14) so it is right to be angry, but still please be courteous and respectful. If Catholic Charities did not file the Forced Electroshock Petition they can deny it and if so, should be asked who did. :Please let us know.
You can leave comments below about steps you have taken and things you have learned and check back for updates.
I am one of the people that tried to attend the zoom court hearing. I put my name as Martha and my last name as David Russell. I waited for hours. I was told I had been made an observer by the host, but I never got to observe anything. What is the plan now? When do they plan to proceed with this torture?
I am so tired of tyrannical psychiatry!!! It must stop!!! They threatened to do ECT on my 27-year-old son. One day I received a phone call from the psycho doctor and he said, “Tomorrow I’m going to court. I need a guardian advocate to sign for ECT. I would like that to be you, but if you are going to go against me and all the physicians at this hospital, I will have to replace you”. I am not a legal guardian for my son but they make me his medical proxy or guardian i guess, whenever he has been in the hospital. The term guardian for them means “YES MAN”!!! I am allowed to make my son’s medical decisions as long as I agree with them. How is this America?? Since my son has been in the evil system, I’ve learned that we are no longer the “land of the free”. Not as long as they are allowed to torture people behind closed doors like this. I am still praying this be reversed for David! Somehow I got my son out of that hospital without ECT, but not before he was under iv drip anesthesia precedex in ICU for two weeks straight- never allowed to even get out of the bed- and more drugs and more mess. I have more stories of injustice.
Freedom in this country is dead in many ways. This is only one of the more serious ways. The Libertarian Party platform condemns involuntary psychiatry. Please see LP dot org.
I attempted to attend David Russell’s hearing today. I logged in at 8:05 am pacific (10:05 am central) and was finally let into the virtual courtroom at 11:47 am pacific (1:47 pm central). I didn’t see David Russell or his attorney so I figured that I was too late. Then, I read today’s Shield alert saying that the judge ordered David to undergo shock today. Somber news. Time to regroup for David.
We deserve rights. Wish I had more energy to help more in the fight. All I have left is prayer. May God’s grace fill the hearts of those who do not yet understand this struggle for our freedom to choose for our bodies & minds
I wrote to the Catholic Charities contacts and said that they must remember that every person is made in the image of God and has God-given rights. I asked them to please respect David’s right to say no. As a Christian I am appalled by what is being done here. That’s all I said to them. I might as well add here that so often I hear of court-appointed attorneys not doing diddly squat for the clients. This court was not a level paying field and I’m being charitable. It was actually a kangaroo court. Reminds me of something out of the old USSR. David and others who are in this position need to be able to get their own attorneys, pro bono if possible. I just feel that if not for fortune go I.
I am late in my response. I just had to fight to stop ECT for my son in 2022. I’ve been up against it seems the mafia at times for him for the past 10 years. I’m sitting here waiting to be let in as an observer to the zoom court hearing for David Russell. I called his guardian at Catholic Charities while I was driving this morning and just spoke from the heart as a mother who has had to face the system to protect her son from such harm. I asked the guardian to oppose ECT for David. I also requested that he allow Jim Gottstein Esq to view the petition. I mentioned that electricians and anyone who works with electricity are specifically trained to avoid electrocution because it is harmful. I also mentioned that if anyone arrives at a hospital having seizures, the first thing doctors do is try to stop the seizures because they are harmful! This is inhumane. I asked if he would submit his dog or family member to this ECT. I thought that Catholics regarded life. ECT harms life. I described how I was intimidated, gaslit, and more because I refused to let them electrocute my son’s brain. I also mentioned that I have recently received a phone call from an attorney’s office because another patient who was at the same hospital as my son died because they zapped his brain to death. They are suing now. I mentioned that this only traumatizes already traumatized people and that this is not therapy or treatment! I called upon his conscience and compassion. I did the best I could. I have much on my plate right now with my son in the ungodly system and now they want to drug my elderly mother. I am caretaker to both while tapering off medications I’ve been prescribed for the past 27 years. Praying for David. God and his angels are present in this court room right now. I know God has helped my son and he will help David today and from now on. We do what we can and God does what He does best. If he can turn the heart of a king- he can turn the hearts of everyone involved, or the right person who will reverse this harmful act.
Thanks Martha for supporting David when you have so much on your plate trying to protect your son and mother.
I hope for the best for you, your son and your mother. The system has hurt all of you. Yes God can turn the heart and mind of a king. Where I attend church we just had a long series on the life of David. Now we are studying Solomon, who took a great fall, but God brought him back. I was really hoping for David Russell. We all gotta pray.
If Dr. Morgan let’s our friend David Russell get SHOCKED then I will make sure that the world knows what’s happening at Mayo clinic St. Mary’s? Really? Maybe I should join the satanic
666 group these guys are in because it sure as HEAVEN goes against GOD! GOD specifically made people the way they are for his purpose.. NOT for the Dr.s, guardians, teachers, coaches or anyone else’s purpose. Don’t try to play ….I guarantee you that God opposes abuse and torture. God sees ALL.
It’s not just or right it’s for your Justus.
ANY kind of unwanted or forced touching , restraining, mocking is abuse.
Dr. Don’t pursue this ( please wake up DON’T DO IT)
Dr. Morgan!
Whatever happened to talking to a patient ( not for just a minute or 5)? How would you feel Dr.? Shock is never the answer. NOTHING JUSTIFIES IT. Any Dr. that doesn’t care is off my books.
God help you x 2!!!!!!
Honor thy patients wishes..not your pockets.
From the days when Benjamin Rush normalized his sadistic medical experimentation on unwilling captives until today, the psychiatric profession’s American legacy of flippantly inflicting harmful experimentation on unwilling captives continues. Dubious labeling and even more dubious “studies” are routinely rolled out that attempt to justify this abhorrent behavior.
While I marvel at the intrepidness of individuals who manage to turn macabre obsessions into lucrative careers, isn’t it time Psych grew up? Isn’t it time Psych divested itself of its obsession with abuse? Isn’t it time Psych looked at its historical and modern failings, its legacy of grandiose claims, crackpot theories, harm infliction, harm denial, overmedication, bigoted judgements, proliferation of medical misinformation. etc., etc., etc. and just stopped?
Yet another instance of a determination to march in the footsteps of the likes of Benjamin Rush has been brought into the sunlight by Mindfreedom, Intl. Acting on a plea for help from one of Mayo’s unfortunate captives, Mindfreedom has thankfully attempted to intervene and try to stop the psychopathic obstruction of David Russel’s rights to oppose Mayo’s nebulous “treatment” plans. That abuse is as ubiquitous as it is profitable in the psych industry is directly related to unchecked malevolent behavior like this that should have been banned decades ago.
No, I don’t believe – and never will – that ECT is harmless. I will never believe Psych is anything but harmful. I will never stop advocating against exactly the kind of behavior the Mayo Clinic is engaging in with Mr Russel. As a former Mayo patient myself, I’m well aware of the huge gap between the Mayo results and the Mayo hype. I urge you to separate the hype from the facts and rescind the forced electroshock order.
“The quality of most SECT–ECT studies is so poor that the meta-analyses were wrong to conclude anything about efficacy, either during or beyond the treatment period. There is no evidence that ECT is effective for its target demographic—older women, or its target diagnostic group—severely depressed people, or for suicidal people, people who have unsuccessfully tried other treatments first, involuntary patients, or children and adolescents. Given the high risk of permanent memory loss and the small mortality risk, this longstanding failure to determine whether or not ECT works means that its use should be immediately suspended until a series of well designed, randomized, placebo-controlled studies have investigated whether there really are any significant benefits against which the proven significant risks can be weighed”
Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression: A Review of the Quality of ECT versus Sham ECT Trials and Meta-Analyses | Springer Publishing
Michael Hessler
Just came across this story: “Whoopi Goldberg’s mom forgot her children after undergoing electroshock therapy”
It goes on to say:
“Whoopi Goldberg’s mom was hospitalized for two years during the “View” co-host’s childhood — and lost memories after undergoing electroshock therapy.
Emma Harris didn’t tell Goldberg that she forgot who her children were at the time, waiting 40 years to share the “secret” with her daughter.
“She said, ‘I didn’t know who you were when I got out of the hospital,’” Goldberg, 68, writes in her forthcoming memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me,” per an excerpt obtained by People Thursday.
At the time, the EGOT winner replied, “I’m sorry, what? I’m sorry, what?”
Harris then explained, “Yeah, I had no idea who you were. I just knew I never wanted to go back to that hospital. So I had to do everything I could.
“If they said the sky was green, and I could see it wasn’t green, and it was blue, I’d say, “Yes, the sky is green.” ‘Cause I never wanted it again,’” she continued.
Goldberg opened up more about the experience on “The View” Wednesday, saying her grandfather and father “OK’d that [her] mother get the shock treatment for two years” because “there was a time in this country when … any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you.”
Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin expressed their “shock” that such treatment was used in Goldberg’s lifetime.”
Sirs,
I am writing to you today regarding the hearing on Monday for the forced ECT’s of David Russell. It is obvious David vehemently opposes ECT or there would be no need to go to court. David is terrified of the debilitating impact electrical currents surging through his brain will have on his memory, his cognitive abilities, and his ability to pursue his white collar career once he is set free. David has a right to be concerned. ECT is not without side effects and risk of death. My own grandfather died of a cerebral hemorrhage during an ECT that was administered to him against his will. His death was quite traumatic for my mother, her siblings and my grandmother. My mother’s family never recovered from the trauma and I still have residual trauma from it. I, myself, had forced ECT that I managed to stop before the full 12 sessions. I was losing precious memories of my children at the ages of 4 and 6 and found this to be horrifying. I still grieve the loss of those memories. Instead of my grief dissipating over the years my grief has only grown. My children are now adults and living their own lives. Now the memories of their childhood are much more important to me than ever before. I will never be able to tell my grandchildren what their mom and dad were like at the age of 4 and 6. How is this fair to the next generation? Trauma is inner generational and this type of trauma needs to stop. David is a bright man. It is obvious or he would never have been able to graduate from college and pursue a career in Software Engineering. Do doctors have the right to damage a man’s brain in pursuit of some pseudoscientific cure? Is it playing God to change the course of a person’s entire life by damaging his brain? Psychiatrists need to have the humility to admit that there is no proof mental illness exists. There are no blood tests or X Rays. You look at behavior and make a subjective diagnosis. I am not denying people struggle but to damage a person’s brain and body through electricity and drugs is not a compassionate response to people’s struggles. The chemical imbalance theory of mental illness has been disproven. It has been called a noble lie by many in your profession. In 2018 The United Nations called for all members states to ban all forced ECT’s and to reframe and recognize such ECT practices as constituting torture. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8710293/#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20has%20called,degrading%20treatment%20(UN%202018) It appears that even the UN agrees that doctors should first, do no harm. Mr Hanratty, as a Catholic, I do know Pope Francis would not approve of a Catholic pasrticipating in any way in an action that UN constitutes as torture. Many people who have experienced forced ECT find it be dehumanizing and truamatic. As an incest and rape survivor I find forced ECT’s to be far more horrifying and far worse than rape. As David’s guardian I expect you to protect David. Isn’t that what God calls us all to do — to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. I beg of you to please leave David Russell brain’s alone. Please cancel his hearing on Monday. Ideally, David needs his freedom to nourish his full potential as a child of God but for now I am asking you to please not damage David;s brain through forced ECT’s. Nobody should ever have the right to harm another person’s brain unnecessarily and against the will of the person being harmed. As the UN says, this constitutes torture.
Andrea Barnes
From: Jacek_Jack Haciak
Sent: Friday, May 3, 2024 10:28 AM
To: mhanratty@ccsomn.org; Morgan.Robert@mayo.edu
Subject: Please rethink your justification for forcibly using ECT with Mr. David Russell
Good morning,
I am a retired Licensed Psychologist in Oregon who has dealt with the statutory, clinical, and ethical issues of competency and autonomy in mental health. I have provided testing, assessment, and expert input for judicial consideration in cases dealing with civil commitment, guardianship, and conservatorship. Please halt the ECT trial for Mr. David Russell.
1. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been modified over the years for safety, but still is found to have substantial cost/benefit risks:
A second independent audit of electroconvulsive therapy in England, 2019: Usage, demographics, consent, and adherence to guidelines and legislation https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/papt.12335
“Given the high risk of permanent memory loss and the small mortality risk, this longstanding failure to determine whether or not ECT works means that its use should be immediately suspended until a series of well designed, randomized, placebo-controlled studies have investigated whether there really are any significant benefits against which the proven significant risks can be weighed. (Read et al., 2019).”
2. Despite legal requirements being met for proceeding with forced ECT, the moral imperative for preserving autonomy does not go away. Autonomy is not a one-and-done ethical consideration no longer requiring attention once a judicial order has been issued. As we know in many instances, legal technicalities do not line up with clinical and ethical responsibilities in mental health. For example, in civil commitment law whenever a person demonstrably regains their ability to function safely, any past determinations abridging their autonomy rights then become null and void, and the commitment order is to be dropped. But this requirement is rarely implemented in clinical practice.
3. From available data, Mr. David Russell has recently demonstrated cognitive and adaptive functioning within normal limits to meet competency standards and make his own decisions, and he is opposing the use of ECT and able to clearly assert that. To proceed responsibly and ethically, there needs to be current evidence of incompetency shown to continue overriding Mr. Russell’s wishes and justify the forcible use of the high risk ECT treatment. To now point to a past set of circumstances when Mr. Russell possibly did not meet competency requirements, particularly given the gravity of the procedure being recommended against Mr. Russell’s will, the decision to proceed can no longer be considered to have valid, responsible, or moral justification either clinically or ethically without fresh evidence. No such evidence has been produced to my knowledge, and those in positions of responsibility are now obfuscating attempts by neutral observers to gain clarification. In the face of Mr. Russell’s current functioning, and how responsible parties are refusing to provide helpful information to prevent error, Mr. Russell may now be facing another instance of iatrogenic harm both emotionally traumatic and physically damaging.
Please look at the full array of responsibilities needing attention instead of just the technical legal order. Please do not proceed with Mr. Russell’s ECT unless he would consent/assent to its use.
Thank you.
Jacek (Jack) Haciak, PsyD, Director
DynamicChanges LLC
Salem, Oregon