64 Comments

1. Listen to this podcast interview by Karen Koch who talks about the disappearace of David Italiano and why it is so urgent HERE

2. Thank you Philip for this wonderful letter! I believe that taking risks is important for personal development. Many who have been exposed to institutional living develop a ‘learned helplessness’ that can take a considerable amount of time to recover from. I believe in the right of individuals to make mistakes and I believe this right should be extended to all individuals, including those perceived to have a disability. My daughter is a psychiatric survivor; Every time she takes a risk, I feel conflict between the need to protect her from harm and the need for her to develop good judgement. I prefer to err on the side of giving her the space she needs to make her own mistakes, and learn from them. This can be very hard for me but when her risk taking yields, fruit, we all celebrate together. Someone, a peer on many advisory committees, recently explained to me the difference between system-centered care and service -centered care and person-centered care. Although David was not psychiatrically detained to my knowledge, there are many parallels between the mental health care system which uses force and coercion/force and the system of care involving guardianship for those perceived to be disabled. They both use outdated paternalistic decision making models. The INSTITUTION is perceived to be at risk, not the individual.

3. It’s encouraging to see the outpouring of support and advocacy on David’s behalf. I just called and left messages with the following this morning: the Huntingdon County Commissioner’s office, the office of state senator Irvin and WPCN, a public radio station in Huntingdon County.

   • Russel, I think calls are as important, maybe even more important than letters. With phone calls, even if you go to VM, one has the opportunity to speak from the heart! And I know you to have a HUGE heart! Be well, friend and thank you for your diligent efforts!

   • Wow! This is great Russell.
     Thanks a lot!

4. Last week I sent emails to both Senator Toomey and state representative Irvin. Today I sent this email to the five county commissioners.

   Greetings and salutations commissioner,
   I will be brief as I know you are busy. It has been nearly a year since David Italiano was disappeared in Pennsylvania’s broken guardianship system. The guardianship system is a black hole into which many elderly people, psychiatric survivors, and people with disabilities fall into, often with lethal consequences. Please take action today to find and free David Italiano. The Huntingdon County AAA has assumed guardianship of David Italiano against David’s wishes and they will not disclose his whereabouts or confirm his safety. They have not and will not allow him to have contact with his chosen advocate, Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living, in accordance with Pennsylvania’s guardianship statutes and in accordance with David’s civil liberties under the Olmstead Ruling. I am not an expert in these things, but I have been following this poor man’s situation for a few weeks, and I find it truly scary and disturbing. I have yet to hear any explanation from a responsible or official source about what is being or will be done. Can you help and look into this matter, not just for this man’s sake, but for others who might also suffer similar fates? The goal of this email is to find him, confirm his safety, and make sure that he is respected and treated like a human being as opposed to being locked up in a nursing home or wherever he is! It is imperative that we find David and assure his safety. Please act today! I would greatly appreciate any help you can offer to those trying to find this man. Thank you. John Wachter, concerned citizen of PA.

   • Thanks David! I’m no expert either but I think this is important not only for David, but as you point out, for all of us.

   • Excellent letter, John. I like the personal touch you added, which also encourages me to try to do the same in my correspondence with the various people that weçre trying to appeal to here on David’s behalf.

   • Great letter!

5. I also shared the Shield update on David on my own Facebook page this morning.

   • Thanks for sharing on social media!

6. I just sent this email to the Huntingdon County Commisions:

   To: Heather Fellman, Mark Sather, Jeff Thomas, Scott Walls, Tracey Rhodes

   It has come to my attention through the joint efforts of two strong and respected advocacy groups, Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living and Mind Freedom International, that a citizen from your county, David Italiano, has undergone egregious violations of his basic human and civil rights. The Huntingdon County AAA has assumed guardianship of David against his wishes and they will not disclose his whereabouts or confirm his safety or allow him to have contact with his chosen advocate, Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living, in accordance with Pennsylvania’s guardianship statutes and in accordance with David’s civil liberties under the Olmstead Ruling.

   This is something that hopefully none of us would tolerate for ourselves or our loved ones.

   I implore you to look into this matter immediately. Help us find David and restore his rights!

   Thank you,

   Russell Stence
   (585) 694-5565

   I also called their office, 814-643-3091, and left a voicemail with essentially the same message. I plan to call back Monday morning so I can speak with someone in that office.

   • Great email Russel! Thanks for helping David!

7. I sent a letter to Rep Irvin from Huntingdon County in hopes Action is taken to find him & he lived Independently again.

8. PA media list
   https://www.easymedialist.com/usa/state/pennsylvania.html

   • Ria, Thank you!! Could you explain a little bit about this list, how you got it and any recommendations you may have for using it based on your experience?

9. After searching through court documents I found the most recent court docket dated 11/1/2021. I hope and pray this leads to his finding.

   • Good work Michele! Thanks!1

10. I shared MindFreedom International’ SHIELD ALERT (about David Italiano) on my Facebook page and also on my public Facebook page.

    • Thanks Vladimir

    • Vladimir, I went to your FB page to see if I could friend you and share your email (I don’t have a lot of followers on my personal page, so I thought I may get more traction by sharing your post) but you appear to have more than two FB pages, one is public and the other is private?

    • I removed the shield alert about David Italiano from both of my Facebook pages on November 9 and instead started (from November 8) to post that shield alert on Philadelphia Inquirer’s Facebook page (because that page definitely has more visitors than my page). Every day I post the shield alert on two different posts on Philadelphia Inquirer’s Facebook page and delete the shield alerts that I posted the previous day (because Philadelphia Inquirer posts many posts, I doubt that anybody reads the posts that are one day old).
      Maybe later I will start posting the shield alert on Facebook pages of various Pennsylvania government officials.
      By the way, for some mysterious reason, on November 8 Facebook hid my comment (about the shield alert) on Philadelphia Inquirer’s Facebook page on one post (but not on the second post, even though my comment was identical on both of those posts).

    • Thanks Vladimir What a great idea to use the FB pages of media outlets! As you say, those pages tend to have a lot of followers. Do the settings on those FB pages allow you to include links?

    • Sarah Smith, yes. After you post the link, you just need to wait for several seconds for the link to become blue and accessible.

11. Sent letters to Rich Irvin and Bob Casey. I’d like to use the form on the Huntingdon County Daily News, but it only allows 150 characters. Anyone come up with a short and sweet version of this for these types of contact forms? I’m too long winded!

    • Pat, Thank you for sending letters to both lawmakers. I am glad you alerted me to the 150 character limit on the Daily News Wow. That is short. Between you and me you are the better editor but here is my first stab “The guardianship system in PA is broken, Huntingdon Co. labeled David Italiano incompetent, ‘disappeared’ him in a nursing home, & may seize his assets! Find and free David Italiano!” That is five characters too long. Anyone?

    • Thanks, Sarah. All I’m able to do is make it longer, not shorter. I’m hopeless!

      I was wondering if we might be able to link to this PDF as a way of not using too many characters but still being able to get the word out in contact forms:

      https://mindfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Press-Release-for-David-Italiano.pdf

      What do you all think?

    • I was wondering the same thing. If you try it on your end, I will do the same!

    • Thanks for getting me started, Sarah. I used the first part of what you suggested and added the link and it worked!

      The guardianship system in PA is broken, Huntingdon Co. labeled David Italiano incompetent, ‘disappeared’ him in a nursing home, & may seize his assets. See https://mindfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Press-Release-for-David-Italiano.pdf

    • Perfect! Thank you for bringing this home. I will make a mental note to include this in this week’s new action! Thank you for making it easier for people to post with that news agency!

12. I am using the sample to write to Sen. Toomey.
    Dawn D.

13. Sent to Toomey. There’s no reason Congress should not take up these issues–what with all the recent publicity garnered from Britney Spears, Elijah McClain, etc.
    LT

    • Thanks Larry!

    • Of course. But, consider how our Congressmen are “funded.” They don’t want to take on anything “controversial,” kind of like Climate Change. They want their constituents to think that there are simple “solutions,” to their problems, (like Mr. Italiano’s disappearance, for example). I had a friend, who I believe is no longer among the living, though I can’t locate her. As far as I know, her last post on FB was in 2018, and she posted everyday. Also a psych survivor. She just “disappeared.” I’ve seen and experienced things, that should make some people alarmed, but apparently, they aren’t.

14. Letter sent! <3

    Dear Senator Toomey,

    I’m writing to request your help on behalf of David Italiano, a disabled man who made the mistake of reporting his wife’s abusive behavior and was consequently stripped of his rights, removed from his home, placed into Pennsylvania’s guardianship system, and cut off from contact with the outside world. Unfortunately, in systems of coercive “care” such as guardianships, such horrors are inevitable and even incentivized; as a survivor of Arizona’s psychiatric system, I can personally attest to the legalized harms committed against people labeled with mental and cognitive disabilities. I’d like to share my perspective with you in hopes that you’ll be moved to locate and free David Italiano, and promote legislative change to restore the human rights of people diagnosed (or perhaps misdiagnosed) with mental disabilities in your state.

    The problematic nature of nonconsensual mental disability services starts with the diagnostic process. Despite decades of searching, science has failed to find a biological marker for any mental illness, which is why NIMH stopped using DSM labels: they lack validity. The medical model of human distress is a theory unsupported by scientific facts, and mental disabilities are therefore diagnosed via interviews rather than any quantitative scientific test. Hence, the primary determinants of whether someone is diagnosed with a mental disability are the interviewer’s biases and conflicts of interest; providers get paid (either directly or via government grant quotas) to force people into the system and keep them there, not to uphold or restore their rights. This inherent conflict of interest is just one of many reasons the system is broken.

    Furthermore, providers are not required to keep honest and accurate records since they are always believed over the patient – although such standards exist, they are not enforceable. Unsurprisingly, members of the psychiatric guild tend to support each other rather than the patient, leading to the perpetuation of labels like “anosognosia” and “lack of insight” for patients who disagree with their diagnosis and/or treatment, despite mounting evidence that misdiagnosis is common and state-sponsored nonconsensual treatment takes an average of 25 years off the patient’s life (on top of the unmeasured suffering they experience under the treatment regime). I’d like to encourage you to seriously question the use of such diagnoses to justify locking up, forcibly drugging or shocking, or otherwise revoking the rights of innocent individuals, such as the rights to live in their own homes and access their own money.

    Perhaps the scariest part of nonconsensual care is the selection bias in staffing. All staff of locked facilities and court-ordered treatment clinics are willing to violate the human rights of others. Many staff enjoy working in an environment where they know they can do whatever they want to patients and the patients will not be believed; staff members can always call patients “delusional” or claim they “did it to themselves.” While some people have suggested psychiatric screening during the hiring process to mitigate these issues, the only true solution is to end the use of coercion and force against disabled people, because the presence of coercion will always attract employees who don’t mind (or even actively enjoy) disenfranchising others.

    David Italiano’s story is a bit like mine: his placement into unwanted disability services was based on an assessment of his capacity that he knew was either incorrect or a based on a temporary state of distress (which I think is quite understandable in a spousal abuse situation!). While trapped in a congregate living facility, Mr. Italiano engaged Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living (RTFCIL) to try to win his rights back and return to his own home. RTFCIL helped Mr. Italiano get reevaluated by a neuropsychiatric expert, who found he was both competent and no longer in need of protection following the death of his wife. However, despite these findings (and arguably in violation of Olmstead vs. LC), a judge in Huntingdon County sentenced Mr. Italiano to permanent guardianship. The guardianship agency (Huntingdon County AAA, which receives government funds) then forbade Mr. Italiano from contacting RTFCIL, instructing nursing home staff to monitor Mr. Italiano’s calls and confiscating his personal cell phone. Finally, Huntingdon County AAA had him secretly moved to another location, and the agencies trying to help him haven’t heard from him since.

    For the sake of Mr. Italiano’s wellbeing, happiness, freedom, and dignity, please consider taking the following actions:
    1. Compel Huntingdon County AAA to disclose the location of David Italiano
    2. Allow David Italiano to communicate freely with whomever he chooses
    3. Force nursing home staff to return Mr. Italiano’s phone
    4. Support legislation requiring agencies to use supported decision making with all their disabled clients, including those under guardianship

    Additionally, for the sake of all of us, please consider taking more actions:
    1. Replace the DSM with the Power Threat Meaning Framework
    2. Ban the administration of neuroleptics and shock without informed consent
    3. Replace locked facilities with respite houses and community living
    4. Defund and revoke the licenses of facilities that violate the Olmstead ruling
    5. Roll back any state laws that enable nonconsensual treatment of persons who fall outside the “threat to self or others” criteria established by the Supreme Court
    6. Replace guardianships with programs that help disabled people hire and retain a care team of their choosing via supported decision making
    7. Reform legislation so it becomes faster and easier to restore patients’ rights than it is to take them away
    8. Establish standards for state-funded care programs that hold such programs accountable for patient satisfaction and outcomes, and institute data collection practices to monitor whether standards are met

    I’m hopeful that with your support, Pennsylvania can become a leader in disability rights and Mr. Italiano can return to his home. If you share my Christian faith, I’d like to encourage you with the words of Jesus: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

    Sincerely,

    Meaghan Graef
    Psychiatric Survivor
    Phoenix, AZ

    • Thank you Maeghan! I am not sure if David Italiano has a mental health diagnosis but your letter is very detailed and thorough!

    • Well stated Meaghan, but in my experience, likely falling on “deaf ears.” There is no “marker,” as you stated for “mental illness,” thank goodness I discovered that as well, or I’d be as dead as well, a door nail. Science has nothing to do with psychiatry, “I say your “mentally ill,” and I’m a doctor see?” Of course there are 3 dead corpses lying in the hallway on stretchers, that speak much louder in my case. Have a great day! Psss… don’t tell anyone, they may think I’m a paranoid schizo… Btw, I tried to report what I had witnessed… no one needs to take you seriously, death is part of this, and they do it everyday.

    • Thanks Meaghan, although I just want to poin that there is no psych diagnosis that I know of.

    • I just read your letter, Meaghan. What an articulate, passionate letter of advocacy! I’m sorry for what you had to endure, but it’s great to see you came through it and are speaking up for someone who is being so oppressed, ironically, by the very systems that are supposed to be there for protection!

    • Meaghan’s wrote a powerful letter. Our voices are important and together we are more powerful than if we remain silenced and in isolation. My hat goes off to anybody who uses their negative experience in the mental health system to teach those in power how urgently change is needed.

15. I also previously sent the same message to Governor Wolf, on his website.

    • Thanks Russell for your help!

16. I posted this to Senator Toomey’s online contact site yesterday:

    Senator Toomey, I would like to bring to your attention the sad plight of one of your most vulnerable constituents, David Italiano. I do not know him personally, but I have information from credible people that I trust that his basic human rights and freedoms are being curtailed and restricted in ways that we would never tolerate for ourselves or our loved ones. He is an elderly man who was declared imcompetent which I have observed up close and personal can be used to deprive a person of basic rights and freedoms like nothing else! I implore you to use your power as a very high-ranking public servant to ensure the following:
    Compel Hungtingdon County AAA to disclose David Italiano’s location.
    That David be allowed to communicate freely with whoever he chooses.
    That nursing home staff be made to return his private phone.
    That the agency where he resides, as well as all such agencies, use supported decision making with all of their vulnerable clients, including those under guardianship.

    Sincerely,

    Russell Stence

    • Great letter Russell!

17. I sent letters to Toomey and Wolf via snail mail and will email out some others.

    In my research, I found some relevant stats about how many people are in conservatorships in the US (1.3 million) and how many people in nursing homes are on neuroleptics (almost 1 in 5), and the connection between neuroleptics and pneumonia (there is a pandemic!). I’ll leave the links here if anyone else is interested. I used them in my correspondence to point out how large the problem is and how dangerous the outcomes can be when people are disappeared into a system this large and this uncaring.

    https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20211018/how-13-million-americans-became-controlled-by-conservatorships

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11/health/nursing-homes-schizophrenia-antipsychotics.html

    https://rxisk.org/medications-compromising-covid-infections/

    • Great research Pat–very relevant and useful. Thanks for volunteering your time!

    • I found it easy to use the templates to send letters to Gov. Tom Wolf, Sen. Bob Casey, and Rep. Rich Irvin even though I am locked up in a psych wardbmyself. I just made some minor changes,like spelling out RTFCIL – Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living. Hope this helps!
      Dawn D.
      MindFreedom International member

    • Thank you Dawn for writing to all three contacts!

18. I just sent customized letters to Toomey and Wolf. I added in some statistics to press the points that, with 1.3. million people under conservatorships, this can happen to anyone and that nursing homes are dangerous places due to not only Covid (which is already mentioned in the original letter), but also due to the use of neuroleptics, which increase the likelihood of developing pneumonia.

    Here are the sources for this information, if anyone else would like to add it.

    https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20211018/how-13-million-americans-became-controlled-by-conservatorships

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11/health/nursing-homes-schizophrenia-antipsychotics.html

    https://rxisk.org/medications-compromising-covid-infections/

19. I send an email to the senator Toomey telling that David’s guardianship should be terminated and he should be able to communicate whoever he wants.

    • Tomas–thanks for your help all the way from Finland!

20. I contacted Governor Wolf!
    Thank you to everyone working for equality and justice for all.

    • Thank David for writing to the Governor!

21. Thank you Audrey for taking the following action for David!

    Submitted complaint to Dept of Justice regarding Deprivation of Rights under color of law, as judge and AAA abused legal authority to arrange collection of Mr. Italiano’s disability benefits.
    TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242

    Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

22. Just got a message from Ptery Light: “Sent an email to the governor Wolf, and to Senator Casey. This is awful!! This is kidnapping.. I sincerely pray these folks get apprehended and shut down! ” Thanks Ptery! You have a heart of gold!

23. Someone asked “Has anyone reported this Pennsylvania judge for conflict of interest? I have seen similar corruption and it is disturbing?” The answer is not yet, but in a future alert, we will ask people to report the conflict. Keep tuned to this channel. If you are already on the Shield alert list you will receive a new action to take every week. If you are not signed up yet to receive Shield alerts, you can do so by emailing office@mindfreedom.org and put ‘put me on Shield list’ in the subject heading

24. This is from Julie: I submitted letters to both wolf and Casey via their websites. Just FYI

25. Governor,
    As a member of MindFreedom.org, I am writing re: David Italiano’s rights being violated. According to
    letter on David, David Italiano’s right to live in the least restrictive setting of his choosing is being
    violated. This right was guaranteed under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) according to the Supreme Court,
    in Olmstead v.s. LC. David was secretly moved to another location on February 20 to prevent him from having
    contact with RTFCIL. The Huntingdon County AAA refuses to communicate with RTFCIL on behalf of David and will
    not reveal his location. The RTFCIL can provide him with assistance in his own home, so that he can live independently.
    L Cohen
    Reply as soon as you can.
    (above was to governor Tom Wolf. https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/#OnlineForm)

    • Thank you for getting involved!

    • I love this. I will write something similar. Thank you for sharing.

    • Thanks Michele as always!

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