Photo of Brian Henley
Update on 7/27/2021
Here is a recording of a voicemail left by Brian on the phone of Michele Diamond, when Brian learned that his Shield alert was successful and that he would be discharged
MFI has confirmed that Brian was discharged. You can listen to Update on 7/14/21. Great news! The forced shocking of Brian Henley has been suspended! Thank you for writing letters, making phone calls, and sending emails! Your actions made a difference! Michelle will be issuing a statement soon letting you know when we can expect Brian to be discharged.
Update to Alert 7/8/2021 (Previous updates from 7/1/2021, 6/25/2021, and prior have been removed for brevity)
Note: Updates on 7/8/2021 compliments of Michele Diamond, Patient Advocate for US Civil and Human Rights who agreed to serve as the the volunteer Shield campaign manager for Brian Henley.
After the reading Michele’s updates below, MFI recommends taking specific action to stop the shocking, by force, of Brian Henley today. To view recommended actions, scroll down to
“ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TODAY TO STOP THE FORCED SHOCK OF BRIAN HENLEY”
Wondering what to say when taking action? View examples of other people’s letters/emails/complaints by scrolling down to “EXAMPLES OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON BEHALF OF BRIAN HENLEY”
Any questions or comments about this campaign? Post them our SHIELD FEED HERE located at the very bottom of this PAGE You should also post what actions you took on the feed This allows us to archive your actions and the responses you receive.
UPDATES
1) Response and acknowledgment from the Florida Governor’s office received. They have forwarded the information to the 2 appropriate agencies for follow-up. View letter from Inspector General HERE but do not share (Redactions are solely to protect the personal information of Shield member who filed the complaint) and discretion is requested so as not to derail the investigation which may include an unannounced visit.
2) Brian was subjected, by force, to his 10th ECT but said 9th last night on Michele’s voicemail. (According to Michelle the 10th because Friday would have been 12 if there wasn’t a holiday.) His calls have shortened in length since Monday 7/5. No calls to Michele from Monday evening to Wednesday evening when he did leave a message. (I thought due to the hurricane in Florida) but no answer to the hospital phones Monday evening and Tuesday evening.
(He is forgetting things, mixing up his words, he can’t find some words, and has been repeating himself since the ECT treatments began.) But, he still sounds very clear.
3) A passcode was put onto all of Brain’s incoming calls as of Tuesday 6/29 without his awareness. He was informed by me on Wed. 6/30 after probing evening staff for information and his suspicions were true that they were blocking his calls. Shield members: Please remember that this is a violation of patient rights and please include this in your letters/complaints/calls/emails
4) A 3-way conference call took place with Dr. Lim the Administrator that oversees Psych Dept. at UF Health Shands and the Pt. Safety department last week although they could not elaborate on anything whatsoever nor talk about anything regarding Brian. I responded that I did not know why the call took place then and that the call was then unsuccessful and there has been no resolution to the issues of concern. They were both questioned why there was a passcode calling into Brain without his awareness, placed on his communications on Tuesday 6/29 the day after they received the Complaint and Grievance. It was made clear during the call that this is a clear Patient Rights violation by restricting his phone calls. Dr. Lim had no further comments. But the call was still a success and the response was very shocking to receive one at all.
4) Emails and calls to MHA – Mental Health Association have all been ignored after 5 attempts. The Ombudsman refuses to do her job of investigating with the hospital. If someone wants to continue to file complaints through their website this would be helpful because its documented through the website messages. Walton County MHA. (see directions below for contacting this agency)
5) A request for a Social Worker to meet with Brian happened on Monday 7/5 by a message left for Pt. Experience at Shands. I asked if they can talk to Brian regarding his housing situation and asked them to look into a housing subsidy for him. He would only pay 30% of his income towards rent, not his whole check. The government has released billions or trillions of dollars toward housing and rental assistance just last month to states. Brain has been entitled to housing assistance and I am in agreement with Brain that the Assisted Living situation is not a healthy place for him to live and the treatment has not been a success according to Brain.
6) Multiple calls have been placed out to Risk Management as he is the contact person regarding all these matters. I have STRONGLY voiced our opinion and the facts of this harm and injustice, stating that “we” speak to him daily and it’s obvious that the guardian does not care about his health (his guardian had Zero contact with him for the first 3 weeks) She hasn’t heard what we hear daily nor had she been able to observe his deterioration in Brian’s health. It was communicated that all of these concerns will be addressed although no response can really be made. The last conversation happened with the point of contact Friday 7/2.
7) Morgan and Morgan attorney’s (The largest law firm in the world) took Brian’s intake the other day from me and I just gave them his number at the East Wing at the nurses station to speak with him directly. They need to speak with him directly now. I’m sure this is going to ruffle some more feathers. For those who pray, please pray consistently for Brian and that Justice is served, he goes home, gets well and if the legal case can move forward, it will turn out for his benefit and benefit those that come after him.
8) I was just told by Ann Fuller (mother of psychiatric survivor Charles Helmer) that they started Brian on a new drug. I haven’t spoken to him yet but maybe they have finally prescribed him the Gabapentin he has been asking for. Just maybe they are actually giving the medical attention he should have had from day 1. Still no x-ray of his shoulder from the fall before the ER trip.
9) Brain has communicated all along that he has a heart condition which could possibly be deadly for him to be undergoing these procedures with the risk of heart complications as a major side effect.
An update will follow on 7/15 Michele Diamond
ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TODAY
Contact the Doc Who is Shocking Brian Henley by Force:
Dr. Richard Holbert MD
Background of Dr. Holbert HERE
Call him at his first workplace
352-265-4357
Send emails to Dr. Holbert at his university workplace l:
Write to him at one or more of his following personal email addresses
Write formal letters:
Dr. Richard Holbert MD
UF Health Psychiatric Hospital
4101 NW 89th Blvd
Gainesville, FL 32606
Contact CEO of Health Shands, the network of hospitals that is shocking Brian:
Write: Edward Jimenez
Call: Edward Jimenez
(352) 733-1500
Contact the ombudsman
According to Frank Blankenship, the ombudsman in Florida is associated with Mental Health America (the organization that uses a liberty bell as their symbol) Let them know that Brian Henley is being subjected by force to shock, euphemistically known as ‘ECT’ or ‘electro-convulsive therapy’ a ‘treatment’ that is extremely controversial and known to be harmful, causing permanent brain damage
http://www.mhaow.org/programs/ombudsman.html
Brian is also at risk of being remanded to NE Florida State Hospital close to Jacksonville, far away from his support system, according to Frank Blankenship, a friend of Brian. Contact Brian’s social worker to demand other options for Brian, such as those suggested above.
This is the first time you heard about the Shield Alert of Brian Henley?
Brian is young by many people’s standards, at 44, he was living in an assisted living facility near Orlando for years, after an episode in which he tried to harm himself. When he attempted to elope from this unhealthy living environment with the assistance of a friend, he was apprehended and taken by force Shand’s Vista, University of Florida teaching hospital where is he has been subjected to heavy drugging and shock torture AGAINST HIS EXPRESSED CONSENT for the past three weeks. His friend Frank, thinks that they may move him to Florida State Hospital. This is why your actions today are so important!
Please demand that the hospital stop shocking Brian immediately. Please demand that he be released to a non -restrictive environment where he can heal from psychiatric harm, including all forced (court-ordered) drugging which he finds harmful and ineffective. Please demand that he receive the support he needs to live independently in his community including appropriate medical treatment for a heart condition (that may be iatrogenic; related to years of forced psychiatric drugging).
A more detailed history of Brian Henley can be found HERE
Brian activated his Shield protection about ten years ago. You can read the past Shield alert HERE
Please write to the ombudsman below and let them know that Brian Henley is being subjected by force to shock, euphemistically known as ‘ECT’ or ‘electro-convulsive therapy’ a ‘treatment’ that is extremely controversial and known to be harmful, causing permanent brain damage
EXAMPLES OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON BEHALF OF BRIAN HENLEY
Letter by Michele Diamond to Governor click HERE
Letter by Maeghan Graef to CEO of Shands hospital where Brian is being shocked click HERE
Take action today and post YOUR ACTIONS on MFI’s Shield feed Click HERE
Hey! I was just wondering how Brian is doing now and if there’s been any updates. Thanks!
-B
I am not sure. Michele has been keeping in touch with him and I think she posted her email on this blog if you want to check with Michele. Thanks for caring!
I thought I’d post some Optimism tonight.
My Patient Message was this:
Hi Brian!
I hope you’re doing well today. I hope you’ll be able to rest a bit this last weekend you are there. There should be some more down time than during the week. I hope after you’re discharged that you can start on a new and healing journey.
Read Philippians 1:27-30
Live as Citizens of Heaven
And never forget this scripture:
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Blessings to come my friend.
Brian is a believer in God. So some positive scriptures for him to read is always an uplifting thing.
Very nice, supportive letter, Michele! Do you think it would be helpful for us to also send Brian letters of support and encouragement at this time? If so, what is the address? (It was probably in your previous updates, but I missed it)
Russell,
I will ask him if it’s ok to send letters to the facility. Yes, I think it’s a great gesture and can be very warming for him to receive encouragement.
Thank you.
Hello All,
I think this piece can be important if you are willing to send Brian a message. I think for 1, this is something that will lift his spirits but #2, no messages should be held to encourage a patient and wish him well. This can also be something that the DOH can investigate. Why were his in-house messages prevented from reaching him.
I sent Brian a message through the “Send a Patient a message” feature. (7/12/2021 9am EST) Let him know you’re thinking about him and please give him words of hope and encouragement. I’m sure it did not reach him because of his POA told the hospital no correspondences to Brian.
If you do decide to send him a message, please include this in the empty space provided to make sure he gets his messages. “ This goes to the East wing of the Psychiatric Hospital” to make sure its routed to the unit he is on.
https://ufhealth.org/send-patient-message
Today I left a message with Dawn Sherman, a Patient Advocate at Shands Health informing her of my concern about the human rights violation being inflicted upon Brian Henley. I also spoke with Peggy, administrative assistant to Edward Jimenez, CEO of the hospital, registering my concern. And I left a message for the Mental Health America ombudsman in Tampa Bay expressing my concern. I’m glad to hear that Brian will be leaving the hospital within a couple of days.
Good work all.
These are great steps you took to Vice our concerns for Brian.
Thank you.
Michele
Al,
These are great steps you took to voice our concerns for Brian.
Thank you.
Michele
Al,
What was the Administrative Assistant’s response to you?
My update to all involved:
Hello All,
I received amazing news from a voicemail Brian left this afternoon at 5:15pm EST.
He stated that he had a visit from Disabilty Rights today at the hospital and that he should be going home this Wednesday 7/14 back to the Assisted Living which is thrilling news because we all feared he’d be held to a State Hospital and never be allowed to see daylight or breathe in fresh air again.
I am a firm believer in God and so is Brian. HE makes ways when we see none. By God’s Amazing Grace, Brian will be a free man in just 2 more days.
It’s been an honor to come alongside Brian and do everything in my power on the other side of a locked unit and I don’t regret one action I took to help this innocent victim of Psychiatry.
Brian Henley is an amazing young man. He is tender-hearted, “very” articulate, very smart, and holds a whole lot of knowledge and has an impressive amount of statistics on Psychiatry and the Baker Act in Florida. We are all very sorry he had to undergo the amounts of trauma he did but we are all very excited to see and hear that he’s a free man soon!
I will send a statement out after his discharge.
Thank you all for your recognition throughout this. It kept me going every time I wanted to give up.
Michele
Michele,
I’ve been following Brian’s story. Met him in the psychiatric hospital and looked him up when I got discharged. From what I observed, he loves the outdoors and homeopathic treatment so I’m relieved to hear that he is going to an assisted living facility. Thank you for all of your help in this case and I will be checking back regularly for new updates.
-B
B,
This is great to hear that you will be following Brian’s progress.
Thank you!
Michele
That’s great!
From a previously involuntarily committed person
I sent this email to all of the emails given for Dr. Holbert. 3 of them bounced back as undeliverable. But this is what I sent Monday evening 7/12/21:
Dr. Holbert,
As a fellow forcibly medicated patient, I am pleading with you to immediately STOP the forced shock treatments of your patient, Brian Henley.
I consider myself a SURVIVOR of psychiatry, and was forcibly medicated for a period of 18 months. Although I was not shocked, the drug treatment I received turned me into a voiceless, apathetic zombie. Now, almost 2 years after my forced drugging has been stopped, I am starting to put my life back together and the misdiagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia will hopefully be a mere blip in my past at some point. However, being forced to take medications for a condition I did not have, then being rapid tapered from some of them, was traumatic to say the least. Unfortunately I’m still dealing with tapering a benzodiazepine, but I’ve finally found a psychiatrist who is not forcing me to rapid taper. Every time I was made to do so in the past, I suffered paranoia and psychosis. Which led to repeated hospital admissions, and further trauma.
Brian Henley deserves the right to refuse shock treatment. In my opinion, it’s a barbaric procedure, and I have not found any proof that it benefits anyone. Not allowing a patient to refuse a treatment is a HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.
I realize that electroshock seems to be your life’s work. I’m sure you can come up with some sort of research that might show some small benefits to a limited number of patients. But this is a moot point anyway. My objective is to get Brian a counselor, and a social worker who can help monitor Brian’s progress (or deterioration) and I have heard that his social worker has never met him, although he has been there 3 weeks. This is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.
Brian needs someone to advocate for him, within the hospital. From what I have learned, some of his calls are being rejected by the staff, which is a clear violation of Brian’s rights. This must stop.
Please don’t just continue unwanted treatment on Brian Henley. It is my life’s work now, to try to stop doctors from having the power to make patients accept unwanted treatments. Having been in his shoes myself, I can attest to the trauma that such matters cause on a person, in a place they don’t want to be, undergoing treatment they don’t agree with. It makes one feel powerless and depressed, and resentful of the perpetrators of such unwanted treatments.
These types of emotions can cause further harm to the patient and their vulnerable brain and CNS. You can’t understand it unless you have been in the same, or similar situation. I have been in that situation, and I fear for Brian’s ongoing mental health after receiving unwanted shock treatments.
Thanks for reading this, and I will be contacting human rights organizations on Brian’s behalf as well. What you’re doing to him will likely cause more emotional damage than you realize.
Kristin Pettibone Bohna
Amazing Kristin. I’ve been right along side you on all of your statements.
Thank you for your efforts!
It’s become part of my life’s work to help people avoid forced psychiatric treatment. I was happy to find this organization, and bravo for the work that they are doing!
I called Morgan & Morgan Law Offices today. I told them that I would like to testify about abuses at Shands which I experienced and witnessed if it would support Brian Hensley. The person, with whom I spoke, said he would need Brian’s date of birth or contact phone number to locate his file. I do not have that information and was unable to follow thru on leaving my information with them. I am unable to find the first alert for Brian. The link from the alert update does not go there.
I can be reached 352-509-6711
The phone number for Morgan and Morgan is 888-670-2630
Thanks Shiela! I appreciate your courage coming forth as a witness. In addition to a private settlement for abuse at Shands, maybe Brian could be a part of that class action lawsuit involving shock?
Sheila, i will make sure Michele sees this. I think she has brian’s birthday and could help you with that. Could you PM Michele or me? My email is office@mindfreedom.org but I don’t feel comfortable publishing Michele’s contact information publicly but I can forward anything you send my way. I need to follow up with her to make sure that Brian got discharged today, as promised by Shands. If not, we may need to start applying pressure again.
Sarah,
Were you able to give Shelia the information she needed? His contact # is the hospital #. I have this to Morgan and Morgan but they couldn’t speak with him because of the passcode.
Shelia,
You were just discharged from Shands yourself?
Michele
Shiela
This is the number. You ask for the East Wing but they won’t let you through. They have a passcode block on him
(352) 265-5497
This is a good email. We did suspend letter sending because Brian said he’s expected to get out on Wednesday.
rholbert@ufl.edu
Wonderful!
Megan Short wrote the following letter to Brian’s shock doc, cc’ing every email we could find on record for Dr. Holbert, as well as the state legislators serving the districts where the doc lives. Thanks Megan!
Dear Richard,
I write to express my deep concern about the treatment of Brian Henley at UF Health Shands Hospital. As you know, Brian does not consent to ECT or the other current psychiatric drugs you have prescribed.
Brian’s current non-consensual treatment regimen is detrimental to his mental health and his pre-existing heart condition, and places him under significant levels of stress. As his doctor it is your job to do no harm. Right now you are doing him harm.
As his treating doctor, you will receive other letters objecting to Brian’s forced treatment. There is a spotlight on this case.
I wish to draw your attention to the parallels between what you are doing to Brian and the current social movements regarding consent.
#MeToo and Black Lives Matter should be right at the front of your mind when you are making decisions regarding life changing assault on the minds and bodies of your patients.
As an expert, you know that psychiatry is unique in the medical field with its ability to perform mind-altering treatments without consent. Around the world, this is changing. You are not making decisions in a bubble.
You may not be aware that psychiatric treatment without consent has been classified as torture by the UN (http://psychrights.org/countries/UN/130304SpecialTortureRapporteurStatement.pdf). Giving Brian brain-disabling medications and ECT without his consent is torture.
You have many other less restrictive options available to you. Why give Brian ECT when you do not have to? Why prescribe high concentrations of drugs when he does not consent? Why stand on the wrong side of history?
I hope that you change your mind and do the right thing by Brian. He does not consent to ECT. He does not deserve to have his dignity and the integrity of his brain damaged by you or anyone else. No one does.
Yours sincerely,
Megan
This letter is from Joelle Richardson from Calgary Canada. Thanks Joelle!
To: rholb@aol.com, richard.holbert@yahoo.com, rholb@netscape.net
Bcc: office@mindfreedom.org
Robert Holbert,
I am writing to strongly urge you to not perform the forced electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) of Mr. Brian Henley. Not only is it a horrendous act, it is absolutely against the law and a violation of human rights.
Consider your Hippocratic oath. Consider the damage you’re doing to an innocent man whose life you’re destroying.
Electroconvulsive therapy “damages memory and cognition, and brings no lasting relief,” according to a recent article in Aeon by Dr. John Read, available at this link (https://aeon.co/…/why-is-electroshock-therapy-still-a…). In addition, autopsies have repeatedly shown that it causes brain damage. In fact, “[t]he idea that ECT causes brain damage was so obvious to the early proponents that they incorporated it into an explanation for how ECT worked,” Read writes. The article notes that other studies have shown that “there’s no evidence of any benefits beyond the end of the course of treatments, and no evidence that ECT prevents suicide…Furthermore, some people kill themselves because of the damage done to them by ECT.”
ECT is rightly controversial. Its risks—permanent amnesia and permanent deficits in cognitive abilities—have been confirmed by prominent proponents of ECT, including Dr. Harold Sackeim, whose 2007 study in Neuropsychopharmacology ends on this chilling note: “[T]his study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings.” For the study, https://www.nature.com/articles/1301180.
In 2011, when the Food and Drug Administration made one of its periodic attempts to reclassify ECT equipment from Class III (the highest risk category) to Class II—which it subsequently accomplished—psychiatrist Daniel B. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., was one of those who testified to prevent the reclassification. His testimony is available at this link: https://tinyurl.com/hjtbstfr. “In my expert opinion and that of a recent review of the ECT literature by Drs. John Read and Richard Bentall,” Dr. Fisher said, “the short-term gains of ECT do not justify its associated brain damage, memory loss, cognitive deficits and increased risk of death.” (The literature review is available at this link: https://tinyurl.com/r7myzhdt.)
In addition to the above data, I urge you to consider, as a human being, what a terrible and tortuous experience it would be, to be shocked with electricity, against your will. Imagine if Mr. Henley was a member of your own family, your own brother or son perhaps, and he was begging to not be put through such a horrifying and utterly damaging and unnecessary torment. Would you be able to look yourself in the mirror if you knew you had the power to prevent this from happening, and you chose not to act? Please, from one human being to another, I ask you to do all you can to prevent the involuntary torture of this innocent man.
-Joelle Richardson, RSW
Calgary, AB Canada
Here is a letter posted by MFI supporter Russell Stence:
Dr. Holbert,
It was recently brought to my attention that you are the doctor either administering or overseeing the involuntary ECT being done to Brian Henley. I hope with all my heart and soul you will take a look at this article from a very seasoned colleague who has practiced in Australia with a wide variety of individuals, many of whom have been in the throes of some rather severe psychiatric difficulties.
https://www.madinamerica.com/2017/06/no-psychiatrist-needs-use-ect/
I cannot blame you for the training you’ve had as a psychiatrist, nor for the mentors who no doubt overplayed the benefits and underplayed the risks of this risky procedure that you are forcing on Mr. Henley. I believe in your heart of hearts you know that if it were anywhere near as benign as it is portrayed by its proponents, it would be a first-line treatment for things such as depression, psychosis and catatonia, rather than a desperate last resort– one which often follows a hit-or-miss process of tinkering with a person’s neurotransmitters to the point that their neurology is horribly askew.
If you are honest, you know that no one really knows what ECT does. And if you keep yourself informed, you will know that the ECT machine manufacturers have finally had to acknowledge that it has been proven to cause brain damage.
Please carefully consider these words of this very experienced psychiatrist, Dr. McLaren, who provides much more detail than I have contradicting the need for ECT.
I don’t doubt that you may have seen benefits in remission of certain symptoms in patients that you’ve used it on before, or read about or heard other professionals speak of. Fine. If they were adequately apprised of the risks, and in the risk-benefit analysis agreed to go forward with it, and had what they feel are positive results, good for them!
But this doesn’t give you or anyone the right to force someone who doesn’t want it to play Russian roulette with their brain! If the shoe were on the other foot, how would you like it, either for yourself or a loved one?
Have you taken the time to look at the other side of this issue? To hear testimony of people who have been harmed by it, or maybe stories of their loved ones because they’re not even able to tell their story? There are many, many such stories from real people who have suffered real damage from ECT.
My oldest daughter, in the throes of psychotic mania which was exacerbated by the drugs being forced upon her, was subjected by the doctors in charge of tremendous pressure to consent to ECT as “the only thing left to break her refractory mania”. This happened twice, in two different hospitalizations. Thankfully, she did not consent on either occasion. In one instance, her mania resolved when they removed the offending medication. In the other, it just seemed to run its course and “burn out”. Her rationality and stability was fully restored, and remains so as I write this.
In my younger daughter’s case, on whom ECT was dubiously, dishonestly forced (as you’re doing with Brian), there has not yet been a “happy ending”. It was horribly traumatic and damaging.
I appeal to you to observe the time-honored medical ethic:
FIRST DO NO HARM!
Respectfully,
Russell Stence
NYS Certified School Psychologist