Friday, July 8, 2011

Canton's Judge Rotenberg critics say end to shock therapy in sight

By Nancy Reardon Stewart

Canton — After more than a decade of watching legislation die without action, critics of the Judge Rotenberg Center’s controversial shock therapy program say they are closer than ever to ending it.

 
That’s because Gov. Deval Patrick has plucked the issue out of the Legislature’s hands and is pursuing regulations through the state Department of Developmental Services.
 
His administration has filed regulations – which don’t need legislative approval – that would ban the shocks for all future students at the Canton school and require annual assessments of whether those already receiving them under court order should continue.
 
Sen. Brian Joyce, D-Milton, called Patrick’s involvement an “extraordinarily positive step.”
 
Joyce unsuccessfully tried to legislate similar regulations this year as a budget amendment and last year as a bill, and he has pushed full or partial bans of the shock therapy for more than a decade. Although some bills passed either the House or Senate, they all fizzled in the end.
 
“The fact that the Patrick administration has proctored regulations that defend the defenseless is worth the highest praise,” Joyce said. “So far in the Legislature, we have failed to do so.”
 
When House and Senate budget negotiators tossed out Joyce’s amendment, Patrick officials quietly filed the regulations two weeks ago.
 
“This is a logical step now,” said Matthew Engel, a lawyer with the Massachusetts Disability Law Center. “It’s obviously been a very divisive issue in the Legislature.”
 
But while shock therapy opponents see new momentum behind the issue, the school’s attorney says the state’s actions are way out of bounds.
 
Michael Flammia of Eckert Seamons Cherin & Mellott, LLC in Boston, sent a letter to the state Wednesday requesting that the issue go to mediation.
 
Right now, a probate judge must approve the use of the school’s shock therapy on any student.
 
Flammia cited a court consent decree signed by the state and the Judge Rotenberg Center that says once a probate judge signs off on a student, the school must be allowed to administer the treatment. Flammia said he will also argue that the consent decree makes it clear the therapy can be used with new students.
 
Flammia said he was “surprised” by the state’s move because the proposed regulations are such a “clear violation” of the court decree.
 
Anything not resolved in mediation will go to court.
 
A spokeswoman for developmental services commissioner Elin Howe said she couldn’t comment on Flammia’s argument or letter because it has not been received.
 
Engel, however, said he expected the challenge but doesn’t believe it will succeed.
 
“That consent decree is now, oh gosh, 26 years old,” he said. “A lot has changed in what we know about positive practices even with people with severe disabilities. The state has some obligation to promulgate regulations that follow evidence-based practices.”
 
Engel, who will be testifying at a July 22 public hearing on the regulations, said he plans to ask the administration to go even further and include a one-year sunset provision to phase out the shock treatment for all students.
 
The Judge Rotenberg Center is the only school in the country that administers these type of shocks on disabled students. It developed its own backpack-style devices – called Graduated Electronic Decelerators – that deliver the shocks for behavior modification.
 
Last summer, a U.N. official said he believed the shocks qualified as torture.
 
Still, the school has passionate backers, including Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Jamaica Plain, who credits the school with saving his nephew’s life.
 
The divisiveness in the Legislature exists for good reason, according to the school’s staunch supporters, especially parents of students who receive treatment there.
 
They describe the shock treatment as a lifesaver that prevents their children from aggressive behavior and dangerous self-mutilation.
 
The regulations are only the most recent controversy for the school. In May its founder, Dr. Matthew Israel, agreed in Norfolk Superior Court to five years of probation and to step down as director. Israel had been indicted by a special grand jury for allegedly misleading a witness and destroying video evidence from an August 2007 incident when a prank call led to two teenage students erroneously receiving more than 100 skin shocks.