The injustice of forensic psychiatry: one case

 For several years a client of mine at Elgin Mental Health Center refused all psychotropic medication.This was a guy who’d been found NGRI on a fairly minor criminal charge. If he’d plead guilty and served his sentence, he certainly would have been out long before now. As it is, he’ll probably serve the maximum sentence he could have received, but in the nuthouse instead of prison, which is worse. 

I’m sure at the time of his criminal proceeding, Jack (not his real name) was terrified of prison and thought being “treated” at a “hospital” would be an easier sentence. He told me today that they have never helped him in any way, they’ve only tormented him, disrespected him, lied to him, and discriminated against him (he believes for being white: I think it’s for not getting better with so-called “medicine”).

Jack’s psychiatrist is Vikramjit Gill, MD, whom I have written both good and bad things about, several times in this blog. Dr. Gill was absolutely certain that one psychiatric drug or another would help Jack and enable him to get out of EMHC sooner. He was so certain that he made a rather unconditional promise: if Jack didn’t like the drugs and wanted to stop taking them, that would be fine.

Well, if Jack’s statement to me today is any indication, he doesn’t see any purpose in taking the drugs. Unless it is that he still believes, despite evidence, that Dr. Gill will get him out of EMHC quickly if he doesn’t refuse. But the drugs may now be having the opposite effect from what Dr. Gill had hoped. Jack is no longer as anxious and withdrawn as he once was. Instead, he’s aggressive.

If I had to predict, I would say, of course Dr. Gill will change the drugs or increase the drugs or add other drugs. He gave up long ago on helping Jack with anything but drugs, and he probably never knew how to do anything else to begin with, or never believed anything else could be done. The only thing Dr. Gill uses communication with other human beings (especially patients) for, is talking them into taking drugs. Dr. Gill’s boss, James Patrick Corcoran, has testified under oath that he doesn’t believe Dr. Gill is particularly competent in forensic psychiatry. Dr. Gill is probably only still employed at EMHC because they can’t get anyone better, so they can’t fire him.

The thing about forensic psychiatry is, it’s not a helping profession. EMHC is a plantation, not a hospital. Dr. Corcoran is a slavemaster, not a doctor, who doesn’t ask or expect overseers like Gill to help anyone, but only to control the owned human beings in such a manner as will not look bad to the taxpayers. The taxpayers think forensic psychiatry is about justice, but it’s the ultimate injustice. Jack is a representative case.