Path: nntp.gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!hookup!reptiles.org!torfree!io.org!nobody From: cog...@io.org (Michael McReavy) Newsgroups: sci.psychology Subject: Re: Thomas Szasz Date: 26 Dec 1994 05:23:43 -0500 Organization: Internex Online, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (416 363 3783) Lines: 206 Message-ID: <$Sf$kKqd18AK075yn@io.org> References: <3dg2r3$lmn@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: nudge.io.org In article <3dg2r3$...@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, aa...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Peter Barach) wrote: I heard that Szasz settled an $800,000 lawsuit. Anyone know any more information about this? Here is a copy of the article from Psychiatric News on just that subject, as I received it from LEGAL...@JUVM.STJOHNS.EDU Sender: Topical Evaluation Network Legal List From: DJJA...@AOL.COM Subject: Szasz Szued ;-) This is from Psychiatric News. I am proud that I was the one who put them on to the story : - ) djja...@aol.com SZASZ SETTLES SUIT FOR $650,000 Thomas Szasz, M.D., psychiatrist and longtime critic of involuntary treatment, agreed to pay $650,000 to the widow of a fellow psychiatrist who committed suicide after Szasz suggested that he discontinue taking lithium, according to records of the complaint recently made public. Agreed to this spring, the settlement was not formally filed until August. The terms of the settlement decreed that no voluntary publicity be sought by either side, and attorneys for both sides agreed to respond only after direct inquiries by PSYCHIATRIC NEWS. PSYCHIATRIC NEWS was able to obtain a copy of the complaint and terms of the settlement from the Onondaga County Clerk's office, and Szasz, who at 74 remains a prolific author and lecturer, has written frequently about the proper context for a therapeutic relationship. Szasz, best known as the author of THE MYTH OF MENTAL ILLNESS, has long maintained that mental illness is a misnomer, and there is no firm evidence of underlying, organic causation of behavioral disorders. Rather, according to Szasz, such disorders are manifestations of the free will of individuals who choose to behave in ways deemed unacceptable by the rest of society. Szasz has further argued repeatedly that since there is no evidence of underlying organic causation, it makes no sense to give people powerful drugs such as lithium and that use of such drugs represents not therapy, but pharmacological coercion. "Unlike Nazi psychiatrists, democratic psychiatrists do not literally kill their patients. They kill them metaphorically, by incarcerating, shocking, and drugging them," writes Szasz in his most recent book, CRUEL COMPASSION: PSYCHIATRIC CONTROL OF SOCIETYUS UNWANTED (John Wiley Sons Inc., New York, 1994). (Photo of Szasz with following caption: "Thomas Szasz, M.D., believes that the free market in mental health services has effectively been abolished.") Szasz further argues in the same book that the free market in mental health services has effectively been abolished. "The reason is simple. Market relations imply the renunciation of the use of force. But unless the psychiatrist is willing to run the risk of being sued for malpractice, he can no longer assume this posture. Today, psychiatric practice, both in the office and the hospital, rests on the premise that it is the therapist's duty to protect the patient from killing himself or others, by force if necessary. The result is that the patient, his relatives, and the psychiatrist are enmeshed in a relationship that is, actually or potentially, coercive. Specifically, the therapist coerces the patient he deems to be 'dangerous to himself or others,' by incarcerating him in a mental hospital; reciprocally, the patient who 'threatens' to kill himself or others coerces the therapist, because, if he carries out his threat, his relatives or his victims can sue the psychiatrist for malpractice. The milieu for market relations has thus been destroyed." According to the public record, Michael Klein was a patient at the Benjamin Rush Center from April 12, 1990, through May 9, 1990, under the care of Yasser Zikry, M.D. Zikry was treating Klein for bipolar illness and prescribed lithium. Klein purchased a prescription of lithium shortly after his discharge on May 9, 1990, and commenced taking the medication as prescribed at about that time, the record shows. About two weeks later, on May 24, 1990, Klein sought care from Szasz. He continued to see Szasz through December 9, 1990, visiting him approximately 27 times during this period. Klein's death at age 49 left his wife, Hilde, and two sons, Eric, then age 16, and Daniel, then age 13, without any means of support. The complaint states that early in the course of treatment, "on or about June 14," Klein, "pursuant to the instructions and advice" of Szasz, stopped taking the lithium. But according to Szasz's attorney, Terrence Connors, J.D., of Connors and Villardo, Klein stopped using lithium prior to consulting Szasz. "Extrinsic evidence was produced by the defense to establish that Dr. Klein discontinued the use of lithium on his own initiative before he ever consulted Dr. Szasz," Connors told PSYCHIATRIC NEWS. "The result after that information was discovered and disclosed was a settlement of a disputed claim. And Dr. Szasz did not concede in any way that he committed malpractice." Hilde Klein's attorney, Victor Mazzotti, J.D., of Martin, Harding, and Mazzotti, said that despite the settlement, he and his client believe that "the evidence would have supported the plaintiff's allegations. We felt that the evidence would have shown that Dr. Klein's cessation of lithium therapy was based on Dr. Szasz's advice. We stand by the allegation that the evidence would have shown that he failed to provide psychiatric care in conformity with the customary and accepted standards of medical care prevailing." On December 17, 1990, Klein committed suicide by hanging himself with battery cables. The complaint asserts that "the negligence and medical malpractice of the defendant" consisted of "carelessly and negligently" failing to provide psychiatric care and treatment "in conformity with the customary and accepted sound standards of medical care then and there prevailing." The record further states that Szasz failed to diagnose and treat Klein's condition properly, failed to keep adequate records, and "failed to establish, follow, or provide proper accepted psychiatric practice for the treatment of patients, such as the decedent, which would have resulted in the making of the correct diagnosis and the proper treatment of the decedent's condition." The final settlement stated that Professional Risk Management Services (PRMS) would pay $650,000 to Hilde Klein. As a member of APA, Szasz was eligible for the PRMS insurance coverage available to all APA members. As part of the final settlement, Klein agreed to withdraw the "conscious pain and suffering cause of action" alleged in her initial complaint against Szasz. --R.B.K.