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A former patient at a well-known mental health facility has described receiving electroconvulsive therapy and strong medications as punishment for being “cheeky.”
Leonie McInroe received a confidential settlement from the Crown after nine years of grueling litigation, but now wants the chief physician of Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital to return to New Zealand and be prosecuted.
McIndoe told the Caregiving Abuse Inquiry Commission Thursday that her violent adoptive mother brought her to Lake Alice when she was 12.
He said Dr. Selwyn Leeks diagnosed him with borderline schizophrenia, a diagnosis later questioned by other medical experts.
LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
The Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care.
For 18 months, McInroe endured electroconvulsive therapy and heavy medication.
She said she was given electroconvulsive treatment as punishment for being “cheeky.”
“Dr. Leeks gave me shock treatment at night and I remained conscious until I lost consciousness. There was no anesthesia. There was no muscle relaxant and I remember it vividly. “
McInroe was excited when she told the commission that the alleged treatments were administered as punishment for things like smoking and trying to sneak out and see the children.
“The mischievous behavior … were things like talking, moving or laughing while the staff watched Days of our lives. We were meant not to be visible, not to cause any discomfort. “
Prison rooms were also used as punishment. His own medical notes confirm that the room was used as a threat stating: “I had the nerve to [ask] If I could watch TV … threatened with SR [seclusion room]. “
McInroe was housed in the same wing as the adults, some of whom had been convicted of crimes as serious as murder.
“My impression was that all adults suffered from serious mental illness. I remember a woman called [withheld] who I witnessed eating a used sanitary napkin. “
Battle for compensation
As an adult, McInroe sought compensation and redress for her treatment. She hired Philippa Cunningham, now a District Court judge.
“The process of seeking justice and compensation was, for me, continued and sustained abuse in addition to what I had suffered in Lake Alice at the hands of Dr. Leeks and the hospital administration. This time the abuser was the Crown ”.
McInroe said it took him nine years to fight for compensation as a result of the cruel and illegal treatment administered under the direction of Dr. Leeks.
“I think he was protected by the Crown and his profession. My voice and that of other survivors were ignored. “
She said the Crown intentionally delayed legal action through various legal tactics.
“I felt like the Crown was treating me with the cruel indifference and cruelty that Dr. Leeks had. Only worse. It was worse because I expected equity and justice from the Crown ”.
He said 26 years after originally filing his claim, he was still waiting for Dr. Leeks to face justice.
“I don’t have a closure as long as Dr. Leeks is not held accountable. I want to see him brought before the criminal courts. “
She said Leeks may now be in his 90s, but that shouldn’t go into that.
“Those of us who were subjected to his brutal illegal treatment have suffered it for 50 years, he has been living in freedom. We carry this as our life sentence. Whatever happens, I will always have the stigma, the shame, the trauma … “
During his legal battle with the Crown, his doctor reviewed his medical notes and wrote that he was “appalled at some of the things that happened in my time in Lake Alice, including the administration of potent antipsychotic medications and ECT without good medical reason.” .
Secret mediation at the Northern Club
Leeks was transferred back to New Zealand to participate in a secret mediation, held at the Auckland Northern Club in 1998.
“I was absolutely petrified to be in the same room with Dr. Leeks again,” McInroe said Thursday.
The mediator sat Dr. Leeks directly across from her before the attorneys insisted on a change in the seating plan.
“I was incredibly traumatized by this. I wanted to throw up. “
After mediation, he believed his story was “unbeatable and unsurpassed” and that Crown attorneys would have heard his truth.
“There was no denying the continued intentional and debilitating abuse of children and youth in Lake Alice. I believed that the evidence and facts were so strongly in favor of all the survivors that ultimately Dr. Leeks and the people who put him in power would be exposed and criminal justice and fair compensation would be achieved for all plaintiffs. “
However, the Crown extended the legal action for another five years.
She described the Crown’s action as gruesome and indefensible and said they had behaved in a way that is best described as “deception”.
“They had the evidence showing that Dr. Leeks had been giving me medications and ECT without justification. They knew he was a victim. They heard what had happened. There was no kindness, love, or compassion. The Crown just didn’t get it. “
The Crown insisted on reading their diaries. There was also a court order for an examination by a psychiatrist at the Mason Clinic.
“I was beyond furious … I was traumatized just thinking about going near a psychiatric hospital.”
He finally came to terms with the Crown, but now he regrets it. The amount is confidential.
“The conduct of the Crown throughout the litigation told me that I, as a Lake Alice survivor, was not worthy of justice. She lacked affection and compassion. They didn’t care at all. I feel so angry for myself and for the other survivors. “
