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Update on William

Since the last newsletter, William, a once successful and fully functional businessman who has been put into the mental health system against his will and overdrugged and abused for the last 30 years, was transferred against his will from one psych hospital to another until he ended up in one of the worst in the country. In fact, conditions in this psych hospital are so bad that authorities have ordered it demolished and a new one built in its place in 2004.

At this bottom-of-the-barrel, dungeon-like psych hospital, William was very recently punched in the stomach by another patient. Ironically, a former doctor in that same psych ward died from a patient blow to the stomach a few years ago. Another patient threatened he would murder William if William went into his room again. Apparently this patient was suffering from drug-induced hallucinations because William didn't even know this man and never went into his room. Just yesterday, William tried to call "911" at the ward's payphone after being hit by a patient. When the "911" operator answered, the nursing staff said it was a false alarm.

William is still alive, albeit in great suffering and anguish due to severe medical conditions and a violent and fearful environment.

Regarding progress, no change since last month: We are still working to locate a facility that is willing to detox William, but psychiatrists don't see the drug as the problem, but the "illness." So the last thing most psychiatrists want to do is detox a patient.

Please continue to pray for William to get detoxed from the psychotropic drugs.

William's friend has not heard back from President Bush about her pleas to reform the system, but we know that the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has admitted that our mental system is in shambles and needs a huge overhaul (see July 21, 2003 news release).

Please continue to pray for President Bush and his advisors to start reforms to ban patient drugging and begin safe, faith-based programs of mental help.

Please also continue to pray for:

For William's sake, send this webpage to others. Reform of our mental health system starts with us.

An abused and battered William at a psych ward

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