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Scientology is on the brink of killing an entire medical industry (www.thedailybeast.com)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by MicroWave to c/news

63 comments fedilink hide all child comments

By systematically targeting electroconvulsive therapy as part of its war on psychiatry, experts say Scientology could decimate a treatment that is “saving so many lives.”

…

The Atlantic’s 2001 article explained that ECT [Electroconvulsive therapy] had emerged from a terrifying past to become a safe and effective treatment for some of the worst effects of serious mental illnesses. But Scientology, through its campaigns and by pushing legislation, was promoting outdated myths about the procedure for a public that knew little about it.

Miscavige's November 3 speech illustrated that Scientology is still pushing this agenda more than 20 years later—but with one big difference.

While Scientology has continued to campaign against ECT on various fronts, it has pursued a little known but very effective strategy against ECT's most vulnerable spot: Namely, the two small companies that manufacture the devices that physicians use during the procedure.

For decades, Scientology has quietly waged a litigation war against those two companies, SigmaStim and Somatics, and it has both nearly on the ropes.

Scientology knows that if the two companies go out of business, federal regulations mandate that doctors will no longer be able to use their devices, and ECT will become unavailable in this country and around the world.

Those medical providers say that ECT is a safe procedure that is saving lives every day, and they are extremely concerned that it is nearly on the brink of disappearing—and only because of the relentless attacks of Scientology on the device manufacturers, a war that has flown completely under the radar until now.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Huh, interesting. Probably not "fine" though since if she's at Gold / Int Base she's probably being held against her will, considering that the whole base is sorta built around being like a prison compound and they even have private security "pursuit teams" to hunt down escapees.

Edit: not to say that everybody at Int is being held against their will, but it's where eg. The Hole is so if somebody is being held, Int is probably where they'd be

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

From the linked wiki:

According to some former members of Scientology, conditions within Gold Base are harsh, with staff members receiving sporadic paychecks of $50 at most, working seven days a week, and being subjected to punishments for failing to meet work quotas.[2] Media reports have stated that around 100 people a year try to escape from the base but most are soon retrieved by "pursuit teams". Despite many accounts of mistreatment from ex-members, law enforcement investigations and lawsuits against Scientology have been thwarted by the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom and the church's ability to rely on "ministerial exemptions" in employment law. Scientology denies any mistreatment and calls the base "the ideal setting for professional and spiritual growth".