Dr. E. Fuller Torrey flashback: Stanley Medical Research Institute in lawsuit for brain harvesting without consent

VIA WA PO

Md. research institute’s brain-collection practices on trial in Maine civil case

ALFRED, Maine — "The practices of a prestigious medical research institute that studies schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are on trial in Maine, where the organization collected at least 99 brains from organ donors.

Anne Mozingo, of York, contends that the Stanley Medical Research Institute and a man working on its behalf removed her late husband’s entire brain without her consent after he died of a brain aneurism in 2000. She said she agreed to donate only small brain tissue samples."


AND

"From the mid-1990s to 2003, Stanley Medical Research Institute used a network of “brain harvesters” in Maine and three other states to collect hundreds of brains for use in the study of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The brains were packed in dry ice and shipped by FedEx to the institute.

Cyr, who also worked for the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office, was paid more than $150,000 to collect brains and other organs from at least 99 bodies from 1999 to 2003, according to court documents.

Mozingo’s lawsuit is one of more than a dozen that were filed against the institute by Maine families alleging that their relatives’ full brains were removed without their consent.

Most of the complaints have been settled out of court, but three have gone to trial.

The first one to go resulted in a mistrial in January 2010 after the plaintiff testified that he chose to put the case before a jury because he didn’t want to settle. The judge ruled the statement implied to jurors that the defendant was offered a financial settlement to avoid a trial.

A second case went to trial last fall, with the jury siding with Stanley, Cyr and the institute’s former executive director, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey."


Reading for background:

SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009

Stanley Medical Research Institute, Joseph Biederman, Fuller Torrey and TAC

I attended a lecture and heard Torrey speak

When I heard Fuller Torrey speak in person, he said he wishes he had his schizophrenic sister's cat's brain for his collection.--NAMI funded lecture I attended in June 2006, featuring Fuller Torrey from TAC (Treatment Advocacy Center and affiliated with Stanley Foundation). In person, Fuller Torrey speaks of pro-forced out patient treatment to prevent violence in Schizophrenic populations and considers bipolar the same as schizophrenia.

Torrey believes, according to his public speech, that Schizophrenia is caused by an airborne virus found in cat feces, and he believes that Haldol (antipsychotic) is an anti-viral medication.

When I asked him in person why Haldol is an anti-viral medication he said he did not know. He believes in preventative treatment and the Stanley Foundation holds a patent to an under the skin disk for a slow release of Haldol into a body.
~
Drug implant offers hope, spurs worry,By Ellen Barry, Globe Staff, 9/26/2003-Boston Globe:

"Researchers said yesterday(2003 article) that they are prepared to seek FDA approval of a surgically implanted tablet that could deliver daily doses of psychiatric medication for as long as a year."

More

MONDAY, JULY 30, 2007

Brain Harvesting :Torrey,TAC and Stanley Medical Institute

Brain Harvesting :Torrey,TAC and Stanley Medical Institute

Brain Harvesting Lawsuits:Torrey-Stanley Foundation-Seattle

2005 article of interest:

"Virginia Hendricks can't help but feel betrayed. Just a few days after her son Jim died unexpectedly, the King County Medical Examiner's office called, asking to take a sample of her son's brain. Instead, without permission, the county sent Jim's entire brain, plus his mental health and medical history files to the Stanley Medical Institute in Bethesda Maryland."

"The sister of a homeless, mentally ill man named Bradley Gierlich is suing King County as well. In a lawsuit filed late Friday, the family claims nobody ever gave permission to harvest organs. Bradley Gierlich's brain was sent to Stanley medical by King County anyway."

"The suit accuses King County and Stanley Medical of outrage, negligence, violation of privacy, interference with a dead body, violations of the Washington Anatomical Gift Act, and civil conspiracy."