AN UPDATE ON REBECCA MERHAV : HER FATHER'S LETTER TO THE CHIEF PSYCHIATRIST HERE,FOLLOWING A LETTER FROM THE MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH HERE, IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
by Justice Lover

Subject : The very urgent case of Miss Rebecca Merhav, my daughter‏
From:	Benjamin Merhav
Sent:	Saturday, 14 June 2008 11:34:11 PM
To:	kuruvilla.george@dhs.vic.gov.au
Cc:	lisa.neville@minstaff.vic.gov.au; sam.afra@parliament.vic.gov.au

Prof. Kuruvilla George,
Chief Psychiatrist
Melbourne, Victoria
============

Sir,


The Hon. Lisa Neville, MP, the Minister for Mental Health, In her reply to the Hon. John Pandazopoulos, the Member for Dandenong, regarding the case of Miss Rebecca Merhav, my daughter, referred me to you. She pointed out in her letter as follows :

"You may be aware that the Chief Psychiatrist has responsibility under the Mental Health Act 1986 for the medical care and welfare of persons receiving treatment or care for a mental illness. I am advised that the Chief Psychiatrist, Prof. Kuruvilla George, has had considerable contact with Mr. Merhav and has a longstanding interest in Rebecca's treatment and care.

Prof. George advises that he is satisfied with the clinical service provided to Rebecca by the Alfred Hospital.

Mr. Merhav is aware of the outcomes of the investigations and has been asked to liaise directly with the Chief Psychiatrist office (Phone 1300 767 299) should he have further concerns or issues in relation to Rebecca's treatment."

I have written to you directly several times, and have contacted your office by phone several times too, yet I have never received any reply from you to my emails, nor did ever your assistant at your office (who answers my call when I phone your office) took the initiative to reply to my emails or calls or let me know anything about the investigations (if any were made) regarding my daughter's treatment. Furthermore, the Director of Psychiatry at the Alfred Hospital, who committed himself to report to me by phone once a week about Rebecca's treatment, has not contacted me for over 3 months now, thus depriving me of the information I need on behalf of my daughter. This information has been denied to me for over 4 months now by the treating psychiatrist, and a ban has been placed on my phone calls to the Clinic so as to prevent me from phone contact even with the relevant nurse there.

All those hostile moves have been against the best interests of my daughter, and against her expressed wishes, and they are in violation of Section 19A of the Mental Health Act, 1986 ,which provides as follows :



"19A(2) In preparing, reviewing and revising a treatment
plan for a patient, the authorised psychiatrist must
take into account—


(a) the wishes of the patient, as far as they can
be ascertained; and


(b) unless the patient objects, the wishes of any guardian, family member or primary carer
who is involved in providing ongoing care or
support to the patient;"

Moreover, following my complaints regarding the irrational incarceration of my daughter and on her behalf at the psychiatric ward of the Alfred Hospital for nearly 2 months (from 9 March to early May, 2008), the director threatened me with legal action. He, like the treating psychiatrist considers my complaints as "harassment", and consequently ,on the 1st of April I , I received a letter from the Legal Counsel of BaySide Health threatening me with both civil and criminal proceedings, as well as with an intervention order, if I ever complain again to any member of the clinical staff, or if I ever "incite" other people to do so.

So much for "satisfactory" communications, cooperation and information given to me (or rather deprived me of ) as representative of my daughter.

However, the main concern of both my daughter and of myself on her behalf remain the "treatment" she is forced to get, as her 30 years long suffering and the deadly risks imposed on her clearly point out. Her continuous daily suffering under the imposed Antipsychotic drugs turn what purports to be a helpful medical "treatment" into a long painful and very harmful, very dangerous torture.

Below are the reasons why that "treatment" must stop and be replaced by supervised and gradual tapering off the Antipsychotics, and above all, by the cancellation of the CTO - using your powers according to the Mental Health Act, 1986 - and by giving my daughter the chance to survive and to return to normal life, rather than continue to suffer under the whim of her treating psychiatrist who is prepared to put her patient's life at risk for the drugs experimentations to continue. Rebecca is not a danger to herself or to others, therefore there is no rational reason to continue her torture, damage her well being and force her to risk death !

Looking forward to your early reply, Benjamin Merhav

1. Thirty years of compulsory drugs treatment have produced no positive results whatsoever for my daughter, not even from a psychiatric point of view.
This is not so because she has been "drug-resistant" or "treatment-resistant", but simply because she never needed any psychiatric treatment in the first place. It had been the combination of a wrong diagnosis, pushed by a bad mother, that had landed her in a psychiatric ward at the age of 15. Still, she was sent there for observation alone, and not as an involuntary mental health patient ! As a father who knows his daughter from the day she was born, I know that there was nothing wrong with her ! Which is why I supported her refusal to go for that "observation".

She absconded, of course, when the doctors at that first psychiatric ward incarceration forced her from the first day to consume psychiatric drugs. She did not know - and neither did I ! - that the Antipsychotic drugs are addictive, and that it would be disastrous to taper off them abruptly. As a result she was returned to the ward with psychotic symptoms, and this outcome repeated itself whenever she absconded again. Consequently, she was given the horrible labels which accompany her to this day in her file, namely, that she is "psychotic" "paranoic schizophrenic" and "chronic schizophrenic". To this day, not a single psychiatrist has attempted to check - let alone challenge !- this old and very wrong "diagnosis" of my daughter. As we shall see later, the Antipsychotics themselves are in effect pro-psychotic, and they prolong psychosis rather than do the opposite as their marketing propaganda claims.

Which partly explains the reluctance of psychiatrists to challenge the first diagnosis, or investigate it, at least, because they consider the Antipsychotics as effective "meciations".

2. Let us move now from the beginning of the disastrous treatment-torture to the present suffering of my daughter. She is forced to consume daily 350mg of Clozapine, 75mg of Risperdal which is injected into her every 10 days, and Cogenten to counter some side effects. This is what she told me.

The Clozapine is the most dangerous drug in the arsenal of psychiatry, and it had caused many deaths all over the world, including Australia. The following are the official dangerous adverse effects of this Antipsychotic :

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/clozapine.htm

"CLOZARIL® (Novartis)(clozapine) Tablets
Before prescribing CLOZARIL® (clozapine), the physician should be thoroughly familiar with the details of this prescribing information.
WARNING

1. AGRANULOCYTOSIS
BECAUSE
OF A SIGNIFICANT RISK OF AGRANULOCYTOSIS, A POTENTIALLY
LIFE-THREATENING ADVERSE EVENT, CLOZARIL® (CLOZAPINE) SHOULD BE
RESERVED FOR USE IN (1) THE TREATMENT OF SEVERELY ILL PATIENTS WITH
SCHIZOPHRENIA WHO FAIL TO SHOW AN ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE TO ADEQUATE COURSES OF STANDARD ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUG TREATMENT, OR (2) FOR REDUCING THE RISK OF RECURRENT SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA OR SCHIZOAFFECTIVE DISORDER WHO ARE JUDGED TO BE AT RISK OF REEXPERIENCING SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR.
PATIENTS
BEING TREATED WITH CLOZAPINE MUST HAVE A BASELINE WHITE BLOOD CELL
(WBC) AND DIFFERENTIAL COUNT BEFORE INITIATION OF TREATMENT AS WELL AS REGULAR WBC
COUNTS DURING TREATMENT AND FOR 4 WEEKS AFTER DISCONTINUATION OF
TREATMENT. CLOZAPINE IS AVAILABLE ONLY THROUGH A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
THAT ENSURES MONITORING OF WBC COUNTS ACCORDING TO THE SCHEDULE DESCRIBED BELOW PRIOR TO DELIVERY OF THE NEXT SUPPLY OF MEDICATION. (SEE WARNINGS)

2. SEIZURES

SEIZURES
HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF CLOZAPINE. DOSE APPEARS TO BE AN
IMPORTANT PREDICTOR OF SEIZURE, WITH A GREATER LIKELIHOOD AT HIGHER
CLOZAPINE DOSES. CAUTION SHOULD BE USED WHEN ADMINISTERING CLOZAPINE TO
PATIENTS HAVING A HISTORY OF SEIZURES OR
OTHER PREDISPOSING FACTORS. PATIENTS SHOULD BE ADVISED NOT TO ENGAGE IN
ANY ACTIVITY WHERE SUDDEN LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS COULD CAUSE SERIOUS
RISK TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. (SEE WARNINGS)

3. MYOCARDITIS

ANALYSES
OF POST-MARKETING SAFETY DATABASES SUGGEST THAT CLOZAPINE IS ASSOCIATED
WITH AN INCREASED RISK OF FATAL MYOCARDITIS, ESPECIALLY DURING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE FIRST MONTH OF THERAPY. IN PATIENTS IN WHOM MYOCARDITIS
IS SUSPECTED, CLOZAPINE TREATMENT SHOULD BE PROMPTLY DISCONTINUED. (SEE
WARNINGS)

4. OTHER ADVERSE CARDIOVASCULAR AND RESPIRATORY EFFECTS ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION, WITH OR WITHOUT SYNCOPE, CAN OCCUR WITH CLOZAPINE TREATMENT.
RARELY, COLLAPSE CAN BE PROFOUND AND BE ACCOMPANIED BY RESPIRATORY
AND/OR CARDIAC ARREST. ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION IS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR
DURING INITIAL TITRATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH RAPID DOSE ESCALATION. IN
PATIENTS WHO HAVE HAD EVEN A BRIEF INTERVAL OFF CLOZAPINE, I.E., 2 OR MORE DAYS SINCE THE LAST DOSE, TREATMENT SHOULD BE STARTED WITH 12.5 MG ONCE OR TWICE DAILY. (SEE WARNINGS and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION)
SINCE COLLAPSE, RESPIRATORY ARREST AND CARDIAC ARREST DURING INITIAL TREATMENT HAS OCCURRED IN PATIENTS WHO WERE BEING ADMINISTERED BENZODIAZEPINES OR OTHER PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS, CAUTION IS ADVISED WHEN CLOZAPINE IS INITIATED IN PATIENTS TAKING A BENZODIAZEPINE OR ANY OTHER PSYCHOTROPIC DRUG. (SEE WARNINGS)

5. INCREASED MORTALITY IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIARELATED
PSYCHOSISELDERLY PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA-RELATED PSYCHOSIS TREATED WITH
ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS ARE AT AN INCREASED RISK OF DEATH COMPARED
TO PLACEBO. ANALYSES OF SEVENTEEN PLACEBO CONTROLLED TRIALS (MODAL
DURATION OF 10 WEEKS) IN THESE PATIENTS REVEALED A RISK OF DEATH IN THE
DRUG-TREATED PATIENTS OF BETWEEN 1.6 TO 1.7 TIMES THAT SEEN IN
PLACEBO-TREATED PATIENTS. OVER THE COURSE OF A TYPICAL 10 WEEK
CONTROLLED TRIAL, THE RATE OF DEATH IN DRUGTREATED PATIENTS WAS ABOUT
4.5%, COMPARED TO A RATE OF ABOUT 2.6% IN THE PLACEBO GROUP. ALTHOUGH
THE CAUSES OF DEATH WERE VARIED, MOST OF THE DEATHS APPEARED TO BE
EITHER CARDIOVASCULAR (e.g., HEART FAILURE, SUDDEN DEATH) OR
INFECTIOUS (e.g., PNEUMONIA) IN NATURE. CLOZARIL (CLOZAPINE) IS NOT
APPROVED FOR THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA-RELATED PSYCHOSIS.

http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/aadrbltn/aadr9912.htm
Clozapine induced neuroleptic malignant syndrome

ADRAC has received 11 reports describing NMS in males
aged 14 to 52 (median 40) years with clozapine being the only suspected
drug cause in all but one case. Onset occurred as early as 6 days and
as late as 9 months after commencing clozapine with most cases
developing in the first two weeks. Daily doses of clozapine ranged from
75 to 600 (median 400) mg. Presenting clinical features included fever,
confusion or disorientation, profuse sweating, tachycardia, and
delirium. Significant rigidity does not seem to occur in many cases of
NMS related to clozapine. Leukocytosis was noted in 7 cases and
elevated creatine kinase levels (230 to 12,800 units/litre) were
observed in 10 cases. All 11 patients required hospital admission. One
case was complicated by pulmonary oedema and in another, the onset of
acute renal failure was followed by cardiac arrest and death. All the
remaining patients recovered.The product information for clozapine
states that neuroleptic malignant syndrome is estimated to occur with
an incidence of less than 0.1%, but reports to ADRAC would suggest that
the incidence is considerably higher. Prescribers should be aware of
this rare but life threatening complication of clozapine therapy."

Also, in the case of Rebecca, she has been unable to get a much needed restful night sleep for many months now as a result of the excessive saliva production ( which is another well known adverse effect of the Clozapine) causing her to wake up several times during her sleep. This in turn not only makes it very hard to function during the day, but could cause her memory to be permanently damaged (see :
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/06/11/sleep-problem-can-lead-to-memory-loss/2441.html

Please note that five of the Clozapine warnings are death warnings. They are the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (sudden death); Diabetes ( a long tortuous death);MYOCARDITIS ;SEIZURES;and AGRANULOCYTOSIS. The last one cannot be eliminated by the blood test counting of the white blood cells.

Your predecessor, Prof. Amgad Tanaghow, agreed to eliminate the Clozapine, and consequently the treating psychiatrist committed herself to gradually reduce it until completely eliminated. However, she soon after its elimination ordered Rebecca back on the Clozapine, following the failure of another capricious experiment with the drug Seroquel that she forced Rebecca to be incarcerated for on 9 March, 2008.

As for the Risperdal, it too is a very dangerous Antipsychotic. Thus, for example, it can cause death by malignant tumor in the consumer's brain as the following warning states :

Risperdal and Pituitary Tumours

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003760576
Risperdal May Cause 70 Percent Of Pituitary Tumors

May 31, 2006 3:00 a.m. EST
Yvonne Lee – "All Headline News" Staff Reporter

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A new study suggests Risperdal may be linked to 70 percent of pituitary tumors.

The Food and Drug Administration worked in conjunction with Duke University on the study, which found the antipsychotic and similar medications may cause pituitary tumors.

The researchers caution the study's findings suggest, rather than prove, a link.
Healthday News reports Risperdal is the most commonly-prescribed medication among atypical antipsychotics. These are used to treat schizophrenia, paranoia, and manic-depressive disorders.
Study co-author Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a psychiatrist at Duke University Medical Center, says, "Atypical antipsychotics are lifesaving medications for a lot of people. By no means are we advocating that people stop using them, especially risperidone."

The official adverse effects of Risperdal also include : Abdominal pain ,Vomiting,Constipation,Diarrhea,Dry mouth,Sore throat,Abnormal walk,Agitation,Aggression,Anxiety,Chest pain,Coughing,Involuntary movements,Nasal inflammation,Decreased activity,Decreased sexual desires,Lack of coordination,Dizziness,Dry skin,Difficulty urinating,Heavy menstruation,Tremor,Weight gain,Lethargic feelings,Join pain,Tremor,Respiratory infection.

Risperdal too is a deadly Antipsychotic. It can cause death by stroke and in the following cases :

"Other dangerous effects of Risperdal that patients should be cautious about is difficult when swallowing that can cause a type of pneumonia to develop. A potentially fatal condition, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome greatly affects patients if left untreated. Characterized by muscle stiffness or rigidity, irregular pulse, fast heartbeat, increased sweating, high or low blood pressure, and high fever these effects of Risperdal will add more pain and suffering to the lives of the patients. It is essential that potential effects of Risperdal be weighed prior to beginning Risperdal treatment."

3. Some more reasons to taper off any Antipsychotic drug.

First, they reduce the life span of the consumers by 25 % as the following news item reports :

“The Alternative Mental Health News,
Issue 67, July 2007
Editor's Note
(mail@alternativementalhealth.com)

A recent USA Today headline—quite startling, really—splashed across its pages: MENTALLY ILL DIE 25 YEARS EARLIER, ON AVERAGE. One would think this would strike the psychiatric world like a 9/11, stirring drastic changes. It did not.

They've known for decades that psychiatric patients die earlier that the average population. But since the early 1990s the lifespan gap has DOUBLED. That's right. Patients used to live 10-15 years less. Now it's 25. Still, psychiatrists are not storming CNN to get the message out.Even more damning is the fact that the research that discovered this 25-year gap was published in 2006 and is only now reaching a major newspaper.

We are left to wonder if the lives of the mentally ill are considered less important—so much so that the guardians of their care, modern psychiatry and its professional organizations, brushes off this news with a sigh and the usual finger-pointing.

If a headline announced that the general public was dying 10-15 years earlier, what do you think the response would be from the public and private sectors?Also, one would think that alarm bells would be ringing over two matters.First, the only thing that has significantly changed in psychiatry in the past two decades is the medications. "Modern" medications cause diabetes, obesity and other medical complications. A reasonable person could conclude that they are shortening the lives of millions of people by 10-15 years and that this could easily be regarded as a national crisis.

In fact, this was stated blatantly in the January 2007 issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry by researcher Mary Seeman: "The general health of individuals with schizophrenia suffers from neglect, poor life style choices, and current treatments that increase death rates."Secondly, while numerous explanations have traditionally been given for why the mentally ill die early, even before the 1990s, one reason that is never given is the most obvious reason of all: They are physically ill.

Perhaps most mental illnesses are caused by hidden physical disorders that not only affects the person's mind but his body as well and will kill him early if not detected and treated.When a population has a life expectancy of 1/3 less than the rest of the population, why is this most obvious conclusion not being addressed? Why are millions spent on more drugs for symptoms and almost no treatments being developed that detect and address underlying physiological causes?"We're going in the wrong direction and have to change course," says Joseph director of psychiatric services for the Missouri Department of Mental Health and lead author of the report."

Second, they are useless even from a psychiatric point of view according to a veteran British psychiatrist who had emailed to me as follows :

"Hi Ben,

You have my complete sympathy - for 50 years the evidence has been that all so called anti-psychotic drugs are in fact pro-psychotics - they prolong the psychosis. I cover what should be done in my recent book 'unsafe at any dose'.

I have been ejected from 6 consultant psychiatric posts - and effectively barred from ever working in the NHS again - however, my research into the software problems of mental disease convinces me, as evidence from long ago confirms, that all psychoses are 100% curable - whereas all drugs make things worse.

I wish you well in your campaign, and when I get a media pedestal I shall give you my full support.

Best Wishes,
Bob Johnson"

The above conclusions by Dr. Bob Johnson are confirmed by another veteran psychiatrist (of 38 years experience), Dr Michael Benjamin. In an article he wrote last year, under the title, A Psychiatrist Airs His Professional Doubts, http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/07/22/141824.php he concludes that patients are better off and recover quicker without psychiatric drugs. See also http://www.jonmd.com/pt/re/jnmd/toccurrentrss.xml;jsessionid=LTlF9CzZrLNVPvVfFjSmqTdTtprwd6M4NPk6Htx9YcFLjNL6ThRN%21669148343%21181195629%218091%21-1

See also an article by an American psychiatrist,Douglas C. Smith, M.D. under the title, Why Psychiatric Drugs Are Always Bad, who states that he never tells any patient to consume any psychiatric drug http://www.antipsychiatry.org/drsmith1.htm

Third, Antipsychotic drugs are likely to cause the shrinking of the brain, thus causing permanent damage to it.

Dr. Baughman, the American veteran neurologist, warns people against brain damage caused by psychiatric drugs as follows :
http://adhdfraud.org/frameit.asp?src=commentary.htm

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD: “…it is a known fact that all psychotropic drugs relieve mental, psychic pain by damaging the brain. All of them without exception damage the brain. No mental illness damages the brain. The only abnormalities detectible in such patients in life or, at autopsy are those due to the drugs they are on, have been on, ECT or psychosurgery. The empty promise of psychopharmacology rests on the fact that there is no disease/damage to begin with. Psychopharmacologists posit they can improve upon the normal brain with their drugs when they only damage it--they only damage the previously normal brain--the organ of adaptation, of learning.”