Ohio Lawsuit Seeks to Put Forced Psychiatry on Trial

28
1596

The Ohio State Department of Mental Health, two state hospitals, state psychiatrists, and various other government agencies have been accused of “false imprisonment, medical malpractice, assault, battery, torture, and intentional infliction of mental distress” in a 140-page affidavit filed in the Ohio court of civil claims by John J. Rohrer. Rohrer has been held against his will in a psychiatric hospital and forcibly drugged for 5 years and, according to the allegations, it is that which constitutes false imprisonment and torture under federal law.

“It has been known at all relevant times that there is no blood test, no neuro-imaging, no genetic, laboratory or other testing that will validly and reliably diagnose what is being called schizophrenia, schizo-affective, or bi-polar disorder,” states the affidavit. “It has been known at all relevant times that there is no evidence that the brains of people who have not been labeled ‘mentally ill’ are different from the brains of those with a schizophrenic, schizo-affective, or bi-polar label provided that the latter group have never used pharmaceutical products.”

As a result of his being forcibly drugged for these undiagnosable conditions, the affidavit states that Rohrer suffers from “serious temporary and permanent physical and emotional pain, anguish and trauma,” and “permanent physical injuries (enlargement of the basal ganglia of the brain, permanent brain damage and some disfigurement due to irreversible tardive dyskinesia).”

“In November, 2011 Ohio voters approved Sec. 1.21 of the Ohio Constitution, which bans health care services by force,” states a press release on the Free John Rohrer website. “The United States is a signatory to a United Nations treaty, the CRPD [Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities] which considers forced drugging to be a form of torture. Federal law also defines psychotropic drugging by force to be a form of torture. The Rohrer suits attack the former Department of Mental Health, now known as OMHAS, for promoting non-scientific theories to justify excessive drugging of patients and medicare billings.”

Rohrer is being represented by attorney David L. Kastner.

Free John Rohrer, Breaking News: Lawsuits claim taxpayers SUPPORT TORTURE! (Free John Rohrer website, November 28, 2014)

JOHN J. ROHRER V. OFFICE OF THE OHIO PUBLIC DEFENDER, ET AL. (Case Number: 2014-00925, Court of Claims of Ohio)

28 COMMENTS

    • Discover: Recent article this week in The Charleston Gazette this week mentions the efforts of an advocacy group Mountain Justice that has managed to regain the ability to gain access to those in psych. lockups. I don’t know the ins or outs of the story, but it caught my attention. I will check into it. Also, Mountain Justice is mainly known for their vigorous campaign against Mountain Top Removal.

      Report comment

    • Anybody wanting to help should contact John’s mom, Katherine Hine, a former attorney, at katherinehine at yahoo. There are some specific things that are needed to free John Rohrer and send a message of hope and know-how to others who are struggling. John would benefit from the following:

      1.An affidavit of support – just indicating that you would be willing to provided peer support to him – whether by occasional emails or phone calls – and why that is so important, especially if he is allowed to be released pending appeal.

      2. Help with getting broader publicity – for now – from the alternative media – such as online radio shows that would include John’s ongoing struggle with Ohio’s mental illness system, with other human rights issues that are related and connected.

      3. Help finding an activist Ohio attorney, preferably in Columbus, who would not be afraid to be co-counsel with Dave in the Columbus cases.

      Report comment

    • We feel like this would be a first step to a class action for others in the future. It takes an individualized case, with specific rights violations that are happening to that specific person, to set a precedent and a template for others to file their individual cases. Right now what you tend to see are class actions that are microscopically focused on one tiny aspect of what one drug does. Like the law firms who only represent men with gynecomastia from taking Risperdal. Those lawsuits are assembly line productions that don’t stop the drug from being manufactured and don’t necessarily earn very much money for each individual defendant. But when you multiply it by several thousand plaintiffs and take 1/3 or 40% of the total amount recovery, the attorney who does those will do quite well. Those attorneys earn their money, but they have no interest in challenging the system.

      Report comment

    • In my fantasies people from everywhere would offer their assistance: lawyers who could give pro bono support with research, etc.; experts in the spuriousness of claims vis. a vis. psychiatric drugs; English professors prepared to testify that “mental illness” is a metaphor and cannot exist in a concrete sense. And more. Then you could have 1st person testimony about the horrors of psychiatric drugs. And of course the thing has to be widely publicized.

      Report comment

  1. I have an Ohio number you can call if you want to help out. I am not sure if I should post it here (I need to ask) but you can find it on our site, http:www.freejohnrohrer.org. We have a Twitter account as well: freejohnrohrer. I will go check right now to see if I’ve posted it.

    Julie Greene and Puzzle

    Report comment

  2. This is the sort of thing I’ve been waiting for. Although I’m reasonably pessimistic, this is the reality of psychiatric “treatment” and should be seen for what it is. The drugs do in fact “work” by causing brain damage, the people this is afflicted upon are in fact victims and this practice is in fact a form of torture. People who do it like to rationalize it so they can live with themselves while collecting all that money, but something like this is good for helping to break their delusions and show them what they really are.

    Report comment

  3. What can we do for John Rohrer? Below, I provide a few suggestions:

    –Call John on the phone and let him know you support him. Julie is apparently looking into providing his contact information. One of the most important aspects of this case is helping John to know he is supported in going forward. It has been a super long haul for him.

    –Cards are also appreciated, especially in this season.

    –Write a letter of support for John and forward it to his attorney for use in the case. Even one letter makes a difference, but I can also imagine that a stack of letters several inches high would have quite an impact.

    –If you are too far away to visit John personally and see the exact conditions in which he is living, visit someone in your own community who has been psychiatrically incarcerated for a long period of time. Listen to that person. Have them write down their story if they are willing. I don’t know what the publication criteria is for MIA anymore, but sending it in would be worth a shot. And, I will happily publish ANY stories on my personal blog.

    –Contact Ohio Disability Rights. Encourage them to support John’s case.

    –Be a presence at any public court proceedings. Take notes. Keep things honest.

    –Help John disseminate his writings.

    –While I believe it is well known that I have zero use for the so called leadership of the c/s/x movement, and have, in fact, divorced myself from the entire movement, John still needs the movement. Hopefully, there will be some recognition by the movement of the importance of this case, and some kind of effective action will result. If you consider yourself to be a visible and important leader in this capacity, mention this case at your next speaking engagement. Better yet, do something personally for John or make YOURSELF a presence at any public legal proceedings. If you can get yourself to Alternatives in Florida and the MIA Film Festival in Boston in the same year, it stands to reason you can get yourself to Ross County, Ohio.

    Thanks in advance for any support offered. Feel free to write me on any of the above.

    Sharon Cretsinger, Fired from Nearly Everything
    [email protected]

    Report comment

    • Sharon,

      Did you assist in getting John a lawyer? I found it was impossible to find one, even with lots of friends who’d become lawyers, blatant proof of major drug interaction psychiatric poisoning, and even a former doctor whose now been arrested by the FBI for “snowing” and killing lots of patients. Kudos, if you did.

      I hope and pray he wins John’s case, as that could change the laws in regards to psychiatric responsibility. And as a society, we really do need the laws changed and to hold all people (including psychiatrists) accountable for their crimes against others.

      Report comment

      • Hi there. Nice to hear from you again. If you want to get in touch with me, we can talk or maybe do a lunch and I can tell you more about the history of this case. I no longer care to comment publicly on my involvement with it because it is about the case, not about me.

        Hope to hear from you soon! Sharon

        Report comment

  4. My father was ‘put away’ for having Alzheimer’s in a mental institution and drugged so badly he could not respond to any stimulation to arose him. They would not tell us what they drugged him with and we had a lengthy court battle to get him released. All this is done ‘legally’ by the medical community and courts. So I fully understand the position John is caught in as well as countless thousands of others who need support yet may not have any recourse to address their situation. I don’t see how this draconian method helps anyone but the drug companies who make a massive profit by experimenting on people who are stripped away of their rights. And it doesn’t seem like it takes much to fall into this pit of abuse. More awareness is needed. Get the word out, most people are not aware of this.

    Report comment

    • I suspect that your father was probably in a nursing home or retirement center of some type. When residents of these organizations do not quiet down and do exactly as they are told to do, when they’re told to do it, they’re sent to a geripsych unit, where they are drugged into oblivion. It’s just not psych “patients” who get drugged to the gills to keep them quiet and controllable.

      The so-called antipsychotics are being used heavily in nursing home settings to control the behavior of the residents, not for their own benefit but for the benefit of the staff who don’t want to take care of them or put up with their complaints or yelling. Antipsychotics are particularly dangerous to older people, causing them to not only have cognitive problems but they experience more falls. Actually, antipsychotics are dangerous to any age group that is forced to take them. It’s disgusting.

      Report comment

  5. The tort cases are still going. The defendants are represented by some 4 attorneys. So many of them must share. One of the next tasks for the courts in Franklin County, Ohio will be to figure out which of the defendants, if any, have immunity, which basically will mean – is what they are accused of so egregious that it can be called bad faith or malicious? Since this article was written, on December 1, an appeal of John’s original confinement “order” was filed in Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals, which is being asked to release John from the hospital pending the appeal so he can participate in his civil case. We were fortunate to have well over a dozen affidavits in support of John attached to our still pending motion for stay. The State has filed no response to date. Meanwhile John’s supporters are organizing two protests in downtown Columbus, Ohio. One is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday January 21. The other is Thursday February 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information please contact Katherine directly by going to http://www.freejohnrohrer.org, where you will find email and phone info.

    Report comment

  6. John’s case was dismissed, the appeals court dismissed it as well, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear the case, his only option now is US Supreme Court Writ of Certiorari or refiling the lawsuit- however chances are like countless other victims, he’s going to run into the same corruption he’s already faced, and they won’t do a thing to help him.

    But the issue he faces is the corruption and rottenness of the courts. They’re secretly complicit and allowing this all across the country, protecting fraud, corruption, and crime of state actors like public defenders, court officers, police officers, hospital employees, and murderous physicians who work for the state under the color of law.

    Same thing happened to me in Oregon only on a worse level. We had allegations of more serious murder, rape, and torture happening within the state hospital, and evidence of it, and witnesses, but the Oregon Supreme Court dismissed the case without a hearing and permitted the lower courts to do the same.

    The judges are misusing their authority committing what’s known as judicial fraud. The only way to solve the problem is to take away a judges power to decide the case, and force jury trials. Only a jury will ever decide against the state on a case like these, where gross abuse by government is alleged.

    I tried to explain to these guys the national security state secretly endorses the abuses committed against individuals within the courts, prisons, and hospitals, it’s all about population control. Their true decision making processes are classified and kept off the record- the judges are basically CIA operatives. You cannot over power them when they do an abuse and cover it up, and toss out the lawsuits for assistance with the current laws and system in place, because the judges can exercise their discretionary powers and toss your case before a jury can even hear about it. They have done it thousands of times to thousands of victims across the country already.
    http://www.oregonstatehospital.net

    Report comment

    • @Todd : That is unfortunate that exposing the fraud of the highly corrupted & politicised pharmaceutical-controlled industry is being swept under the rug. George Carlin did warn that the «owners» of the Corporate United States had already bought and paid for all of the judges into their back pockets.

      How-ever, you must also avoid in-the-box thinking, lest you really believe that one particular path or another is the only option. Everything to do with the court-systems is based on the Cestui Que Trusts. The States are supposed to be under Federal Jurisdiction, but the Feds are supposed to be under International Jurisdiction, and there is something to be said about exposing the The System of Maritime/Admiralty Military Tribunal Venues of MARTIAL LAW.

      I wish I had more time to study and/or help everybody else, but I have a «case» that I am forced to deal with of my own of an insanely and ridiculously frivolous «complaint» that was filed against my Person on False Pretenses under Colour of Law in violations of 18 U.S. Code §§ 241-2, False Imprisonment, False Charges, getting Held Hostage on multiple Bills of Attainder, being Kidnapped, amongst a couple of other Dozen or so Felonies that I have identified, all because the lying and dishonest so-called «Officer 2-B» Zachary W. Schafer of the Hot Springs (South Dakota) Police Department filed a False Report against my Person after Badgering me with Leading Questions in order to Falsely Accuse me of having committed crimes, when in fact I had committed absolutely NO wrongs that day (nor at any other time of the year or even this entire decade for that matter), but I think it might be more effectively to complain about specific individuals up the Chains of Command, such as dumping a TON of Estoppel-Certificates to specific people in question, followed by their Supervisors, then their Bosses, then their supervisors and bosses, all the way into the Supreme-Courts, even all the way up to The President of the United States (of America) himself, but let’s not stop at that, for complaints can still be elevated even further into The Hague Tribunal (ICC: International Criminal Court – referencing the Nuremberg Trials), and even The Queen Elizabeth herself if none of the previous chains have «corrected» any wrong-doings.

      Whilst I am rather «behind» for completing the necessary (and extremely time-consuming) paper-work for my own case, for anybody who wishes to get its details, its Case-Number is #23CRI16-247, over a matter where they’re trying to complain that I «trespassed» …despite the fact that it was an abandoned house that I was trying to clean and vacuum that day/evening. The second «charge» that I was falsely accused of was petty theft for being in possession of 5.71$US from the floor of the house from the far room where I was trying to vacuum, because there was nowhere to put it without dumping it and scattering it all over the pig-sty of an abandoned house that looked like it had been ransacked, due to the entire floor having been covered in garbage and trash and debris and worthless crap, and my vacuum-cleaner and other cleaning supplies that I brought over and even bought on that very day from a local store is worth MORE than TEN TIMES the amount of a meager 5.71$US, and the Police Department is TAMPERING with MY «Evidence» as they have in fact «confiscated» and are holding my VACUUM-CLEANER (a brand spankin’ NEW vacuum-cleaner by the way), spray bottles with disinfectant-spray, my bug-zapper, my brand-spankin’ NEW garbage-bags, paper towels and other tools and cleaning supplies (essentially, I have a reason to complain that they have stolen from ME, due to holding my CLEANING SUPPLIES and trying to use CLEANING SUPPLIES as «evidence» against me; and yet these clowns in the judiciary are trying to claim that I’m the one with a «Mental-Illness» like the hypocrites they are). They also have my digital-camera, and IT has more «evidence» within the VIDEO that I recorded on that day, that I was not there doing anything criminal, whereas the cops are the worst gang-members in every town and considered by God to be amongst the most despicable criminals in all of society.

      Report comment

    • “But the issue he faces is the corruption and rottenness of the courts. They’re secretly complicit and allowing this all across the country, protecting fraud, corruption, and crime of state actors like public defenders, court officers, police officers, hospital employees, and murderous physicians who work for the state under the color of law.”

      Indeed, we are officially living in a completely lawless – and un-Constitutional – America today.

      “The judges are misusing their authority committing what’s known as judicial fraud. The only way to solve the problem is to take away a judges power to decide the case, and force jury trials. Only a jury will ever decide against the state on a case like these, where gross abuse by government is alleged.”

      I think there may be an interesting way to end this “judicial fraud.” The guy on this website does a good job of describing the legal fraud currently going on in Western civilization, by the BAR (British Accreditation Registry) – and such legal fraud is technically un-Constitutional, thus unlawful, in the US.

      https://awarriorcalls.com

      The information on that website describes a convoluted system, likely since that is what the “maritime law” legal system is. I’d suggest you first look at his “foundational knowledge.” And if you can garner insight into the staggering fraud of the BAR lawyers and judges – and understand that in the US this is an unlawful “legal system” – you might garner insight into how to get lawful jury trials.

      But the reality is … we’re dealing with the same bad systems that Jesus forewarned us about 2000 years ago. We have a bad banking system, bad “pharmakia” – which would involve the entirety of the medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex – and of course also a bad legal / judicial system. We need to get rid of the bad systems, that have been imposed upon us, by the fiscally irresponsible service corporations calling themselves our governments.

      Oh, and yes, I was declared crazy for knowing 9/11/2001 should NOT have functioned as a call for never ending wars. Since I understood back then, that the US government could NOT afford never ending wars.

      Report comment

LEAVE A REPLY