Dark Bilious Vapors

Dr. Abby's Dr. Dad strikes again with this gem of a letter to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. I'm taking the liberty of copying it in toto (Abby, if you or your dad object to that send me an email and I'll take it down or redact it to conform to fair use) because he hits on exactly what has puzzled me about the State's recent investigation of the "Love in Action" homosexual re-education camp:

While the general outrage at Tom Cruise’s Scientology based attack on Psychiatry is certainly justified, there is a part of what he said that is pertinent to a contemporary Memphis issue. In the past, some individuals were, in fact, committed to mental institutions by their families inappropriately. There was abuse of the desparate treatments of the time - psychosurgery, insulin coma therapy, excessive electroconvulsive therapy. Thereafter, Mental Health Codes were radially changed to protect people from being deprived of their civil liberties by some loophole of mental illness. Facilities offering treatment of any kind had to be licensed, inspected, and had to have specific legal procedures to insure that treatment was consistent with the Bill of Rights - our Constitutional guarantees of Freedom.

The Love in Action facility is a program that offers treatment for "addictions," yet it is operating outside the regulation required for such places. They have no process for guaranteeing "due process" for their clients. Parents can apparently sign their children in for a long period of "treatment," even children sixteen years old. The case of Zach brought this to the public’s awareness, but beyond the specific case, how can such a facility exist without licensure? How can a self declared "treatment" center that holds children against their will be operating with no oversight from the State of Tennessee? If legitimate treatment centers for the treatment of alcohol or drug addictions require licensure, how can a fringe group like Love in Action treat something they claim to be an addiction, namely Homosexuality, without any review by the State?

They were investigated and cleared by DFCS of "Child Abuse." "Child Abuse" is hardly the point. The point is that Love in Action is a Mental Hospital operating without a license!

Len on 07.02.05 @ 08:03 PM CST