Luther Osborne - The insanity racket : a story of one of the worst hell holes in this country

Perditus Liber

brings you the rare

OCLC: 14182437

book:

The Insanity Racket

By

Luther Osborne

Contents

A Note from the Publishers

The writer of this book has lived in Oakland, California, for 45 years and in his present home in Oakland for 39 years. He can be reached by letter at any time and is willing and anxious to assist in any way to improve the conditions of the patients in state hospitals anywhere.

His address is: Luther Osborne,

Oakland, California.

Efforts are being made to form an association or society for patients in state hospitals that may be national in scope, and this paragraph is an invitation to everyone to send in a letter or postal card indicating their approval. This will be used as a membership basis, which will be without dues or expense of any kind.

The purpose of this organization will be to help every patient in a state hospital, who are today the No. 1 forgotten men and women of this state and possibly of the nation.

The attention of the reader is invited to the last pages of this book which will contain matter not available when the first sections were printed.

AUTHORS NOTE

This story is not written as an attack on any individual or any group. It is published as one effort to accomplish some improvement and change in the administration of some of the laws of the state of California, and the correction of some conditions that permit glaring violations of constitutional rights and state laws and the absolute wrecking of human lives.

It is necessary to give the names of some of those connected with the case and to describe the details, because of the nature of the story and the many letters that are used and reproduced. Comments on these letters are made in some instances that they may be more clearly understood.

However, no names of individuals are used without permission of the individuals themselves, when such persons have no official connection with the case. The names of those officially connected with the case are used to explain and clarify the statements and text; these names are a matter of public record and can be learned by anyone wishing to look them up.

Luther Osborne.

Oakland, California.

March, 1939.

FOREWORD

The facts and information contained in this story are published with the hope that some of the details of certain conditions that exist in this state will be more clearly understood by many who do not realize that they do exist or could exist. The main purpose of its publication is to try to effect in some way an improvement in the laws and the administration of the laws governing the patients in the state hospitals.

The story consists almost entirely of correspondence and is arranged, in part, as a diary of an experience covering a period of over six years. It will, necessarily, contain many repetitions and will attempt to outline an informing record of the experiences of a patient in one of the California state hospitals. A great deal of it has been prepared at irregular intervals and some letters may not seem to have a definite connection with the story, but they are included as having an important bearing on a presentation of the case.

The criticisms, charges and complaints are directed particularly to the ward doctors who handle the cases, the Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent and the other doctors who make up the medical staff and who direct the policy and control the management of the institution. The other employees have but a limited authority in! their own departments and are powerless to correct the glaring injustice to many of the patients caused by mismanagement and the outright violation of law and constitutional rights.

It is the intention to try and describe specific instances of mismanagement and violation of human rights and the unlawful detention of perfectly sane patients in the institution for periods from one to twenty years, and longer, is one of them.

A paragraph from the statements dated January 22, 1935, in another section of this story, is as follows:

When the average, ordinary, every-day individual, both men and women, perfectly normal and sane, can be locked up under the depressing and distressing environment and conditions that exist in these hospitals, and kept prisoners for years, under the weakest charges, sometimes fraudulent, without opportunity to appeal to a competent, higher authority, it is a disgrace to the state and should not be tolerated. If this is true of five per cent of the patients, or more or less, it is a matter of almost criminal indifference and incapacity and should not be allowed and it could be easily changed. There should be an occasional and reasonable survey of the activities of the individual doctors employed, and information of the Superintendents and Asst. Superintendents decisions and activities should be available to the properly accredited part of the public who may have the right to know the details of the management, control and disposition of these cases.

There are a great many more than five per cent of the patients in one institution who are perfectly sane, who should not have been sent there and who should not be kept there. Some have no means and are physically unable to support themselves; others are physically able to support themselves but have no position open to them and are denied release because they are valuable workers around the institution they save considerable labor cost and keep the institution full of patients. In some cases they are denied release when a position is secured for them, because they are efficient workers at no cost, or someone does not want them released. They are no different than thousands of others on relief and old age pension rolls.

There are other sane patients there who have ample means for their support, and some with positions open to them, who are the victims, of a plot or a grudge, and they may be kept there for years with the aid of the doctors, and executives of the institution. According to information available, this may be caused by indifference in some cases, and in others it has been shown to be deliberately planned, unlawful and in violation of constitutional rights.

Luther Osborne.

Oakland, California.

March, 1939.

Copyright, 1939

Luther Osborne, Oakland, California

Printed in U. S. A.

To the memory of

HARRIET ESTELLA OSBORNE

one of the finest

wives and mothers that

ever lived

THE INSANITY RACKET

THE INSANITY RACKET

CHAPTER I

Dear Folks:

Do you care what happens to you, or to a member of your family, or to your friends?

Of course you do. Everybody does.

The insanity racket is a menace to every family and a destroyer of human rights.

You probably do not believe this. You may have heard some such statement, but, generally speaking, few citizens believe that it exists or that it can exist. You may have heard it talked about, but the generally accepted belief is that it cant be possible.