CCHR Florida Steps Up Campaign to Protect the Elderly from Harmful Baker Acting

CLEARWATER, Fla., March 02, 2017 -- After asking Florida Legislators to help stop the unnecessary and harmful Baker Acting of seniors, The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), established by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969 as a non-profit mental health watchdog organization, announced a month-long open house in honor of Brain Awareness week at the center located in downtown Clearwater beginning March 1^st, as part of the campaign to protect the stop the harmful Baker Acting of seniors.

According to the Annual Report of Baker Act Data, 13,856 individuals 65 and older were sent for involuntary psychiatric examination in 2015.  While this is only about 7% of the total number of initiated involuntary examinations, it is known that there is a real danger of harm being caused in the transfer of senior citizens from long-term care facilities to Baker Act facilities.

In fact, a Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) report which references an article titled “A Brief Literature Review of the Effects of Relocation on the Elderly” states that long-term care elderly patients have an elevated mortality risk between 1.99 and 3.76 times greater when they are relocated.  This same DCF report also states that according to the U.S government’s Administration on Aging, Transfer Trauma, a sudden and unexpected relocation is associated with depression, increased irritability, serious illness and elevated mortality risk for the frail elderly.

In 2016, CCHR launched a campaign in honor of National Senior Citizens Day to help protect the elderly from abuse under the mental health law and this week stepped up the campaign to begin asking Florida Legislators to help stop unnecessary and potentially harmful Baker Acting. 

“People suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s are not mentally ill and should not be Baker Acted,” said Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida. “A 289 page report created in 2013 by the Purple Ribbon Task Force in Florida clearly states that Baker Acting is not an appropriate intervention yet it is still being done with regularity.”

CCHR FL launched a new website designed to make the public more aware of this abuse of the law.  Concerned parents are encouraged to contact CCHR Florida to learn more about their rights under the law at 800-782-2878. For more information visit www.cchrflorida.org.

About CCHR:
CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world.  In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed.  All in the name of ‘mental health.’”

Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
[email protected]
www.cchrflorida.org