RIP Jawara Henry and Visit The Future For Autism: Choke Holds, Restraints, Death
Posted Aug 01 2011 12:00am
By Kim Stagliano
Last December, Jawara Henry, an adult with autism, was strangled to death in a "hold" used incorrectly by a psychiatric facility supervisor who has just been charged with criminally negligent homicide. I can only imagine how his family feels.
Get ready America - and the world. As the plethora of children born in the 1990s catapults toward adulthood and out of the relative safety of school systems into the state mental health and disability system, this tragic story of death by caregiver will become all too common. I have watched my own daughters grow into a young women of 16 and 15 (and 10.) We are fortunate that biomed and behavioral work has tamped down serious behaviors. Some of their male peers have frightening, yes I said frightening, behaviors that are part of their autism - their untreated, unchecked, unresearched, misunderstood autism. These are not criminally violet boys and men. They have autism. While the nimrods up the street from me at Yale spend millions on eye gaze studies and genetics models and MRI differences, boys are turning into MEN before our eyes. Girls into women. Barely tolerable behavior at 5, like biting, becomes threatening at 15 and then the target of police action and or phsyical abuse at 25 in the hands of a $12 an hour aide, or in this case a "supervisor."
I don't think any provider should have to submit to violence from a patient or client. Don't get me wrong. Safety for everyone is important. There isn't enough training, staffing or support for the looming epidemic. And current financial woes coupled with the less government mantra doesn't bode well for the special needs community. In CT, the respite houses are closing in September. That means families who counted on 4 days of relief a month will now have nothing. How long before tragedy strikes? Few of us could afford to pay staff for a twenty four hour day.
But until the research community and the dingdongs who fund them step up and admit epidemic catastrophe is here and it's called aggressive autism, I see precious little help in terms of actual treatment beyond the psych drugs that have already proven themselves to be an epic fail for so many.
Read the update on Jawar Henry's death by Doug Auer in the New York Post
A supervisor for disabled adults at a Staten Island mental health facility was charged today with criminally negligent homicide after his wrongful restraint of an autistic patient led to the man’s death, authorities said.
Erik Stanley, 37, allegedly applied excessive pressure to the neck and torso of Jawara Henry, 27, during a Dec. 4 incident inside the Multiple Disabilities Unit on the grounds of the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Sea View Avenue.
Stanley did not follow protocol or use proper techniques while trying to subdue an enraged Henry, who had bitten several staff members and other patients during an aggressive outburst, an eight-month investigation by DA Daniel Donovan’s office uncovered.
Stanley placed Henry in a “chokehold” and forced him onto his stomach, a source said. He then got on top of the struggling patient as he was lying face-down, the source added.
Henry’s death was deemed a homicide due to asphyxia by neck and chest compression, the medical examiner ruled.
Stanley pleaded not guilty during his arraignment earlier today in state Supreme Court in St. George and was released without bail.
Last December, Jawara Henry, an adult with autism, was strangled to death in a "hold" used incorrectly by a psychiatric facility supervisor who has just been charged with criminally negligent homicide. I can only imagine how his family feels.
Get ready America - and the world. As the plethora of children born in the 1990s catapults toward adulthood and out of the relative safety of school systems into the state mental health and disability system, this tragic story of death by caregiver will become all too common. I have watched my own daughters grow into a young women of 16 and 15 (and 10.) We are fortunate that biomed and behavioral work has tamped down serious behaviors. Some of their male peers have frightening, yes I said frightening, behaviors that are part of their autism - their untreated, unchecked, unresearched, misunderstood autism. These are not criminally violet boys and men. They have autism. While the nimrods up the street from me at Yale spend millions on eye gaze studies and genetics models and MRI differences, boys are turning into MEN before our eyes. Girls into women. Barely tolerable behavior at 5, like biting, becomes threatening at 15 and then the target of police action and or phsyical abuse at 25 in the hands of a $12 an hour aide, or in this case a "supervisor."
I don't think any provider should have to submit to violence from a patient or client. Don't get me wrong. Safety for everyone is important. There isn't enough training, staffing or support for the looming epidemic. And current financial woes coupled with the less government mantra doesn't bode well for the special needs community. In CT, the respite houses are closing in September. That means families who counted on 4 days of relief a month will now have nothing. How long before tragedy strikes? Few of us could afford to pay staff for a twenty four hour day.
But until the research community and the dingdongs who fund them step up and admit epidemic catastrophe is here and it's called aggressive autism, I see precious little help in terms of actual treatment beyond the psych drugs that have already proven themselves to be an epic fail for so many.
Read the update on Jawar Henry's death by Doug Auer in the New York Post
A supervisor for disabled adults at a Staten Island mental health facility was charged today with criminally negligent homicide after his wrongful restraint of an autistic patient led to the man’s death, authorities said.
Erik Stanley, 37, allegedly applied excessive pressure to the neck and torso of Jawara Henry, 27, during a Dec. 4 incident inside the Multiple Disabilities Unit on the grounds of the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Sea View Avenue.
Stanley did not follow protocol or use proper techniques while trying to subdue an enraged Henry, who had bitten several staff members and other patients during an aggressive outburst, an eight-month investigation by DA Daniel Donovan’s office uncovered.
Stanley placed Henry in a “chokehold” and forced him onto his stomach, a source said. He then got on top of the struggling patient as he was lying face-down, the source added.
Henry’s death was deemed a homicide due to asphyxia by neck and chest compression, the medical examiner ruled.
Stanley pleaded not guilty during his arraignment earlier today in state Supreme Court in St. George and was released without bail.
Posted by Age of Autism at August 06, 2011 at 5:45 AM in Kim Stagliano , Nightmares Permalink