On the Margins in Australia
I found this interesting article about Cornelia Rau, a schizophrenic Australian woman who was mistaken for an illegal immigrant and locked away under terrible circumstances. The nation is guiltily examining the way it treats the mentally ill, refugees and illegals.
Cornelia's family had a really open-minded approach to her illness. As her brother said to Australian TV:
Initially, we accepted, okay, you know, she has always battled the system, she wants her freedom. We thought, "Well, okay, why should we continually hound her?" No-one wants to interfere in somebody's life who's a grown woman who's had a successful career, who's clever, who has everything going for them. But we were very concerned that she would put herself at risk.
However, apparently Australia also tries to force treatment on people. Despite her family's wishes, the government tried to force her to take medication, something which terrified her. As a result Cornelia disappeared. Again, in her brother's words:
It didn't surprise us because we know that she hates hospital, she dislikes medication and she doesn't think that she's ill and therefore why should she take medication. And she knew that she would have been under an order that was a compulsory medication order the next day, so she had, you know, quite carefully planned her escape for the day before.
She wandered around until two good samaritans came along and reported that there was a lost, seemingly ill woman for whom they were concerned. Cornelia made the mistake of telling responding police officer that she was "Anna Brotmeyer" who had arrived in the country after traveling, "by train to Russia and China and then ... by boat from Indonesia with a people smuggler." She was locked in a criminal prison where she now began to insist that her name was "Anna Schmit". Another inmate described Cornelia's ordeal:
She was manhandled every day to get back in her cell. She'd be forced back in. They'd push her in and slam the door. She had no concept of where she was and she couldn't understand why they were being so mean to her. She cried all day.
She saw two psychiatrists, one who thought she was somewhat ill and another who thought she was simply odd.
Despite the fact that her parents had reported her missing, she was not identified as the person in custody. She was shipped off to immigration, where she was not allowed access to an attorney. As a result she languished in custody for ten long months.
Even after she was recognized and "released", Cornelia was dragged off to a psychiatric hospital and kept against her will. At least they were no longer holding her in solitary confinement or otherwise physically abusing her. However, they were still forcing her to take medication because of how "crazy" she had acted in custody, even though arguably she was only behaving so badly because she was being abused and wrongfully detained.
Cornelia Rau was released from the hospital a few days ago, but was only able to savor her freedom briefly. A "series of events" caused the authorities to decide she needed to be locked up again. What did she do you ask? Did she have a "fit" in public? Did she attack someone? Harm herself?
None of the above. According to the paper, "[S]he left her accommodation in the morning and did not return until late that night. While she was essentially free to come and go as she pleased, her long absence raised concerns."
In other words, they were afraid she'd run off again to avoid forced medication.
It sounds like she's still a prisoner to me.
Cornelia's family had a really open-minded approach to her illness. As her brother said to Australian TV:
Initially, we accepted, okay, you know, she has always battled the system, she wants her freedom. We thought, "Well, okay, why should we continually hound her?" No-one wants to interfere in somebody's life who's a grown woman who's had a successful career, who's clever, who has everything going for them. But we were very concerned that she would put herself at risk.
However, apparently Australia also tries to force treatment on people. Despite her family's wishes, the government tried to force her to take medication, something which terrified her. As a result Cornelia disappeared. Again, in her brother's words:
It didn't surprise us because we know that she hates hospital, she dislikes medication and she doesn't think that she's ill and therefore why should she take medication. And she knew that she would have been under an order that was a compulsory medication order the next day, so she had, you know, quite carefully planned her escape for the day before.
She wandered around until two good samaritans came along and reported that there was a lost, seemingly ill woman for whom they were concerned. Cornelia made the mistake of telling responding police officer that she was "Anna Brotmeyer" who had arrived in the country after traveling, "by train to Russia and China and then ... by boat from Indonesia with a people smuggler." She was locked in a criminal prison where she now began to insist that her name was "Anna Schmit". Another inmate described Cornelia's ordeal:
She was manhandled every day to get back in her cell. She'd be forced back in. They'd push her in and slam the door. She had no concept of where she was and she couldn't understand why they were being so mean to her. She cried all day.
She saw two psychiatrists, one who thought she was somewhat ill and another who thought she was simply odd.
Despite the fact that her parents had reported her missing, she was not identified as the person in custody. She was shipped off to immigration, where she was not allowed access to an attorney. As a result she languished in custody for ten long months.
Even after she was recognized and "released", Cornelia was dragged off to a psychiatric hospital and kept against her will. At least they were no longer holding her in solitary confinement or otherwise physically abusing her. However, they were still forcing her to take medication because of how "crazy" she had acted in custody, even though arguably she was only behaving so badly because she was being abused and wrongfully detained.
Cornelia Rau was released from the hospital a few days ago, but was only able to savor her freedom briefly. A "series of events" caused the authorities to decide she needed to be locked up again. What did she do you ask? Did she have a "fit" in public? Did she attack someone? Harm herself?
None of the above. According to the paper, "[S]he left her accommodation in the morning and did not return until late that night. While she was essentially free to come and go as she pleased, her long absence raised concerns."
In other words, they were afraid she'd run off again to avoid forced medication.
It sounds like she's still a prisoner to me.
posted by Christine at Friday, May 27, 2005
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