Shock therapy used for depression touted as miracle?

Does this work for some? Sure. To say that it is some kind of miracle, leaving the impression it should be widely used again is not a good thing. The doctor even said he had to paralyze the patient to make sure she didn't hurt herself when her body reacted to the shocks. Let's hope rest of the blog world question this instead of just spreading the news. The last thing veterans need is to have this done on them again.

'Miracle' Treatment for Woman Battling Back From Depression
A local woman tells of a treatment that turned her life around.
Reporter: Rachelle Baillon

Posted Monday, July 11, 2011

MADISON--" I kept overdosing, medications just didn't really work for my depression and my post traumatic stress disorder," said Ava Martinez. "The last time i overdosed it was pretty significant overdose, I was unconscious for a couple days."

Martinez spent decades fighting crippling depression. But a few years ago she finally found a treatment that worked for her. "It's helped with my depression so much a year and a half ago I went off of Social Security disability," she said. "I'm working full time now."

Her new treatment is actually very old. It's called ECT.

"ECT is a treatment modality for treatment resistant depression that has been around for almost a hundred years now," said Dr. Tyler Rickers.
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Miracle Treatment for Woman Battling Back From Depression

US troops collateral damage now to contractors?

From US Military

Department of DefenseDictionary of Military and Associated Terms
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf
collateral damage — Unintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects thatwould not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack. (JP 3-60)
link provided from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage

KBR doesn't seem to care. The Pentagon didn't care enough when the problem first became clear and safety was being disregarded. What is behind this ambivalence and neglect? Is this more of the same kind of attitude that allowed the troops to be exposed to contaminated water? More of the same when they were not provided with the vehicles that could spare their lives? More of the same when contacts were given to inept companies supplying substandard uniform pants that separated in the crotch? Even worse, substandard body armor? Are the troops now collateral damage to the contractors making money off what they are doing to the troops as long as they get paid? Who is being held accountable for any of this? Anyone at KBR? Anyone at the Pentagon?

Failure to Fix Base Hazards Worried Pentagon Official
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon safety expert told senior Defense Department officials earlier this year that their failure to heed warnings to fix widespread electrical hazards on American bases in Iraq could leave the Pentagon liable for multiple electrocutions of American soldiers, according to internal e-mail correspondence released Friday.


In a May 5, 2008, e-mail message, a safety official at the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Pentagon organization in charge of supervising defense contractors in Iraq, noted that the agency had failed to act after its own comprehensive safety survey in February 2007 found widespread electrical problems at American bases that had led to a series of deaths, injuries and fires.

But top D.C.M.A. officials responded to the assertion by saying that they had never heard of the safety survey, indicating that they had no knowledge of the longstanding electrical problems.

In January 2008, 11 months after the comprehensive safety review, Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad, apparently because of poorly grounded electrical work in the building. A subsequent Pentagon review of its records found that at least 13 American personnel had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began in 2003
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Electric shocks for troops daily event in Iraq

Why does KBR/Halliburton keep getting contracts when what they do ends up making the troops suffer? Tainted water? Being electrocuted? Nothing seems to get the interest of Congress enough to put a stop to any of this.

Evans family, via South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ten buildings were destroyed late last month at a Marine base near Falluja, Iraq, after an electrical fire broke out.

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 18, 2008
WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.

And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.
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