Tuesday, a federal court of appeal ruled that a school in Massachusetts could continue administering electric shock to its students.
According to the courts, the FDA cannot prohibit the Rotenberg Educating Center in Canton, Massachusetts, from using a device known as a graduated electronic decelerator for “treatment of last resort.” The school caters to students with severe disabilities who have been kicked out of other group homes for endangering themselves and others.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that “the FDA lacks the statutory authority to prohibit a medical device from being used for a specific purpose.” The FDA has yet to respond to the decision. The agency previously discovered that 45 to 50 of the 275 Rotenberg students are subjected to electric shocks.
After its ruling, The Rotenberg Center issued a statement: “The (Graduated Electronic Decelerator) is a treatment of last resort, and its recipients are at risk of grievous bodily harm, or even death, without it. With the treatment, these residents can continue to participate in enriching experiences.”
Last year, the FDA issued a rule prohibiting the use of the graduated electronic decelerator due to similar court action. During a lawsuit, a horrific video from the center of a resident, Andre McCollins, surfaced. McCollins was handcuffed to a restraint board and shocked 31 times over the course of seven hours for failing to remove his jacket when ordered. In the video, he cries “Stop! Stop!” and “That hurts!” and was later hospitalized for a month.
Rico Torres, a former Rotenberg student, told NBC earlier this year that for a decade, Rotenberg teachers wired electrodes to his skin 24 hours a day. Torres was a student at the institution from the age of eight to eighteen, and he spent most of his time there with a 12-volt battery attached to his back.
The school’s parents’ association also issued a statement following the court’s ruling: “We are grateful for the careful deliberation and the decision reached by the court and these judges,” they said. “We have and will continue to fight to keep our loved ones safe and alive and to retain access to this life-saving treatment of last resort.”
According to the parents, electric shocks were preferred over physical constraints or medication.
They said, “There is no other treatment for our loved ones, and we will not stand by as they are mechanically or chemically restrained.”
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