Back to bedlam? Chelmsford and the press.
The Australian press played a vital part in bringing the events at Chelmsford Private Hospital to the attention of the general public, and in pressuring the New South Wales government to institute a Royal Commission into Deep Sleep Therapy. This paper describes the ways in which the press brought Chelmsford events onto the public agenda. It pays particular attention to aspects of the press coverage of the findings of the Royal Commission. The paper identifies the discourses concerning psychiatric care, the doctor-patient relationship and the role of the government in regulating the medical profession which were dominant in press accounts of Chelmsford. It is argued that while pre-existing stereotypes about mad psychiatrists and asylums were used to describe Chelmsford, more confronting ideas concerning the need for medical regulation and patient consumerism received press attention and therefore a public airing. The implications for psychiatric care in Australia are examined.
Lupton
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Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, Kingswood, New South Wales.
D002423:Cause of Death; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D033161:Government Regulation; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D016304:Hospitals, Private / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D016365:Liability, Legal; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D009517:New South Wales; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D028701:Patient Rights; D028743:Professional Misconduct; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000506:poisoning; D011639:Public Opinion
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs