Asylum Scandals: Honest and Powerful Facts Revealed

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Many asylum scandals have occurred worldwide, and we are now discovering their hidden truths.

Asylum Scandals by Patricia Lubeck is a book that talks about certain asylum wrongdoings in Minnesota’s state hospitals. In her book, she mentions the abuse, torture, corruption, and murder within the walls of those hospitals.

With that said, let’s look at the honest and powerful facts these scandals revealed. Indeed, there are more than a handful of scandals out there, but we will only be talking about two of them here. But rest assured that they’ll show you the truths you and everyone else need to know.

Asylum Scandals Behind Minnesota’s State Hospitals

The book Asylum Scandals by Patricia Lubeck reveals the terrible situation for patients confined in the insane asylums. Asylums eventually opened the door for medical practitioners to research people with mental illness, despite their original purpose of providing a place to keep craziness out of society. The asylums were opulent structures set among sizable, beautifully planted grounds.

These facilities gradually became neglected and squalor due to overcrowding, poorly trained employees, and dishonest management. Having an enormous cost of upkeep for the colossal structures was beyond the capacity of state support. With the number of admitted patients increased over time, making it challenging to meet the need for better care.

Eventually, several state hospitals were shut down by the 1980s. In this book, the two oldest state hospitals in Minnesota—St. Peter, founded in 1866, and Rochester, founded in 1879—are chronicled. Laws at the time, permitted families to commit a spouse, family member or acquaintance to the state hospital with little to no proof.

What Other Asylum Abuse Happened in Minnesota’s State Hospitals?

People were frequently committed against their will and never released. Asylum Scandals provides a picture of life in the state hospitals between 1867 and 1915. Authentic experiences of patients who saw abuse, neglect, torture, and murder are included.

Torturous medical procedures like lobotomies, electric shock therapy, and hydrotherapy sprays existed. Along with the many asylum scandals, these are only a small example. Many more truths about the terrible things inside the stone construction of the state hospitals have yet to be exposed.

Another Asylum Mistreatment Worth Talking About

When the York Lunatic Asylum first opened its doors in 1777, little was known about mental disease. Families were forced to make the best decisions they could for the mentally ill within their homes because there was no organized institutional care accessible.

It was common practice to chain insane people to the walls, leave them nude (because it was believed that mentally ill people could not sense cold), and isolate them. People who were insanely changed into beasts.

York Lunatic Asylum quickly veered away from its original, lofty goals of offering relief to those miserable patients who are a source of compassion and terror to everyone around them. Hannah Mills, a Quaker, passed away at the York Asylum in 1790.

Throughout her six-week stay, no friends were permitted to visit her, support her faith, or observe the conditions of her detention. William Tuke encouraged the creation of the Retreat in York. As a result, an organization based on the Quaker principle that all individuals should be treated with kindness and equality.

People Continued to Worry About Asylum Mistreatment in York

The York Asylum began to raise more and more questions. A Justice of the Peace for the West Riding named Godfrey Higgins became involved in the case after the asylum employees mistreated William Vickers. Vickers had left the hospital battered, disgusting, filthy, and weak to the point he could not stand.

Reverend Schorey, who was pushed down the flight of stairs by his keeper, and Martha Kidd, whose hip had dislocated while she was a patient, were two more patients who had received subpar care.

Nearly 40 local guys (which includes relatives of the Tuke family and some of their acquaintances) took advantage of an outdated rule during a meeting scheduled to discuss Higgins’ allegations. To become the asylum’s governors and make changes, they also paid £20.

The scandals that happened in asylums are genuinely unforgivable things. Asylum Scandals by Patricia Lubeck tells us the story we need to know. Patient accounts, what happened within silenced walls, and the atrocious secrets many higher-ups tried to bury.

By uncovering these asylum scandals, we are giving closure to many families and patients (both living and those who passed away) that they deserve.

Get a copy of Patricia Lubeck’s book titled Asylum Scandals by clicking here!