Woman electrocuted to ‘cure’ sexuality demands recognition

A woman who received more than 200 electric shocks – leaving her with severe burns and bouts of blindness – in an attempt to ‘cure’ her sexuality has called on the New Zealand government to acknowledge the torture inflicted on her and others.

Joan Bellingham also suffers from memory loss as a result of what she calls ‘torture’, including being forced to take a cocktail of drugs, while under the care of the Princess Margaret Hospital in Christchurch between 1970 and 1982.

She filed a claim with the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in 1987 for the burns to her scalp, but had to wait twelve years before receiving NZ$10,000 (£4,600 / $5970) in compensation for the burns and $1,500 (£ 695/$895) for the resulting chronic headache.

In 2012, she approached the Crown Health Funding Agency and received a “wellness payment” of $4,000 (£1,850/$2,390) and part of her legal fees, but the settlement had to remain secret and authorities refused to admit any wrongdoing.

But, talk to Radio New Zealand, she is now calling on the government to acknowledge the torture carried out under the guise of medical treatment in facilities across New Zealand.

‘Horrible pain’

Bellingham’s records of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have been lost, meaning the extent of what she experienced will never be fully revealed. However, some surviving documents detail the hundreds of shocks she was exposed to.

She claimed to have been shocked more than 200 times simply because she was a lesbian.

“Every time I went in there, I knew I was going to experience this horrible pain,” she said.

“Something was injected into me that left me paralyzed. There would be someone standing there with the ECT box, and someone (who) was recovering (was) moaning and groaning. I knew I would be – if I survived. Every time I thought I was going to die.

‘I can still remember the pain, the terrible headache afterwards, constant vomiting, sometimes going blind, severe burns on my head, and they were seeping through. They would give me shock treatment the same day.”

‘Like a drug of death’

The pseudoscientific practice of conversion therapy ranges from the electric shocks Bellingham received to psychoanalysis, aversion treatments, nausea-inducing drugs or simply “praying the gay away.” All forms have been rejected by mainstream medical and mental health organizations for decades.

Bellingham remembered the “death drug” and left her in “horrendous pain.” A doctor asked her “many inappropriate sexual questions,” she added.

“If they did something to heal someone who was sick, it would be a completely different story. When I went in there I wasn’t sick. They caused me indescribable pain, they took away my memory, they took away my personality, they made me blind, they burned my head.

“That’s torture for me.”

She also claimed that a boy who also underwent the ‘treatment’ later committed suicide.

The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Diana Sarfati, apologized on Tuesday (November 12) to all who were victims of abuse in state care and health care institutions between 1950 and 1999.

In a statement to PinkNews, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “The Department acknowledges the survivors who shared their experiences with the Royal Commission. The ministry also acknowledges survivors who did not or no longer participate in the study.

“The Department of Health in particular recognizes the harm that individuals experience in health and mental health services. Any harm, and especially any abuse resulting from trust in government institutions, is unacceptable.”

Suicide is preventable. Readers affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Note 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

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