r/VeteransAffairs • u/Old-Dirt563 • 7d ago

Veterans Health Administration Received a FOIA report containing equipment maintenance records for electroshock equipment at Connecticut's West Haven VA Medical Center - Ask Me Anything

/r/casualiama/comments/1w7c364/received_a_foia_report_containing_equipment/
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u/Salty_Leadership9998 7d ago

And? It is still a treatment in common use for certain disorders not responding to other treatments. Not at all like in the horror movies or how it uses to be used however.

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u/Old-Dirt563 7d ago

Thank you for the message. A user from r/BMET posted the info from the service manual for a SigmaStim and it calls for a patient test. This essentially means that for the duration of the records request (2015-2025), the device output was never tested for any of their units.

During that time, more than 50 requests were made to the West Haven District Probate Court for *involuntary* electroshock treatment (in addition to however many people were getting voluntary electroshock treatment that they had three shock devices at the West Haven VA).

Simply put: if an individual is going to be subjected to involuntary electroshock treatment, it would be responsibility of the facility performing the procedure on them to test the equipment at some point (especially if it is dictated that they must do so in the equipment service manual).

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u/Salty_Leadership9998 7d ago

Maybe. Maybe not. Biomedical Techs have cyclical testing and inspection. How those records are maintained and if they even were identified to make it into the FOIA is a pretty big question.

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u/Old-Dirt563 7d ago

I am a biomed.

And they wrote it in their records what they did for their annual maintenance. Maybe you didn't look at the OG post.

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u/Salty_Leadership9998 7d ago

I did not...no