Former patients of psych unit sue Ontario, doctors, saying they were tortured

TORONTO — Treatment of a group of psychiatric patients detained at an Ontario facility decades ago amounted to torture, the opening of a civil trial heard on Monday.

More than two dozen inmates of what was the maximum security Oak Ridge facility in Penetanguishene, Ont., are suing the province and two doctors for $25 million in various damages.

Among other things, they allege that between 1965 and 1983, they were made to take mindaltering drugs, forcibly restrained or isolated, and confined nude and handcuffed to other men in the “capsule” — a tiny windowless, soundproof room that was always lit.

They claim the treatment breached their rights and left them with severe and lasting psychological damage.

In his opening statement, lawyer Joel Rochon told Superior Court Justice Ed Morgan that the sometimes violent boys and young men sent to Oak Ridge needed care, but the psychiatrists in charge of the special therapy unit — Elliott Barker and Gary Maier — failed to deliver.

Instead, he alleged, they violated their patients’ basic human rights in defiance of international protocols. The evidence, Rochon said, is uncontested that there was no established scientific foundation for the “reckless human experimentation” visited upon the hapless patients.

“In the end, there is nothing medically or scientifically valid about these programs,” Rochon said.

The government and doctors deny wrongdoing, saying the treatment was in line with medical science of the day.

“This whole case is about context,” Ontario lawyer Sara Blake said.

Regardless, the plaintiffs say, Barker’s approach was to create a psychologically coercive environment to break down their personalities. Strapped for resources, the doctors frequently used other patients to exert pressure on others, they say.

The plaintiffs say they were subjected to solitary confinement and sensory and sleep deprivation. They were stripped naked in front of others and given powerful hallucinogenics drugs such as LSD, they claim. They were also tied for long periods in extreme and painful stress positions, or had to sit quietly and motionless on a concrete floor for hours, they allege.

Barker, Rochon said, knew society would be “repulsed” by his methods, but believed he was justified because he was dealing with “throwaway people” society had rejected, court heard.

“Dr. Barker justified his approach by stating it was necessary,” Rochon said.

Given their circumstances, the inmates could not have legally consented to what was done to them, the lawyer said, especially because they knew they would be able to leave Oak Ridge only if the doctors in charge approved.

The civil trial, almost 20 years in the making since the initial statement of claim was filed, is expected to last at least six weeks and hear from most of the patients — some have died — and expert witnesses.

One proposed witness is Brig.Gen. Stephen Xenakis, an American military psychiatrist who evaluated former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Canadian Omar Khadr. Xenakis believes what happened at Oak Ridge was similar to the abusive treatment meted out to the inmates at the U.S. prison in Cuba, court heard.