This is copied from the Canadian Lyme forum. Lisa Masterson has been posting about dark field microscopes and she had said her computer was being hacked by certain agencies which included the US Navy. Andromeda
< On Monday 8th May at 9.00am, Lisa Masterson, organiser of the January 2006 demonstration at the Gresham College Gulf War Syndrome lecture by Prof Simon Wessely, was arrested.
She was "sectioned" under section 2 of the Mental Health Acts. Two witnesses say that 3 uniformed police officers, 2 psychiatrists and 2 social workers took Lisa away. Despite several requests from Lisa, they would not allow her to phone a solicitor or anyone else.
She is being held in a locked ward at the Central Middlesex Hospital. Solicitors were eventually able to visit her on Tuesday afternoon. A close family friend confirms that they have now ordered her confinement stating that she is mentally ill and suffering from paranoia, due to her belief that her computer has been hacked by various agents including the US military.
The psychiatrists refused to look at printed firewall logs and also refused to look at any of the evidence online, including threatening messages from many months ago and recent threats to her children.
The address of the ward is as follows, any messages of support would be greatly appreciated and would demonstrate that Lisa is not alone.
Park Royal Centre for Mental health Pond Ward Central Middlesex Hospital Acton Lane London NW10 4NS
Conditions at the Pond Ward are described as dirty, noisy, and dangerous, with mixed male and female patients, many of whom are violent. Drug therapy might soon be enforced on Lisa.>>>
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
How did the authorities know she was saying her computer had been hacked?
If she has an attorney, and a computer technician saw the logs, then there should be a way to prove what she was saying. Someone with her best interests at heart needs to safeguard that computer.
Making a claim like this does not sound like a crime to me, or something that would end in commitment. Look at all the people who believe in flying saucers; they are not carted off to mental institutions.
This is very odd. If the authorities wished to call attention to this situation, they have picked a good way to do it.
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
[ 17. May 2006, 01:24 AM: Message edited by: Carol in PA ]
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Shes not the only one millions of americans phone records handed over too > Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said the NSA was using the data to analyze calling patterns in order to detect and track suspected terrorist activity, according to information provided to him by the White House.
``Telephone customers' names, addresses and other personal information have not been handed over to NSA as part of this program,'' Allard said.
Devels winning at the moment.
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Companies defend cooperation AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. telephone companies began turning over to the government records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said USA Today, citing anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement
This telephone records business is totally outlandish and misguided.
They had warning from an FBI official about one of the hijackers and ignored it. If they had paid attention, they could have watched this one guy, found out his contacts and maybe stopped the whole plot in its tracks before 9-11.
So, now they are sifting thru massive amounts of telephone and computer info in the slight hope of finding other terrorists? This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight, using our money to harrass and intimidate us. I think terrorism defense is being used to foster fascism.
Anyone read Sozhenitsyn's book "The First Circle?" In it he describes a character who criticized Stalin in a letter to a friend, and ended up in the gulag for years. Power corrupts. People who have it must be watched constantly to make sure they are not using it inappropriately.
Watch what they do, not what they say.
Posted by Yemaya (Member # 8842) on :
What Country are we living in? This is unbelievable. Not only do we haveto put up with this outrageous disease. We have to fight the Government too. Whats gonna happen to Lisa? Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
quis custodiet ipso custodes
who shall guard the guardians?
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
Yemaya,
She is in the UK...or so they say. Whatever. You can sign up here and be the President of the United States for all we know.
Look - there is a lot of political action being asked of everyone right now. People are going to post things to scare and INTIMIDATE YOU INTO staying home. That is terrorism!!!!!
Lisa could be a real danger to society as we do not even know her? Some activists can take things too far? Who is she an activist for? Certainly not me. Great Britian isn't known for rounding up citizens without probable cause. She had to bring attention to herself somehow? I'm not taking the bait here.
We have real battles to fight in our own country. Gulf War Syndrome being of any interest to someone in England is odd in and of itself?
This post has nothing to do with anything we should be concerned about.
Stay on point folks....Dr's being helped, and June 2nd, etc.
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
Why would it be odd for anyone in the UK to be interested in Gulf War Syndrome?
I am just curious why you say that MagicAcorn, as UK soldiers were affected just like US soldiers in the first Iraq war.
The battles in the UK are as 'real' as in the US, and that goes for the whole political Lyme situation as well. In fact, it is probably worse in the UK.
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
As a dual citizen from that part of planet I'm very qualified to my opinion.
My comments were meant fot Yemaya because she just responded without even understanding the post.
No one knows what's going on here so there is no need to turn this into an ugly OFF TOPIC back and forth.
Posted by kelmo (Member # 8797) on :
I agree, let's not get off topic by bringing the current politics into this. You're right, we don't know anything about her. Is there anyone here who knows her first hand?
I did a google search on Lisa and it seems she has been fighting this battle since 1993 when her children where removed from her after they fell ill to a mysterious ailment. She pursued it as Lyme
When you think about it, it really was the period of revelation of Munschhausen by Proxy (sp?). Some valid, some not.
As a mother, I know I must've come off as a nutcase as I paraded my daughter from specialist to specialist hoping for a diagnosis that had teeth. It took diligence and the internet research to find a doctor who could treat her.
Let's not even go into the education issue! Teachers were so cruel to my daughter as we struggled to find a reason for her pain.
So, beware of mothers with sick children!
If this is legitimate, and she was arrested for being a Lyme activist, we should rethink how we can create more awareness.
I know my LLMD will put anything but Lyme on his reports. For the public, my daughter has fibromyalgia, but he is treating the bartonella. Fibro is so widespread, it doesn't evoke much attention any more.
Kelly
Posted by NP40 (Member # 6711) on :
quote:Originally posted by MagicAcorn: As a dual citizen from that part of planet I'm very qualified to my opinion.
My comments were meant fot Yemaya because she just responded without even understanding the post.
No one knows what's going on here so there is no need to turn this into an ugly OFF TOPIC back and forth.
Off Topic ? This particular thread is about Lisa Masterson. Now, I personally don't know her and can't testify to her validity one way or the other. I've seen her posts regarding lyme many, many times. I've always found them well thought out and written.
Her frequent writings are hardly the work of someone unstable. As for the UK, much like America, their essentially becoming a police state. Governments have historically looked for ways to ensnare their populace and they're now doing it under the banner of the "war on Terrorism".
Nothing new here, history show's this behavior among goverments repeatedly. As an outspring of this ensnarement the UK passed a law allowing people to be "sectioned". Essentially, allowing citizens to be whisked away under a vague mental health standard.
The old Soviet Union employed this practice to millions of it's citizens. Essentially, it's used as a tool to intimidate and harass any governmental opposition into submission.
American lawmakers recently passed a law allowing schools to screen children for "mental health" problems. This is not a voluntary program but one that is mandatory.
Of course the pharmaceutical company's stand to make billions prescribing dangerous, non-effective drugs to school age children. What if parents refuse to medicate their children ?
Just ask parents around the country who've refused to give their children ritalin, which is a FDA classified level 2 drug. [Same as cocaine] Children can be summarliy taken from their parents and parents can be jailed for refusing court-ordered drug therapy.
Many children with lyme have been "sectioned" in the UK. Of course, most doctor's there refuse to believe it even exists so extremely ill children are ripped from their parents and institutionalized while suffering from horrific lyme symptoms. Of course, their diagnosed with a wide range of mental illness's, just like here in America.
These UK "sectioned" children with lyme have been thrown into pools while experiencing lyme paralysis, to shock their system into responding from their so-called "self-induced" psychosis. Of course the children are terrified that they'll drown because the lyme has hampered their extremity movement.
Another favorite of these sadists is to run with wheelchair confined children and abruptly stop, hoping that the children will then move their extremities to brace their fall. This is documented fact.
If the health authorities in the UK are willing to go to such lemgths against children do you really have any doubt that they'll go to whatever lengths to silence an adult activist ?
Posted by NP40 (Member # 6711) on :
Just wanted to add. The UK doctor that was the original discoverer of "Munchausen by Proxy" syndrome has been recently outed as a total fraud and stripped of his license to practice.
The UK is now moving away from "Munchausen by Proxy" syndrome. However, here in America this so-called "syndrome" is used regularly by doctor's to thwart mother's looking for medical care for their children.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Many may not be aware that some states in the U.S. can put someone in a psych ward against their will for up to 72 hours if police receive a report that the person is considered a danger to themselves or others.
Hubby's first psych admit in Florida was under the so-called "Baker Act". This is a state law in Florida. Hotel called police when he started arguing with me -- noise disturbance.
My sister had gone out to get gas in the car before we tried driving on to a doc appointment several hours away. Hubby did admit he wished to harm himself and ended up in a strait jacket.
At that point we had no diagnosis and he had been sick about 4 months I think. I didn't try to fight the psych admission as I didn't know what to do or where to turn to -- had already seen around 30 docs plus numerous ER visits.
Psychotropic meds temporarily stabilized some symptoms, but I believe in the end this only confused diagnosis even more and it took 2 years to get him off the meds.
Don't know how many states have similar laws to Florida, but I am prety sure there are others.
Bea Seibert
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
may the infected-fleas of 1000 camels infest the blls of the low-lifes. Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
Thanks for clarifying that MagicAcorn, then you know that UK soldiers got Gulf War Syndrome just like US ones did, and that there has been MUCH talk about it in the UK.
So, that's why I wondered why you'd say that it is odd that anyone in the UK would be interested in Gulf War Syndrome. Lots of people are.
From one dual citizen to another.
DLL
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
Uhhhhh....no. That's not what I meant, DDL.
Imagine my total amazement at meeting another dual citizen on just this very thread????
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
Lisa is a real person, she had all the trouble with her "fabricated and Induced illness" in 2003. The Munchausen's by Proxy name was changed round about that time to FII, after the Professor Meadow who invented it was being hauled before the GMC because he'd got his facts so wrong.
I just spoke to a writer and journalist who told me that literally thousands of kids in the UK have been taken from their parents, either because the kids have ME (= CFS)or Lyme. She said that Lisa is under a gagging order, so has never gone public about her own case. Instead she has tried to do as much to bring the general situation into the open, in the hope that it might help her one day, as well as everyone else in the Lyme world.
The journalist warned me to be careful to not mention Lisa's surname in public in case it is deemed to be breaking the gagging order.
But the present case has nothing really to do with that, apart from the fact that L was obviously (wrongly)diagnosed in the past as a mentally ill person who had the delusion that several people in one family had all got Lyme at the same time, and in the UK this was something that was seen as beyond all possibilities.
God knows what went on in 2003, because it's now all under the Family laws, and cannot be mentioned in case it is deleterious for the kids.
I asked the journalist if there was a way of doing something to help, like starting an e-petition, but she is undecided, in case it makes matters worse re the Family Laws gagging order.
Someone , a social worker I believe, but I might be wrong, thought that Lisa must be insane to say that the US militery was hacking her computer, but there was also a horrible message on the group called Scimedlyme which seemed to threaten her kids, which she showed to the social worker and the police about a week before she got arrested/sectioned. I hope I've got this down correctly, but anyway, the whole thing stinks because L is as sane as anyone, it's obviously all connected to the past.
The ME world were getting to know of L because she started a committee in January 2006 called "gulfwarsyndrome/ME for real" and held a protest outside a college in London. The psychiatrist who was giving a lecture there was Simon Wessely. He has been used to discredit all of the diseases like GWS and CFS over the last 20 years as being unreal diseases, just all due to stress and the modern age. ( a really clever chap, I don't think)
He was very involved with the beginnings of quackwatch when it was called something else, and it's in a book by Martin Walker called "Skewed", sorry I cannot remember all of the details.
There was a website at the time, don't know if it's still there, called something like www.gwsme4real.org or .net? Hasn't come up on google, will try and find out more.
BW, A
Posted by NP40 (Member # 6711) on :
By all means keep us posted on Lisa's status and let us know if lymenet members can help.
A gag order on top of having your children removed ? Wow, the fascists running the UK have really covered their bases haven't they ? Yank your ill children away and then prevent the parents from voicing their opinion.
Of course, the Iraq war and Blair in particular are about as popular in the UK as the war and Bush are here, which is practically no support at all.
No matter, delusional, narcissistic men like these are only beholden to power and money. They long ago lost any capacity to feign concern for their fellow man.
Posted by meg (Member # 22) on :
One thing I do know is that the nasties on SciMed have been harassing her for years--they've tried it here with us. So couldn't they manipulate this to look like it comes from somewhere else? Computer hacker on their side?
I can't even imagine the nightmare of having your children taken from you.
[ 24. May 2006, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: meg ]
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
Wesseley is definitely a weasel.
Posted by DR. Wiseass (Member # 6777) on :
OH @#$% !!!
I'm just now reading this.
I just spoke with Lisa on the phone a few weeks ago - we talked at length about her computer being hacked.
I've emailed a bit & talked on the phone with Lisa on/off for at least the last year. We may go for a long time without talking - but when we do chat - we usually have marathon phone sessions....and since she IS calling from the UK, I can only imagine what her phone bill has been!
While her stories somtime seem outragenous - Lisa also seems extremely SANE to me.
I really think her heart has been in the right place, and she is being screwed by various entities & individuals because she's dared to buck the system and speak out.
Apparently the UK doesn't have the same kinds of freedoms that we in the US seem to believe we have.
I'm really shocked about this and about in tears.
Andromeda - would you mind PMing me or emailing me? It seems you have lots of info.
Do you know anything more? Can people send her messages or contact her in any way?
I just can't believe this.
I don't know what else to say.
This isn't right! It's just not @#$%ing right! Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Shes pretty smart cookie for them to be going after her anyway they can.
sorry about that dl
[ 16. May 2006, 10:35 AM: Message edited by: treepatrol ]
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
Treepatrol,
I believe that is the site of Kathleen Dickson and not Lisa Masterson.
Posted by ChrisBtheLymie (Member # 8916) on :
I read a few of her articles, surely there is more behind this? They are not allowed to lock her up for saying the U.S Navy hacked her P.C...
[ 20. May 2006, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: ChrisBtheLymie ]
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
up
Posted by Yemaya (Member # 8842) on :
Magic Acorn, I take offense to your post. I am not Stupid I do know how to read. I know exactly what is going on in this post.
I really don't care if George W. is posting here or not. Our Government is not perfect. We don't just live in this Country. We live in this World. So we should be concerned with whats going on all over it.
Especially since this Country has its nose stuck in so many other Countries Interests.
What I meant by my post is the fact that we can't get any recognition on this Disease. That we are fighting the Insurance Companies, the CDC, FDA, & Social Security Disability, ( Government Agencies ) all on one level or another.
Nothing is being done to help us. If we weren't in a fight with these agencies we would not need activists like Lisa.
You openly admitted that you don't know anything about Lisa.
Well I don't know much either, but I do see her as a sister who is suffering from this outrageous disease. Who is trying to get some recognition for it. Who may have been harrassed for being out spoken about it & other things.
Who now is being called crazy and punished for it. Well I sympathize with her. My own mother is going around telling everyone that I am crazy, because of this damn disease.
So I think Lisa at leasts deserves our support, for not being afraid to speak her mind. So lets get back to the main topic of this post in the first place.
Love, Light, & Healing, Yemaya
Posted by pigwit (Member # 9059) on :
I have empathy for Lisa.
I joined the military during the Viet Nam war, I was told that the "Agency" I was enlisting in was not even in Viet Nam. Once enlisted, I learned that it was there, but the information was just classified. In fact, the first American serviceman killed in Viet Nam had the same type of job (MOS) that I had. Various additional things happened to further damage my confidence in the government telling the truth. It doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I have worked extensively providing therapy to foster kids and learned that advocating too strongly for families damaged my career. I also have a background of evaluating people for emergency detention or civil commitment. I felt I had to be careful advocating very strongly for a few people caught up in the system.
It is scary writing this. For the moment, it may give me a little more sense of purpose. I don't want Lisa to feel she is all alone.
Pigwit
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
Yemaya,
Why you take offense to no one knowing exactly what's is going on I have no idea.
I'm not only a sister, I am a mother of a kid with lyme disease and I DO take offense at your considering me anything less....especially since I reminded everyone to stay on point, support our doctors, and to go to the rally on June 2nd.
I'm not the enemy here.
Posted by Yemaya (Member # 8842) on :
Andromeda13 do you have anymore news on what is happening with L? Please keep us informed. Especially on anything we can do to help.
My thoughts and Good energy are with her.
I am sorry to all of you to bring my earlier rant to the Board. Magic Acorn I PMed you.
Hope everyone is hanging in there.
Love, Light, & Healing, Yemaya
[ 22. May 2006, 10:55 PM: Message edited by: Yemaya ]
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
It's so difficult to know what to do to help. Communication with the hospital is difficult but I did manage to reach Lisa on the patients' corridor phone this morning, it had been not working for most of last week.
Lisa said to thank everyone who is thinking of her and praying for her, and she has had some cards delivered.
The worst thing is that her mother died last night at 10pm, but she had been very ill for the last week or so in hospital and Lisa was expecting the end would be soon. She had been allowed to visit her mother during the afternoon on Sunday, and was only thankful that she was under very good pain control and not really conscious for the last hours of her life.
The tribunal when she can ask for a second opinion was set for Monday (today) but has now been postponed. She thinks it will probably be later this week.
Lisa said that several people had faxed information to the consultant and the solicitor. An ILADS doctor had sent information and a character reference.
It seems that faxes are a good way to get information there. If you PM me, I now have the fax numbers for the ward, the consultant and the lawyers.
If anyone would like to see the things Lisa wrote recently, there are links on www.lymeblog.com, on the article that's about the 6th one down on the news page.
It is significant that Lisa was the most prominent organiser of the rally/demonstration against a psychiatrist Simon Wessely in January this year.
Lisa did say that two of the more junior psychiatrists on the ward were actually listening to her. They had only ever heard of Lyme disease as a very rare disease, and did not think we have it in Britain, but they were beginning to get interested. If only they knew that the actual conservative figures are 2000 cases a year, and this is probably a huge underestimation.
It seems strange that when the tribunal does actually take place, it will be a sane person trying to educate ignorant doctors about a disease which could be causing about a quarter of their other patients' illnesses. Surely psychiatrists should all be aware that neuroborreliosis is a differential diagnosis now in mental illness? So they should therefore know a bit more about it by now?
Perhaps if some more knowlegable people could briefly summarise the whole situation with Lyme on an A4 fax, then some spark of light would get through to the doctors.
One ILADS doctor has already done this, you'd think it would be enough, but who knows what the consultant is thinking. is she just dismissing everything she receives? Lisa said this consultant did not know what the term computer hacking meant. And the consultant also said that the ex-Lyme officer of the NIH, Dr McSweegan, only existed in Lisa's imagination. Consultant psychiatrists are paid about �90,000 to �100,000 a year, that's about $200,000.
Best wishes Andromeda13
Posted by DR. Wiseass (Member # 6777) on :
Andromeda --
Thank you for the update. I hope you gave Lisa my love & told her I am praying for her.
I've made a few phone calls today and am waiting on some returns.
I think what we, as an INTERNATIONAL LYME COMMUNITY need to do is brainstorm about ways we could go about helping Lisa in the event that the tribunal (hearing) does not go well for her.
I haven't the slightest idea what to do when someone is held under false pretenses - but there MUST be some kind of HUMAN RIGHTS action that we can start on her behalf?!! Isn't there?
Am I just painfully naive??
I have known Lisa for greater than a year. She is a British citizen. She is sane. And she has been through some unbelieveable - yet real - circumstances all because she has this little disease we call Lyme, and she has not been willing to stay silent about it.
She has spoken out with a courage that most of us will never know. She has tried to shine a light on some of the darkness that surrounds this illness and for that, she is now imprisoned in a filthy mental asylum where her shoes are falling apart because of having to wade thru urine day after day.
I can not fathom the conditions she is enduring -- all because her heart told her she could not stay silent.
And I think what we all need to remember is that if it were not for the grace of God - there go you or I!
We HAVE to think of how we can support each other in circumstances such as this - regardless of the land we call home.
Does anyone have any ideas - any know=how? Any ties to the media?
I am so upset by this and feel so powerless to help Lisa; but I refuse to believe that together we couldn't have enough power to make a difference.
Any ideas? Anybody? Please!
Posted by NP40 (Member # 6711) on :
Andromeda, perhaps you could post those fax numbers in this link ? No malicious faxes but one's that show convincing evidence of the existence of lyme may help. Perhaps even support letters ?
Many times in situations like these when authority is under the microscope and many people are taking interest, they often backdown. If they can pull lymies off of the street in the UK then how long before it comes here ?
You stand together or fall separately.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Found something very disturbing to me when I searched PubMed for Lyme and McSweegan -- This is what makes this an international issue and could directly affect us all.
Journal home > Archive > Correspondence > Full Text Correspondence Nature 440, 278 (16 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440278b
Lyme vaccine demonized by advocacy groups Edward McSweegan1
Maryland USA
Sir: As a microbiologist who managed a federal programme on Lyme disease in the 1990s, I consider that any new clinical trials of a vaccine candidate based on the protein OspA, as mentioned in your News Feature "Uphill struggle" (Nature 439, 524-525; 2006), should be confined to Europe, for three reasons.
First, Lyme disease is non-communicable, readily treatable with common antibiotics and geographically localized in the United States. Neurological cases -- where treatment can be problematic -- are more common in Europe and a new vaccine may reduce the costs and consequences of infection.
Second, European experience with the widely used tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) vaccine may facilitate vaccine-trial recruitment and greater public acceptance of a new Lyme vaccine.
Third, Europe is a less litigious environment and is largely free of organized Lyme-patient advocacy groups. In the United States, activists have turned Lyme disease into everyone's backyard bogeyman. They have demonized experts for their views on treatment and prevention, and hired lawyers to successfully argue the dangers of vaccine-induced autoimmunity (Philadelphia Inquirer B03, July 9 2003).
The activists are already using Internet discussion groups to warn against a new vaccine. One of them recently wrote "I would encourage all Lyme patients to consider writing letters, emphasizing the lack of demand for the last vaccine, and also the fact that any future vaccines can expect a lack of cooperation, protests, legal quagmires, etc."
A careful, hysteria-free trial of the new OspA vaccine in Europe may help to undermine the opposition to it in the United States
Edward McSweegan
Nature ISSN: 0028-0836 EISSN: 1476-4687
� 2006 Nature Publishing Group - partner of AGORA, HINARI, Cross Ref and COUNTER
------------------------------------------------ THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!
Dr Wiseass -- Please make sure this gets to Lisa's attorney.
[ 23. May 2006, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: seibertneurolyme ]
Posted by trails (Member # 1620) on :
woah. Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Once a A hole always a A hole
Hes a (_O_) & he can (_X_)
Posted by DR. Wiseass (Member # 6777) on :
Thank you for that post, Bea - I'm sure her solicitors will find it interesting.
A few days ago I had received this letter from one of Lisa's UK friends...and I neglected to post here for some reason.
Remember - it is now an outdated update. ((Contact info has been removed for legal / privacy reasons. If you would like to contact the lawyers or Lisa - please PM me. )) ***************************************** *******************************************
Dear friends, I'm sorry I didn't get this to you sooner, it has been so difficult keeping people in touch with each other, so forgive me if this is rushed. Lisa knows that you have voiced your concerns on the net and elsewhere, and thanks you so much.
This may be reposted.
The patients (about 40 people, male and female) have access to only one phone on the ward, and this has not been working since Tuesday morning or late Monday night , 15th May.
The staff have repeatedly said that a patient had cut the wires. One wonders which of the patients had access to something sharp enough to cut phone wires, especially worrying since many of them have violent outbursts and attack each other frequently.
During the ward round on Tuesday 16th May, afternoon time, the head psychiatrist Dr M. Ranger, declared that her diagnosis of Lisa was that she had "pervasive delusional disorder", based on the fact that Lisa believed that her computer had been hacked by the DOD of the USA, and that she also believed Lyme disease was a potential biowarfare agent.
She prescribed Risperadol to commence on Tuesday evening. Lisa refused the medication, and her solicitors that evening sent a fax to Dr Ranger voicing their strong objections to this medication.
Lisa refused to take it on Wednesday evening, and will continue to do so. However, it is within the power of the consultant to enforce the Risperidol to be given by intramuscular injection forcibly if necessary.
That Tuesday should have seen the appeal or tribunal happen, but the solicitors asked for a postponement. The new date for the tribunal is now said to be Monday 22nd May.
((The tribunal was NOT held yesterday and has been postphoned...AGAIN. Not sure of the date yet.....DR ))
Please bear in mind that the consultant psychiatrist has made her diagnosis in the full knowledge and receipt of faxes from people, both friends and professional aquaintances of Lisa's, who have testified to Lisa's soundness of mind, and to the fact that there is evidence available everywhere stating that Lyme is a potential bioweapon.
Some people have sent in their own computer firewall logs giving evidence of similar military hacking.
Another dreadful event also taking place is the imminent death of Lisa's dear mother, who was rushed to hospital last Friday 12th May, with kidney failure, then heart failure. Lisa has been allowed to visit her mother today, accompanied at all times by a mental nurse.
((Lisa's mother has now passed away, but Lisa had been allowed to see her for a little bit that day just prior to her death....DR))
Lisa cared for and nursed her mum for many months until she was transferred to a nursing home earlier this year. Tonight could be her mother's last night on earth. Lisa must return to the locked ward, with no friends or loved ones to comfort her, to grieve alone in the tumult, filth and chaos of a mental prison.
She has now endured this mini hell for 11 days, not knowing when the "chemical cosh" of a powerful antipsychotic drug will be forced on her, not knowing whether she will be attacked in her sleep when she dares to fall asleep, not knowing either whether tears of grief will be seen as a sign of mental illness and depression.
In the days of Soviet Russia, Haloperidol was the favourite drug of choice used to silence political prisoners. Now in Britain, a country I once believed to be a free democracy and a cradle of civilisation, the new tool of repression appears to be Risperidol. I haven't looked up its side effects yet, I daren't.
There is a way of contacting Lisa at the ward, even though the phone is broken. (US people have to miss out the first zero I think.)
((removed for legal / privacy reasons - PM me if needed ))
Ring the ward staff desk/office first if you want to check if the fax is ready Their numbers are: ((removed for legal / privacy reasons - PM me if needed ))
They are at liberty to censor anything they believe will hurt Lisa's mental health.
Any really important letter or fax could be sent to the solicitors, who will make sure that Lisa receives it.
((To contact Lisa's attorney's please PM me))
any additional evidence to support Lisa, saying you know her as sane, that you know of DOD and others hacking computers, that you know that Lyme is a potential bioweapon, please send it to either the solicitors or the ward.
The consultant Dr Ranger has her own fax number, which is ((removed)). xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't know what else I can do at this moment, other than keep trying to contact Lisa herself and reassure her, and keep up contact with her friends. There is a member of the House of Lords who has contacted the solicitors and the consultant, and a journalist has been taking many notes and contacting other people in the media.
Not many journalists in the UK know anything about Lyme, so they would be a bit puzzled by all this at first.
~friend of Lisa Masterson
********************************************* ************************************************ I thank all of you who are taking an interest in the unjust persecution of a fellow Lyme patient.
We MUST stick together on this. Who knows which one of us will be next because we are "delusional" enough to believe that our own gov't has had some dirty foxes in the henhouse.
Most of us are aware that Bb has been tinkered with as a biowarfare agent -- but Lisa is being punished because she wanted to draw attention to that fact.
Most of us are well aware that our gov't will now use any excuse to justify spying, pinging, bugging, hacking or whatever else they have the ability to do -- not only to its own citizenry - but to the citizens of other nations.
In this post 9/11 environment, we are losing more freedoms all the time -- and we let them slip away because we have either been duped into believing it is the 'right' thing to do -- or we are too tired, lazy, scared, ignorant, or ALL -- to face this Goliath that is our own govn't.
I will step off that soapbox now so as not to call too much attention to myself.
Thank you all again for providing support for Lisa -- and PLEASE, continue to brainstorm ideas of how we can form some kind of HUMAN RIGHTS campaign on her behalf if the tribunal (hearing) does not go well for her.
And most importantly, please pray that God will grant Lisa an extra helping of courage; that she will indeed have that peace that passes understanding; and that she will be freed and cleared of all charges.
United We Stand.
Hugs &
[ 25. May 2006, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: DR. Wiseass ]
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Ooops, sorry mispost!
*searches for embarrassed smilie*
[ 25. May 2006, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: trueblue ]
Posted by kelmo (Member # 8797) on :
Really love that graphic.
Posted by DR. Wiseass (Member # 6777) on :
Why thank you Kelmo!
I AM a people pleaser you know -- just trying to provide a little fun in every thread!
Besides, I thought a graphic such as that might help out the reading impaired...I'm always thinking of others.
Hugs & Posted by Ann-OH (Member # 2020) on :
[edited to remove McSweegan's address at Lou's request. Though I feel if it is part of the article as published in Nature, it should still be here. It is still there. Ann-OH]
Here is the complete article.
[quote] Nature 440, 278 (16 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440278b
Lyme vaccine demonized by advocacy groups Edward McSweegan1 [address]
Sir: As a microbiologist who managed a federal programme on Lyme disease in the 1990s, I consider that any new clinical trials of a vaccine candidate based on the protein OspA, as mentioned in your News Feature "Uphill struggle" (Nature 439, 524-525; 2006), should be confined to Europe, for three reasons.
First, Lyme disease is non-communicable, readily treatable with common antibiotics and geographically localized in the United States. Neurological cases -- where treatment can be problematic -- are more common in Europe and a new vaccine may reduce the costs and consequences of infection.
Second, European experience with the widely used tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) vaccine may facilitate vaccine-trial recruitment and greater public acceptance of a new Lyme vaccine.
Third, Europe is a less litigious environment and is largely free of organized Lyme-patient advocacy groups. In the United States, activists have turned Lyme disease into everyone's backyard bogeyman. They have demonized experts for their views on treatment and prevention, and hired lawyers to successfully argue the dangers of vaccine-induced autoimmunity (Philadelphia Inquirer B03, July 9 2003).
The activists are already using Internet discussion groups to warn against a new vaccine. One of them recently wrote "I would encourage all Lyme patients to consider writing letters, emphasizing the lack of demand for the last vaccine, and also the fact that any future vaccines can expect a lack of cooperation, protests, legal quagmires, etc."
A careful, hysteria-free trial of the new OspA vaccine in Europe may help to undermine the opposition to it in the United States.[end quote]
[ 08. June 2006, 10:21 AM: Message edited by: Ann-OH ]
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
Doc, you mentioned legal stuff; how about writing ANIEK, who is going to law school for any expertise he may have in this particular situation? I'm just reading this for the 1st time.
This post is about lyme activist, Lisa. Bettyg
Posted by Linda LD (Member # 6663) on :
Hey Doc,
I have emailed her lawyer.
If you come up with any ideas please let me know.
My doc believes that Gulf War Syndrom is Lyme disease that the troops got from sand fleas...
Linda
Posted by daniella (Member # 6753) on :
Yep that's what one of my docs believes too..
Posted by DR. Wiseass (Member # 6777) on :
BettyG -
My dear! What PERFECT timing!
Just when I was thinking: "I wish I knew a lawyer..."
YES, an acquaintance & I DO have some ideas stewing...but we really needed a lawyer's help, so this is Divine timing!
Thank you oodles & gobs, and thanks to the rest of you for your support of Lisa.
Hugs & Posted by Starship Trooper (Member # 8546) on :
It is with great pleasure that I can confirm Lisa Masterson has had her one and only trial and WON !..
Lisa is now thankfully back in her home in London UK. Thanks to everybody that sent in letters, faxes, cards etc. and a very big thank you to her Lawyers and every body else involved.
In the trial Dr Ranger reportedly told so many lies that, thankfully, the panel could see through them. Lisa has now been invited to "tea" at the House of Lords as one of the members was in Lisa's defence! Posted by ChrisBtheLymie (Member # 8916) on :
That is absoutely fantastic news, I am sooooo pleased. She should of never been in there in the first place!
Tell her to get lots of rest!
Posted by lymelighter2 (Member # 6953) on :
Dr. Wiseass, You can add me to the list of people with "mental health issues".
I wrote briefly about it in my book, "The Singing Forest, A Journey Through Lyme Disease", available at www.lulu.com/lyme
I sent a copy of it to the facility that is holding Lisa Masterson along with a very passionately written letter opposing her incarceration.
Yesterday I lost my remaining custody rights and visitation to my two children because of my exhusband and his attorney's counter motion they filed in response to my motion to regain custody. In their motion, they are claiming I have mental illness that has never been diagnosed, proven, seen, etc. And we were just at a status hearing. I am being (and my children) punished in Wisconsin for having a disability. The judge has repeatedly punished me for requiring "special accommodations", i.e. a late day appointment for an IME that was 2 hours away from my house.
I have also been held in contempt for failure to work despite being legally disabled.
The disabled (lyme) patients in this country have absolutely no freedom or rights, at least not in family court in Walworth County, Wisconsin.
My daughter was also taken out of her high school on an emergency detention for 72 hours last year after I notified them of her suicidal/homicidal postings on the internet from the schools and her father's home computer. Nobody would listen to me. They panicked and thought she was harmful and took her away. Now she blames me, the only person in her family and the system that was listening to her cries for help.
I can tell you first hand, that Lisa Masterson is definitely NOT ALONE in the way that the system handles people with either the intelligence and perseverance to be an activist, or people with physical and/or mental disabilities.
The word "intransigence" has repeatedly and continually utilized in my own court hearings, trial, appeal and new trial processes, to describe me. Although it is only a word that my ex-husband's lawyer uses, he has successfully manipulated my custody and physical placement by using this word, into a nearly non-existent state. And we are not even to the trial yet.
I have yet another IME to go through, I just had to sign over my medical records a 2nd time, and people are trying to "discover" mental illness where there is none. Only lyme disease, and at best, irritability because I am being dragged through this system, having my rights taken away, and the symptoms of lyme exacerbated by the stress.
We must do what we can for every lyme patient going through these systems, (myself included, sorry), to support them, and help them get their cases heard, period.
Posted by Yemaya (Member # 8842) on :
I am so happy for Lisa. Many Blessing to her.
She deserves a nice long rest after such a Horrific experience. Hope she is doing well.
Thank the powers that be for seeing the idiot for who he is. Mark that as 1 for are side.
Now if only Dr.J & Lymelighter can get the same kind of justice.
Love, Light, Healing & Justice, Yemaya Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Update
Statement regarding my Detention by Elena Cook 7 July 2006
I have not always agreed with her on the specifics of the lyme situation, but she has a right to make her case, and what happened to her is absolutely chilling.
Hope someone will help her sue the heck out of Dr. Ranger, etc.
At the risk of sounding conspiratorial myself, it does not seem to me that arrogance and viciousness of one or two psychiatrists can explain what happened, that her involvement in the Wessley protest probably targeted her in this way. The state has a lot riding on the psychiatric explanations being assigned to ME/CFS and gulf war illnesses. And Wessley is their paid scientific stooge.
Posted by NP40 (Member # 6711) on :
Feels like the old Soviet Union where political "undesirables" are institutionalized and forced medicated into silence.
There is hope though, for the US and the UK. The internet has provided the means for instant communication among millions. Some of the blogs have millions of viewers daily. For instance, the Daily Kos has about 4 million viewers p-day ! Compare this to Larry King [700,000 viewers], Keith Olbermann [1 million] and Bill O'Reilly [1.5 million].
Much of the tyranny that has gripped the upper echelons of our government is being thwarted by blooggers. Public opinion has turned against the war, Bush/Cheney, corruption, appeasement of big business, etc. because of bloggers exposing their misdeeds. The mainstream press will never do it.
Much of the police-state practices are under heavy fire as people have learned it has nothing to do with thwarting terrorism but instead was an excuse to snoop around in everyone's personal affairs. Lawsuits are flying, the courts are overturning authoritarian law, and millions of Americans are ready to throw the bums out.
It's Democracy in action and lymies need to get on the bandwagon. People are fed up with the corruption of legislating solely for the benefit of corporations and the extremely wealthy. Keep on pushing on.
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
![[confused]](graemlins/confused.gif)
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
![[cussing]](graemlins/cussing.gif)
![[group hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
![[shake]](graemlins/shake.gif)
![[kiss]](graemlins/kissing.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[woohoo]](graemlins/woohoo.gif)
I am so happy for Lisa. Many Blessing to her. ![[spinning smile]](graemlins/spinsmile.gif)