Recent Lawsuit Settlement Gives New Hope for ECT Victims

     For the first time, two psychiatrists and a psychiatric hospital have been successfully sued for damage caused by ECT and for a failure to inform patients about the risks of the treatment. The plaintiffs were two women who were administered eleven and thirty-one ECT sessions, respectively, and sued two psychiatrists and the Sutter Center for Psychiatry in Sacramento, California, for brain damage, permanent memory loss, cognitive impairment, and subsequent difficulties learning and remembering new information.

     The psychiatrists and the Sutter Center were charged with common-law negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, medical malpractice, battery, and negligently and intentionally concealing and failing to adequately disclose and warn about risks of administering ECT without obtaining their patients informed consent.

     The plaintiffs also alleged that one of the psychiatrists who was charged had concealed from them that he had been convicted of the felony of illegally selling body parts and organs of deceased veterans. He had had his medical license suspended by the California Medical Board as a result of this “criminal and reprehensible conduct”.

     Although the case was settled out of court this May before going to trial, it is considered a victory for ECT victims because it had not been dismissed before that, as most every other ECT lawsuit has been. Because of a 2024 California Supreme Court ruling that cancelled dismissal of a case when a psychiatrist says that he would have prescribed ECT for a patient even with the risks involved, this new case was able to overcome all the motions to dismiss by the defense.

     The two psychiatrists and the Sutter Center settled out of court for an undisclosed amount because, apparently, they suspected they would lose their case in trial by a jury decision. Dr. John Read, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, was an expert witness for the case. Read published the landmark 2025 ECT study of the debilitating effects of ECT on 1144 patients and their families. His was the first reputable and complete overview since 1985 of the harms possible from ECT.

     “No studies show that ECT has any benefits at all beyond the end of treatment,” Read had written about his study. “Our findings, from the largest survey ever conducted, indicate that claims that ECT is effective are, at best, unproven and, at worst, misleading.”

     This recent Sacramento ECT case settlement now opens the door for ECT victims to be compensated through the courts for the life injuries they have suffered from ECT.