The Wire

There are calls for reform of the laws in Victoria governing mental health treatment today, after revelations in Fairfax newspapers that hundreds of people in the state may be subjected electroconvulsive therapy without their consent. Electroconvulsive therapy or ECT is a treatment that applies electric currents to a patient’s brain. ECT is a controversial treatment, and in other states there are more oversight mechanisms for situations where patients may be given this kind of treatment without their prior consent.

Advocates for people with a mental illness in Victoria say that there should be strict and thorough oversight of this kind of treatment, if the treatment is allowed at all.