Chapter 16 — Hospitals

Physical abuse

The most frequently reported form of physical abuse was being hit as punishment for perceived misdemeanours, examples of which included bed-wetting, talking, crying, and not knowing the answers to a question. Witnesses reported that physical abuse was also precipitated by refusing to demonstrate functional abilities for visiting experts and medical consultants, not eating the food provided, and not following staff instructions.

Witnesses reported that they were hit with sticks, canes, straps, scissors, hair and hand brushes. Witnesses also reported having their hair pulled, being punched, kicked, immersed in cold water and being subjected to painful treatment procedures with little care or consideration. They reported being force fed, left lying in wet beds or on bedpans for lengthy periods, and being made to kneel on the floor or stand with their arms raised for extended periods of time. I would have been about 9 or 10, there was this ...named female nurse... and she used to go around with this plastic ...implement... hitting children for stupid things, such as not standing in a queue, not going to school, not being on time. You might be at physio ... (physiotherapy)... and not be able to get to your classroom on time.... She hit ... across the hand, across the head, across the back of the legs. Everybody would know about it. I seen children with marks on the backs of the legs, blood and everything. She was really evil. I got a belt one day with her hand and with her...implement.... I retaliated once. I hit her in the chest with my head and got a real walloping off the staff then.... The staff did not care what way you were treated....

Witnesses described being physically abused in their hospital beds, on the wards, in bathrooms, dining rooms, classrooms, treatment and consulting rooms, and other areas within the hospital environment.

The majority of witnesses who reported abuse in this section were bed-bound either because of the traditional practice of a hospital ward where patients were kept in bed, or because of the nature of their disability or illness. Immobile patients were described as especially vulnerable and dependant. Several witnesses reported being subjected to painful treatments and interventions while they were unable to move. A witness described having partially healed cold sores pulled repeatedly from her lips while she was restrained in bed. Another witness reported that the Sister in charge dropped him to the ground as a punishment: I remember one morning ... I was about 5 and I was sat up in the bed ... and I heard a voice behind and there’s a very tall nun looking down on me and she’s not pleased, I can tell by her face. She said I’d offended God, she called me a cripple. I remember it’s the first time I was ever called a cripple. ... She said before I was fit to meet him ... (God)... again, I’d have to be broken and she just picked me up out of the bed and she threw me down onto the ground ...distressed.... She’d just kick the shit out of me, picked me up and punched and beat me. That was not the first time ... (to be beaten)..., but it was the first time I was conscious that this is serious. ... After that I kept very, very quiet ... invisible ... where you think if you don’t speak you’re not going to get beaten, if you’re quiet there’s no excuse to beat you.

Other witnesses who were subjected to routine and painful physical interventions including injections, joint manipulation and surgery, reported being punished if they resisted or objected to the treatments. Being unable to move independently created particular difficulties in these circumstances. I couldn’t run away, but I could hide under the bed in the corner, where they couldn’t get at me. They used to have to beat me out with a stick. • In all the time there I never remember getting a painkiller, the nuns used have this thing about pain where they’d believe you could be redeemed through pain. ... I remember a lot of pain, you didn’t complain because you knew you weren’t going to get anything for it, you’d grin and bear it, that’s the way it was.

Witnesses who were physically disabled or who had restricted mobility described being roughly treated by staff, causing injury in two instances. One witness described a member of the hospital care staff throwing her from one bed onto another in anger, which resulted in her falling and cutting her head. Another witness reported that a staff member pushed a trolley at her that knocked her over and caused an injury to her head that required medical attention. On both occasions the incidents were reported to staff in authority as ‘accidents’ within hearing of the witnesses.

Witnesses reported being punished for bed-wetting by having wet sheets draped over their heads, being left lying in wet sheets for long periods, and left sitting on bedpans, they believed, to avoid having to change wet or soiled sheets. Two (2) witnesses reported being forced to kneel or sit partially clothed against a wall with their arms extended ‘for hours’ as a punishment for bed-wetting. Another witness reported being smacked on his bared bottom in front of adult male patients on the ward where he was the only child. All the kids were frightened of calling on the nurses...we were not allowed out of bed on our own, we couldn’t put a foot out of bed...there were terrible punishments, if you wee’d ... (urinated)... the bed, they made you remove the jacket of your pyjamas and they made you kneel against this wall, supplicate against this white clinical wall with your arms in the air until they decided it was time to go back to bed. If you defecated you lost your top and bottom and you’d be naked, kneeling against this wall ... with your hands above your head.

Five (5) witnesses reported being physically restrained by staff. Two (2) of those witnesses described being forcibly medicated while restrained and another witness described being tied to the rail of the hospital bed to curtail any movement. The other three witnesses reported being locked in cupboards or confined spaces overnight. Witnesses reported being restrained in these ways for reasons such as refusing to co-operate with a treatment procedure, for retaliating to a physical assault by staff or for indiscipline.

Three (3) witnesses reported being physically abused and beaten by older co-patients whom staff entrusted with the task of ‘minding’ younger patients on the ward in their absence. Witnesses stated that the older patients regarded this as an opportunity to hit them without fear of reproach. One witness reported being ‘terrorised’ by an older patient whom he believed the staff were unable to control on the ward and at times had to restrain. The same witness reported being abused and threatened by another co-patient in the absence of adequate supervision.

Witnesses reported 23 individuals as physically abusive, 10 of whom were named female staff members. Six (6) of the named physical abusers were identified as lay nurses and four as religious Sisters who were believed to be nurses. One religious Sister was identified by name as physically abusive by four witnesses and a female lay nurse was similarly identified by two witnesses. The other eight named female staff were the subject of single witness reports.

There were another nine accounts of abuse by unnamed religious and lay care staff, including nursing staff, and three reports of older patients physically abusing witnesses. There were three accounts of groups of care staff being abusive without an individual perpetrator being identified. Two (2) reports of unnamed abusers refer to male nursing staff and co-patients. One witness reported being physically abused by the husband of a lay care worker to whom he had been sent to work from the hospital. It is possible that there is some overlap between those named and not named as abusers.

Sexual abuse

The use of the child by a person for sexual arousal or sexual gratification of that person or another person.4 Witness reports of sexual abuse given in evidence to the Committee referred to both contact and non-contact abuse, with the majority referring to contact sexual abuse, predominantly rape. Reports of sexual abuse from male and female witnesses in relation to hospital facilities were noteworthy as most often single or infrequent incidents.

Fourteen (14) witnesses reported being sexually abused, eight of whom reported sexual abuse as the only category of abuse experienced. A further six witnesses reported being sexually abused in combination with other forms of abuse. The 14 reports of sexual abuse refer to 12 different hospital facilities, as follows: Two (2) hospitals were each the subject of two reports, totalling four reports. Ten (10) hospitals were each the subject of single reports.

There were five reports of sexual abuse by witnesses discharged in the 1960s, and two each in relation to the 1940s, 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. There was one report in relation to the 1990s.

Witnesses described being subjected to contact sexual abuse including fondling, digital penetration and rape. Female witnesses also reported being subjected to painful internal examinations and male witnesses reported being fondled and masturbated under the pretext of medical examinations in hospital settings.