Shock Therapy for Disabled People Puzzles Massachusetts Court (1)

The only residential facility in the world that treats disabled people with painful electric shocks may have the right to continue doing so, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court suggested Wednesday.

The high court debate is the latest development in a decades-long fight between the state and the Judge Rotenberg Center over a controversial treatment that’s either considered inhumane or a lifeline, depending on who you ask.

At oral argument, none of the justices seemed enthusiastic about vacating a 35-year-old consent decree that has allowed the Judge Rotenberg Center to use a Graduated Electronic Decelerator device on patients with disabilities.

Instead, ...