Use of Electric Shocks on Disabled People Upheld by Court (2)

The only residential facility in the country that treats disabled people with painful electric shocks may continue doing so, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said Thursday, despite calls to end the practice from advocates who say it’s inhumane.

The high court decision for now resolves a decades-long-fight between Massachusetts and the Judge Rotenberg Center over its use of a Graduated Electronic Decelerator device on patients with disabilities.

The case “involves a heart-wrenching issue: continue to protect a controversial practice that has widely been criticized, or pave the way for its prohibition at the risk of subjecting these vulnerable patients to ...