Rebuttal to Channel 5 News Report on Sterilizations

On November 10, 2011, the local CBS affiliate station in Sacramento aired a story on sterilizations at State developmental centers in years past. The following post comes in reaction to the story and is from Parent Hospital Association board president Kathleen Miller. You can read more about the news story that prompted this commentary at The Life Penalty: Sterilizing California.

As a former Social Worker at Sonoma Developmental Center and current President of the Parent Hospital Association for the center I find that it is important to me to respond to the recent Channel 5 news report about sterilizations that took place at what was then Sonoma State Hospital years ago. I do not deny in any way the wrong that was done to those individuals who were subject to sterilization against their will and without their knowledge or consent many long years ago. That this happened, not only at what was then Sonoma State Hospital, but also across the whole country in the 1930s, 1940s is a human tragedy. However, it is a tragedy that has been reported in the news on many occasions and one that is no longer appears to be happening. There are many current stories of budget cuts and all types of abuse to report on the population of California’s most vulnerable population of developmentally disabled citizens, many of whom can not even speak on their own behalf. Why do we not see those in the news?

Frankly, in some ways the latest news story on channel 5 offends me. The link of Sonoma to Nazi Germany seems to suggest that Sonoma was unique in its prejudices and quest to prevent reproduction in target populations. In fact the hospitalization up of individuals not in need of such, and “treatments” that would now be clearly viewed as inhuman today was wide spread and not limited to one hospital or even one state as the news story suggests. Further, in my experience as a Social Worker at the center, Sonoma is a particularly loving and accepting community. Every time we on the staff would bring residents to share in local Sonoma events the residents were met with acceptance, respect, and inclusion. Therefore it pains me to see both the center and Sonoma painted an in unfair and negative light.

More important to me however, is the harm done to the center and the current residents of Sonoma Developmental Center by this untimely story. The story about past wrongs should not reflect on the Sonoma Developmental Center of today. The center has, despite recent severe cuts, continued to provide quality care for California’s most vulnerable. Sadly, it does reflect. Any negative publicity, no matter how seemingly unrelated to the excellent care residents receive today, casts the centers in a negative light. Those in positions of political power who wish to close the centers and privatize the care industry use it to strengthen their case.

The losers in this war are people like my son who calls Sonoma Developmental Center home. There is no news story about how he was kicked out of his private for profit community home when his mental illness became more acute. No one bothered to report how he almost died as a result of the drug regimen he received at an acute psych center ill equipped to deal with developmentally disabled individuals. For that matter- how much coverage did the recent deaths of five individuals as the result of a fire occurring in a local community home receive?

I understand that every day news channels must be faced with difficult choices of what stories to report. What I still do not understand is why this story and why now? This story has certainly been reported in the news on many previous occasions. It added nothing new except the face of a man who had the sterilization procedure 65 years ago. Many of our developmentally disabled family members are at risk today! We who love them are engaged in a fight for the chance of our loved ones to have a choice about where and how they live. They are at risk of losing that choice. The recent news story only adds to that risk.

Kathleen Miller
Board President, Parent Hospital Association