jimd@sequent.uucp (Jim DePorter) (10/03/90)
On the radio and in the newspaper today have been articles about a state mental patient making dozens of obscene phone calls to a couple. The calls started last Friday and kept up over the weekend. The couple had the guy tell them his name and found out he was calling from the Oregon State Hospital. They called the hospital and were told that due to patient confidentiality the hospital could not give any info about the patient. The couple called the Portland police and while the officer was there the patient again telephoned. The officer called the hospital and was told there wasn't anything they could do about the calls. Seems the only way the patient could be kept from the telephone would be to lock him in his room which the hospital termed as cruel and unusual punishment. Now the interesting points. The patient is John Carl Eaton who five years ago walked into his psychiatrist's office and fired several shots into him in front of witnesses. He was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and has spent the last five years in the state hospital. According to Oregon law he can get the charges dropped after five years. The crazy thing about this is that the phone is near a nurses station and that it is a pay phone!!! Why lock him up? Just take away his quarters! jimd [Moderator's Note: I would use a little guerrilla warfare to teach the hospital staff exactly what 'cruel and unusual punishment' is all about. It may be he is not even using coins to pay for the calls. He might have a fraud calling card number, a 800 wats-extender he is linking into, or who knows what. Get the phone number at the nursing station and for the hospital superintendent. Everytime the inmate makes a call, make one in return to the nursing station and *demand* that they get him under control. Call and raise a ruckus with the superintendent. Tell him if he can't get his patients under control that you will sue the institution to force him to do his job. Before long, the staff will get tired of hearing from you, and its likely they will lock the patient up somewhere, pump him full of medication and keep him away from the phone. PAT]
ben@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Benjamin Ellsworth) (10/05/90)
Two comments. Call the superintendent at home; it will be much more
effective. Also, it might be appropriate if the net were to pull an
"Irnalee" on the hospital. If we all called the hospital next monday
and asked for Mr. Eaton.
Benjamin Ellsworth ben@cv.hp.com
All relevant disclaimers apply.
[Moderator's Note: I've received no further correspondence on this
saying the problem is continuing. As I noted yesterday, despite the
bravado official attitude expressed by the hospital, and their seeming
concern for the patient's rights, I suspect after they were called by
the police and the victims, they were probably annoyed that their
patient had gotten them into a embarassing mess. They probably went
to see Mr. Eaton, raised cain and told him to stay away from the
phone or he would get locked up and lose his pass to go outside, etc.
If the problem continues, hopefully we will hear more about it. PAT]gordon@utacfd.arl.utexas.edu (Gordon Burditt) (10/08/90)
>On the radio and in the newspaper today have been articles >about a state mental patient making dozens of obscene phone calls to a >couple. The calls started last Friday and kept up over the weekend. Why can't the telco get involved in this? "Hello, Director of Mental Health Services? We have traced a number of harassing calls as originating at your facility. As you may know, the subscriber is responsible for calls made from his phone. If these calls continue, we will disconnect all your phone service, except that in an emergency, they will be allowed to dial '911', or be dialed from '911'. "You mean you're going to disconnect all the phones at the hospital?" "No, sir, your account covers all the phones at all the State Mental Health facilities in the state. Oops, we just had another call. I'm sorry, but we're disconnecting your service. Please come to our Business Office on Monday, since we're five minutes from closing now, and you won't be able to call. <click!>" It would seem to me that calls like these are just as much an emergency and "harm to the network" (therefore justification for immediate disconnection) as someone whose phone is injecting 30 kiloVolts into his local loop. Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon [Moderator's Note: As clever as your scenario is, of course it would not really happen. State government and politics play a big role in the success of any telco's existence. Another solution might be to install all COCOT-style payphones for the patients to use. Maybe the patients would get tired of the extremely high rates and poor grade of service rendered. Maybe they would vandalize the phone, etc .... .... And speaking of COCOTs ... ( I needed that lead in!) ... in the next issue of the Digest, you will meet a *real* *live* *COCOT* *owner*. Yes! One has consented to be interviewed in the columns of this little journal. They are an extremely rare breed, so treat him gently and kindly. Watch for issue 725 to hit your email box. PAT]