Personal privacy has always been important to me, and to my husband as well. But sometimes, other people's needs and the greater good have to take precedence over personal desires and preferences. I was physically, medically, psychologically, and emotionally abused by doctors and staff while I was a multiple-trauma inpatient with a broken neck at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. This web site contains the story about what happened to me while I was there, and what happened when I tried to get the hospital's administration to accept some responsibility for what was done to me.

I am giving up my privacy and exposing some pretty personal stuff in the hope that 1) Other women will be warned, and be able to avoid being abused the way I was, and 2) To set the record straight and tell the truth about what really happened during those five days and nights. There were at the time, and continued to be, almost universal attempts by the staff to blame me for the abuse and mistreatment I experienced while I was a head-injured multiple trauma inpatient at NEBH. Anyone who is familiar with the psychological and legal dynamic around domestic violence will recognize this pattern.

It seems to me that domestic violence and abuse against women only began to be taken seriously when ordinary women, including well-off, well-educated women who lived in nice neighborhoods, stepped forward to say, “I was a victim.” I think medical abuse is a similar problem, and I am going to put my need for privacy on the back burner so that I can step forward and say: “I was a victim of medical abuse at New England Baptist Hospital.” It's hard for me, because I am not the victim type.

Most abusers and criminals profile and survey potential victims, looking for the women who seem least likely to fight back. I still can't imagine what it was about me the day I arrived that sent out signals saying: “Potential Victim Here!” Perhaps it was the anxiety that always accompanies head injury that confused my abusers into thinking that I was the kind of person who would let them get away with stuff. I still don't know. But I hope that reading this story will help warn other women that this could happen to them, and I hope it will help other medical abuse survivors know they are not alone.

A Adult

Although this site contains no sex and little violence, it does cover adult themes, and contains disturbing material. Trauma survivors may want to skip the Chronology pages. It is not suitable for anyone under 18.

This is a picture of me in the air ambulance on my way to the Baptist.