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Acting Up? That’s a Shockin’

Here’s a great practical joke that you can try at home, kids. When your emotionally disturbed brother or sister starts to annoy you, try electroshock therapy! It’s hilarious. And it works!

Actually, aversion therapy is still being used in a group home in Massachusetts; unfortunately, it’s apparently susceptible to pranksters. A prank caller phoned into the home, pretending to be a staff supervisor, and ordered inexperienced and overworked staff members to shock two teens.

The caller said he was ordering the punishments because the teenagers had misbehaved earlier in the evening, but none of the home’s staff had witnessed the behavior that the caller cited. As the two boys’ screams could be heard throughout the house, near-mutiny erupted among the other boys, who insisted that the accused teenagers had violated no rules. One boy even suggested the call was a hoax, according to the report by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, which licenses group homes.

The staffers, inexperienced and overworked, were described as concerned and reluctant, yet nobody verified the orders with central office, nor did anybody check treatment plans for the two teenagers to be sure they were permitted to receive that degree of shock therapy.

By the time a call was finally placed to the central office and staff members realized their mistake, one teenager had received 77 shocks, well in excess of what his treatment plan allowed, and the other received 29. One boy was taken to the hospital for treatment of two first-degree burns.

Well, I suppose it’s better than playing Mortal Combat on them.

Posted by Dustin on December 20, 2007 | Comments (2)