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On May 5, 1992, Ed awoke in frenzy. He smashed out another
window and ran around the house like a mad man, chanting religious
verses to himself. Katie’s mother arrived just before noon,
and begged her daughter to get Ed some “real” help. Katie
was quickly becoming unglued; she had tried everything and nothing
seemed to work. She did not want to send Ed back to Hamot, but
she finally relented when her mother suggested another hospital, Jones
Memorial Health Center in Jamestown, New York.
By 4 o’clock, everyone except Ed knew that an English man was on
his way to transport them to the hospital in Jamestown. Ed’s
father knew that it was not going to be easy to get Ed’s
cooperation, so as Ed lay sleeping on a cot, Mr. Gingerich and two of
Ed’s brothers, carefully tied Ed’s arms and legs together.
Ed awoke just as the bindings began to tighten and started screaming
like a mad man. Minutes later, the men were dragging a wild,
hogtied Amish man out the door and placing him in the English man’s
van.
It took an hour and a half for them to reach the hospital.
Luckily Ed had drifted to sleep a short time after they started out,
and was no longer fighting the bindings that held him. As the
men exited the van, Ed awoke. He said nothing as the men
unloaded him and placed him on the ground next to the van. Katie
and Ed’s father went inside and returned 20 minutes later with two
men in white coats. The men were upset that Ed was lying on the
ground hogtied and ordered him untied. Ed’s brothers untied
the ropes, helped Ed to his feet and walked him into the hospital.
Once inside, Ed was escorted to an examination room. As they
made their way to the room, Ed dropped to the ground and began running
around the waiting area on all fours. He knocked over an IV
stand, chairs, tables with glass jars, and pans full of utensils,
before the men in white coats were able to subdue him. They
lifted him onto an examination table and instructed him to calm down.
Within minutes Ed was fast asleep and left in the room by himself.
Ed had slept for almost a half-hour before waking suddenly.
He jumped off the table and began ripping medical appliances and
cabinets off the walls. The commotion alerted the staff, however
by the time they got to Ed, the room was littered with glass, loose
wires and hospital supplies. Ed was forced onto the examination
table and held down as a psychiatrist administered 200 milligrams of
the antipsychotic drug Mellaril.
“What seems to be the problem?” the doctor asked.
“I’ve got a bad case of liver cancer…I saw a light so bright
I thought I was in hell. Do you know my brother?
“No.”
“When my brother blew into Katie’s cunt, I saw an angel fly out
of her mouth.”
The doctor was at a loss for words after hearing Ed’s last
statement. Ed was given another injection, two milligrams of
Ativan, a tranquilizer, and was ushered off into a small padded room.
Ed was denied visitors his first week at the hospital. He was
routinely administered Lithium, Cogentin, and Mellaril, and subjected
to numerous mental health and group therapy sessions. By the
eighth day, he was allowed to see his family, and appeared to be happy
as he spoke with them. Nonetheless, everyone was shocked when
they learned that he was going to be released in two days. Katie
was mystified. She could not believe that the doctors were going
to let Ed walk out of the hospital in such a short period of time.
On May 15, 1992, Ed walked out of Jones Memorial Health Center a
free man. Once again, he had several prescriptions to fill and new
outpatient appointments to attend.
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