Despite an ongoing ban on the use of electric shock devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to “correct” behavior on the developmentally disabled, a D.C. Circuit court has ruled that a medical institution in Massachusetts can continue to use the controversial treatment on its patients, becoming the only facility in the U.S. to currently still use the questionable medical therapy.
Reuters’ Brendan Pierson reported that on Wednesday, July 7, “in a 2-1 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that the ban was a regulation of the practice of medicine, which is beyond the FDA’s authority.”
In March 2020, the FDA announced its initial and first-ever ban on the use of electric shock devices to treat “aggressive or self-harming behavior.” The ban was made possible due to a little-used statute, which allows the agency to pull potentially dangerous or harmful medical devices off the market.
