In the summer of 1990, an intensive congressional investigation was launched into the "brain injury rehabilitation" industry. At the same time of that investigation, Lynn, Massachusetts-based New Medico, a chain of rehabilitation facilities which was once the largest U.S. network of brain injury rehab clinics, was also the target of an FBI probe.
One of the driving forces behind the investigation was brain injury survivor Lucy Gwin of Rochester, N.Y., today one of the leading voices for the rights of the disabled in the United States. Her harrowing experience at a brain injury rehabilitation facility owned by New Medico left her so outraged she was moved to document the cases of hundreds of brain injury survivors. Her findings, corroborated by government investigations and evidence obtained by Freedom, reveal an alarming pattern of human rights violations on American soil -- all for a profit.
Lucy Gwin never knew what hit her -- literally. After working as a professional writer for years and raising two daughters, through the reckless actions of another, her life was irrevocably changed.
In 1991, she was hit by a drunk driver in a downtown intersection. The police were called but, because of traffic delays, the driver escaped from the scene, never to be found. She was rushed by ambulance to a hospital where she remained unconscious for three weeks. When she awoke she was taken to the New Medico rehabilitation facility in Cortland, New York. Soon after her arrival Gwin walked outside to smoke a cigarette. "This place is nothing but a prison," were the words she heard uttered by another patient as she stood outside.
The next morning, she awoke to the screams of her roommate, who was taking a shower "assisted" by staff. A cheery social worker, speaking slowly, told Gwin she would work to make her stay "very happy."
For weeks, Gwin wandered the facility, making mental notes of abuse against patients including the rape of her roommate by three staff members, watching a patient receive kicks to the head for trying to leave and psychiatric drugging of patients who questioned their "treatment."
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