E62: Doctor Fear’s Medical School

The Bar is Ankle High

What was Pennhurst State School? Was it a school? A hospital? A mental health treatment facility? Turns out it wasn't really any of those things and instead is better identified as "Pennsylvania's Shame." The Pennhurst State School was borne out of a eugenicist idea that individuals with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities are "other" and should not be permitted to intermingle with "preferred" society. For 80 years, Pennhurst State School was a place where suffering was the norm and no one cared. In 1968, however, a local news reporter named Bill Baldini produced a multi-part expose on the "school" which lead to some immediate reforms but also - and critically - many lawsuits. In part 1 of our 3 part series on Pennhurst, Katie teaches us the history of the institution up to and including Mr. Baldini's report.

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Sources:

https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/pennhurst-state-school-and-hospital/#:~:text=During%20eight%20decades%20of%20continuous,the%20remaining%20residents%20moved%20elsewhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennhurst_State_School_and_Hospital

http://www.preservepennhurst.org/default.aspx?pg=26

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/04/us/workers-indicted-in-patient-abuse.html

https://thesnapper.millersville.edu/index.php/2020/11/06/behind-the-walls-of-terror/

http://preservepennhurst.com/default.aspx?pg=93

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution

https://disabilityjustice.org/halderman-v-pennhurst-state-school-hospital/