Kathy Jackson's five star mental health crisis
As Craig Thomson’s appeal receives a mention in Melbourne Magistrates Court, Peter Wicks from Wixxyleaks visits Kathy Jackson's new home.
YESTERDAY, Craig Thomson’s appeal had a Court Mention in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The mention basically set the procedures and ground rules for the appeal.
Although there is nothing new or exciting to report on the matter, we
now know that there will be no witnesses appearing during the appeal
and that Thomson’s appeal will be relying on evidence that has already
been presented to the court.
The next court mention on the matter is 18 November.
Thomson’s confidence may have been lifted is the woman at the centre
of the HSU saga and the person who made so many of the accusations
against Thomson has seen her credibility completely demolished and is
now trying to avoid facing her own legal fight against claims that
utterly dwarf Thomson’s.
I speak, of course, of Kathy Jackson, whose Federal Court fight with the HSU over approximately $1.4 million is
due to be heard next on the 5 November. Next week’s hearing will be to
look at Jackson’s mental health condition given her doctor’s statement
was something the Court found to be rather vague.
Since then, Wixxyleaks has learnt where Jackson is an
inpatient, which may have relevance to the matter before the court
considering the admissions process.
Kathy Jackson is currently a patient at South Coast Private, which as the name suggests is on the NSW South Coast.
South Coast Private is a psychiatric hospital that describes itself
as five star and has a maximum of 90 patients, who all stay in resort
style accommodation. You won’t hear of electroshock therapy, patients
strapped to beds, padded cells or straight-jackets here. Some have
described it as a luxury hotel with doctors.
To give you an overview of the facility and to see how tough Jackson is doing it, below is a South Coast Private promo video.
I contacted the South Coast Private to see what is required for a patient to be admitted.
The inpatients at South Coast private have not been sectioned under
the Mental Health Act and sent there by authorities. They have all been
admitted by themselves or their associates by going to the facility or
via the online admission form on their website, many of their patients
come via South Coast Private’s Facebook page.
To be admitted you need a referral from a GP, and be able to afford
the $870 a night it costs to stay in one of the rooms, such as the room
pictured below. Either that or you will need a private insurer that will
cover some of the costs for you. Then you will meet with a psychiatrist
from the facility who will decide if they wish to accept your $870 a
night or not.
A letter from a GP to say that you are stressed or depressed is not hard to obtain — everyone feels stress at some point.
I have no doubt Kathy Jackson is under some considerable stress,
knowing she faces the prospect of having to return $1.3 million dollars
to the poor union members she allegedly took it from for inappropriate
purposes. I’m sure that the likelihood of criminal charges coming not
long afterwards may also have had an impact on her stress levels.
I would like to also point out that I am not making asserting that
Jackson is faking a mental health condition to escape facing the same
legal process she demanded everyone else involved in the HSU saga to
face. Far from it, I am just pointing out where she is being treated and
the admission procedure for the five star facility.
Standard room at South Coast private
I am also not disputing the diagnosis of any doctor or trained professional.
The reason this is relevant is because it is the Federal Court itself
that has raised questions about the diagnosis of Jackson’s condition
and her ability to instruct her lawyer.
Given the Court has asked the doctor for a signed affidavit instead
of a vague statement, I think there is public interest in just what sort
of psychiatric treatment one receives for the money. Given Jackson’s diagnosis was
made on 20 September and gives a date for her recovery to be 15 January
2015, that is 118 nights at $870 a night, which means she’ll get a bill
for $102,666 plus incidentals — although I’m confident a private
facility wouldn't let that be of any influence .
I will let people make their own determinations on Jackson’s state of
mind and her ability to instruct a lawyer, just as I’m sure the Court
will.
If anyone reading this is suffering from mental health issues, please follow these links to contact Lifeline or perhaps Beyond Blue for support.
Alternatively, if you’re flush with cash why not check out South Coast Private? It does look rather nice.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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