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Harry Bailey was born in Picton, New South Wales.
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Dr Harry Bailey studied at the University of Sydney, winning several prizes for psychiatry and paediatrics. Since psychiatry was still a relatively new discipline, opportunities were abundant for graduates like Dr Harry Bailey. In 1952, Bailey became assistant director of psychiatric clinical services in the Department of Public Health. (Garton, 2007).
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The Cerebral Surgery and Research Unit in Callan Park Mental Hospital was established in 1957 on the recommendation of Bailey. This was following his observation of sedative therapies, electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery from several reknowned psychiatrists. It was in this new division that Bailey began to experiment with psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy, even going as far as to annouce successful treatments in mental disorders (Garton, 2007).
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A former colleague of Bailey’s at the CSRU, Dr John Herron was employed at Chelmsford to enter the hospital at night and administer ECT. During emergencies when Dr Bailey could not be contacted, the nurses would often call Herron in. When Bailey was eventually removed from DST, he continued to admit patients under Herron’s name (Geason, 2007; Pearson, 2010).
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The Chelmsford hospital was opened by Harry Bailey in 1963 who began treating patients for mental illnesses.
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Julie Myers was first addmitted to Chelsmford, aged 17. She suffered from pre-menstrual tension. Myers' mother mentioned that Bailey's therapy made her daughter depressed and that it was excessively expensive. Myers' parents did not know that electroconvulsive therapy and sleep sedation would be used to treat their daughter. (O'Neill & Haupt, 1988b, p. 4).
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Julie Myers died several days before her 18th birthday after being treated by an unheard of “Dr Herron”. After being discharged from hospital, Myers committed sucicide. Her body was found five days later. It was determined that her death was caused by an overdose of sedatives, described as “wilfully self-administered”. This was a prime example of the cover-up of Bailey’s techniques at Chelmsford hospital (O’Neill & Haupt, 1988a, p.17).
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14 year old Craig McKay died after he was placed in Deep sleep therapy, without consent from his parents. Chelmsford hospital called McKay's parents the night before to tell them he was dying and that they should make funeral arrangements. They refused to let them see Craig until morning, when he passed away. McKay's mother wrote to the Department of Health concerning the injustice of her son's death, however she never heard back. (O'Neill & Haupt, 1988, p.1).
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The NSW Health Department received a letter from Chelmsford hospital Nurse, Mrs. Pett, expressing her concern and advising an investigation into the Deep Sleep Therapy treatment at the hospital.
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Nurse Rosa Nicholson had begun to realise that patients were dying as a result of deep sleep and electroconvulsive therapies by 1972. She wrote to the NSW Health commission, however received no reply (Fife-Yeomans, 1989).
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In 1975, The Sydney Morning Herald published a story reporting that a patient, Barry Hart, whom accused Chelsmford Private Hospital of treating him with electroconvulsive shock against his will.
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In 1977, nurse Rosa Nicholson returned to Chelmsford and began to record and share hospital details with the citizens community on Human Rights, of the Church of Scientology (Garton, 2007).
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Dr Bailey was forced to resign when psychiatrists at Chelmsford hospital made demands that both him and DST had to be removed. Bailey, however, continued to admit patients under Dr John Herron's name. This continued DST at Chelmsford hospital (Geason, 2007).
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Dr Brian Boettcher (another psychiatrist at Chelmsford Hospital) met with directors and doctors of Chelmsford to express concerns about DST. From 1978 onwards, Dr Boettcher began
to withdraw his patients from Deep Sleep Therapy at the hospital. -
Coralie Walker, aged 30, died upon entering a deep sleep coma.
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60 minutes aired ‘The Chelmsford file’ on National television, revealing instances of death and neglect at the Chelmsford Hospital.
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In 1983, the courts charged Harry Bailey with manslaughter. The charges were later dismissed in 1985 (Garton, 2007).
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Overdosing on barbiturates, Bailey took his own life, leaving only a note written: “Let it be known that the Scientologists and the forces of madness have won.”
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A royal commission chaired by Justice John Slattery, was set up until 1990 to investigate the decaying NSW mental health services.
