For example, when a doctor wrote in Convulsive Therapy, a medical journal, that doctors could save money using sports mouth guards during shock treatment, Swartz wrote a letter attacking the idea. They also should disclose it to patients on informed consent forms before shock treatment, Caplan says. Swartz calls this absurd. It's a nonissue. Every doctor who does ECT makes money, just as every doctor who prescribes drugs does,'' he says.
Patients know .
I'm now able to improve machines. Someone like me, who knows what they're doing,'' says Swartz, who has a Ph.D. in engineering as well as a medical degree. For his part, Abrams is the most quoted shock therapy researcher. The American Psychiatric Association's 1990 task force report on how to practice shock therapy cites him more than any other expert. His 340-page textbook is often the sole source of information about shock therapy in general medical books and articles read by doctors and patients.