Posted on 01/09/2003 9:26:38 AM PST by Loyalist
Taxpayers will fund a sex-abuse survivor’s massages, but she’ll have to pay for her own bowel cleansing.
The north-end Halifax woman, whose identity is protected by law, scored a partial victory with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal yesterday.
In a unanimous decision, the judges ordered the province to pay for the woman’s twice-weekly massages.
They refused her claim for colonic therapy, a controversial practice where water is forced into the colon to remove fecal matter.
The woman believes the practice is vital to her well-being, saying she hasn’t moved her bowels naturally since 1999.
The money will come from the provincial Justice Department, which allows victims of serious crimes to apply for compensation.
Currently it covers only counselling, but in this case the claim has been grandfathered.
The woman, who’s in her late 30s, had asked the province’s highest court to quash a Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board ruling made May 21.
That decision disallowed her claims for colonic and massage therapy, but did order the province to keep paying her $300 annual gym membership. Medical experts agreed that exercise helps with her fibromyalgia, an arthritis of the soft tissue.
According to yesterday’s decision, the woman was sexually assaulted by her stepmother’s brother when she was between nine and 14.
Justice Gerald Freeman noted the resulting court case had a “devastating” effect on the woman’s health. As a young adult, one doctor diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She did finish university and began a career in social work as a counsellor, however.
The woman has said she’s on permanent disability because of “toxic” prescriptions she has had to take for depression.
She also says she’s manic-depressive, suicidal and has environmental illness.
Freeman said the woman is obviously intelligent and recognizes she’s ultimately responsibile for her recovery.
The appeal court says the board denied the woman’s request for massages without giving an adequate reason. She has also been awarded travel costs to and from the gym.
© Copyright 2003 The Daily News
What? Not sure how it would work, but do you shake 'em up for the colonic?
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