{{Short description|Italian psychiatrist and academic (1924–1988)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = Giorgio Coda | image = Giorgio_Coda_La_Stampa_5July1974_pag5.jpg | alt = | caption = Italian psychiatrist and professor Giorgio Coda | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|1|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Turin, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|1988|5|23|1924|1|21|df=y}} | death_place = Turin, Italy | other_names = The electrician ({{langx |it|l'elettricista}})<ref name=electrician>Perissinotto</ref> | known_for = Tortures with electroshock }}
'''Giorgio Giuseppe Antonio Maria Coda''' (21 January 1924 – 23 May 1988) was an Italian psychiatrist and academic. He was vicedirector of the mental hospital of Turin ({{langx |it|Ospedale psichiatrico di Torino}}, in Collegno)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infermieristicamente.it/articolo/7777/dalla-violenza-dell-eletttromassaggio-alla-violenza-dell-abbandono/|title=Dalla violenza dell'eletttromassaggio alla violenza dell'abbandono|website=Infermieristicamente - Nursind, il sindacato delle professioni infermieristiche|access-date=2018-03-01}}</ref> and director of ''villa Azzurra'' (institute for children),<ref name=director>Caselli</ref> in Grugliasco (Turin) After the trial, that lasted from 1970 to 1974, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for patient abuse, as well as to interdiction from the medical profession for five years and payment of legal expenses.<ref name="Papuzzi 1977 p. 96">Papuzzi (1977), p. 96</ref><ref name="crescita-pers">{{Cite web|url=http://www.crescita-personale.it/teorie-psicologia/947/giorgio-coda-la-persona-il-processo-e-l-elettroshock/2440/a|title=Giorgio Coda: la persona, il processo e l'elettroshock|website=www.crescita-personale.it|language=it|access-date=2018-03-01}}</ref> He has been nicknamed "The Electrician" ({{langx |it|l'elettricista}})<ref name=electrician /> for his misuse of the electroshock therapy.
The medical treatment consisted in the application of long-lasting electric current to the genitals and to the head. The treatment did not make the patient lose consciousness and caused strong pain. According to Giorgio Coda, this treatment should have cured the patient. The treatment was called alternatively "electro-massage" ({{langx |it|elettromassaggio}}) or electroshock depending on whether it was applied to the genitals or to the head. In some cases, the two terms have been used without distinction to denote the generic treatment. The treatment was practiced systematically without anesthesia and, sometimes, without cream and rubber protection device inside the mouth, blowing up the patient's teeth during the treatments. During the trial, Giorgio Coda admitted he had practiced about 5000 "electro-massages" in his career.<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 60</ref>
The above treatment was also administered to alcoholics, drug addicts, homosexuals<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 59. Giorgio Coda, during the trial, stated, "homosexuality is a disease that needs to be cured."</ref> and masturbators, and it generated such a strong fear of the treatment, that most patients, at least temporarily, desisted from their acts and behaviors. The trial and the sentence, collected and analyzed in Alberto Papuzzi's book ''Portami su quello che canta'' have shown the coercive and punitive purpose of "electro-massages", which in practice were tools of torture and punishment, used on children too (in ''villa Azzurra'').
Deaths during the treatment and suicides occurring in Coda's clinics raise the suspicion that they may have been provoked, at least in part, by the fear of suffering.<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 79</ref>
At the time the case was interpreted in political terms by some journalists and by the left-wing public opinion, with the bourgeois doctor abusing the weakest members of the proletariat.<ref>Papuzzi (1977), nota introduttiva XI and p. 95</ref>
==Biography== Most of the details about Giorgio Coda's life and academic career is given by Alberto Papuzzi's book ''Portami su quello che canta''.
Born in Turin on 21 January 1924 in a wealthy family, Giorgio Coda is the only child of Carlo Coda, a small industrialist from Turin who "regulated the family life as if it were a factory" and Alda Vacchieri.<ref name=papuzzi-pag6>Papuzzi (1977), pagina 6</ref><ref name="libroprinc">{{Cite web|url=https://collettivomakhno.noblogs.org/files/2014/04/Portami_Su_Quello_Che_Canta.pdf|title=Alberto Papuzzi Portami su quello che canta|last=Einaudi|first=Giulio|date=1977|website=collettivomakhno.noblogs.org|access-date=2019-09-21|archive-date=2020-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930092220/https://collettivomakhno.noblogs.org/files/2014/04/Portami_Su_Quello_Che_Canta.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> "At school, Giorgio Coda excelled in conduct. He was not brilliant, but very diligent. A few schoolmates remember him as a grind."<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 9</ref>
In 1943, Giorgio Coda enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Turin and graduated on 15 July 1948 with a thesis about criminal anthropology. On 16 April 1955, Giorgio Coda married Giovanna Roviera. After becoming head physician of the department, on 3 April 1963 he became a professor of psychiatry.<ref>Papuzzi (1977), pp. 9-14</ref> [[File:Certosa_Collegno.JPG|thumb|Certosa reale di Collegno, where Turin mental hospital was located until the end of 1970s]]
The trial started immediately after the Italian court specialized in cases involving minors - ''Tribunale per i minorenni'' - received a report from children's social worker Maria Repaci. The report was about the facts of Villa Azzurra. On 7 September, Giogio Coda is indicted for the crime "misuse of the correction systems" and the amnesty is granted, as provided by Italian law (''DPR n. 238 del 22 maggio 1970'').<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 36</ref>
On 14 December 1970, an Italian judge receives another report from an Italian association - ''Associazione per la lotta contro le malattie mentali'' - which turned out to be crucial in order to start the investigation and the trial.<ref>Papuzzi (1977) pp. 31-36</ref> On 11 July 1974, Giorgio Coda was found guilty - "responsible for the crime only for the facts of the mental hospital in Collegno".<ref name="Papuzzi 1977 p. 96"/> Subsequently, Giorgio Coda's defender appeals against the sentence.<ref>Papuzzi (1977), p. 114</ref>
On 2 December 1977, at around 6:30 pm, four men,<ref name="Caselli 2014">{{Cite book|first1=Stefano|last1=Caselli|first2=Davide|last2=Valentini|title=Anni spietati: Torino racconta violenza e terrorismo|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2KODAAAQBAJ&q=giorgio+coda+l%27elettricista+di+Collegno&pg=PT68|access-date=2018-02-12|date=2014-11-05|publisher=Gius.Laterza & Figli Spa|language=it|chapter=Il processo deve ricominciare|isbn=9788858117828}}</ref> all of them members of the Italian Marxist–Leninist terrorist group Prima Linea penetrated into Giorgio Coda's office and shot him in the leg.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://agiscuola.it/schede-film/item/44-la-prima-linea.html|title=La Prima Linea - Agiscuola|website=agiscuola.it|access-date=2019-09-20|archive-date=2018-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213021558/https://agiscuola.it/schede-film/item/44-la-prima-linea.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
At the Court of appeal of Turin, Coda's defense cleverly exploited what the judge Rodolfo Venditti called a "torpedo", a sort of legal trick, based on the fact that Giorgio Coda, as an expert, had been an "honorary judge" ({{langx|it|giudice onorario}}) of the Juvenile Court ({{langx|it|Tribunale per i miniorenni}}) in Turin and therefore, since he had been a sort of "judge", he could not be tried in the same court where he had worked as a judge (as stated by Italian law). This detail was perhaps kept hidden by Coda's defence over the whole inferior court trial and the discovery of this led to the annulment of the judgment and to the slowdown of the whole trial. Subsequently, the sentence was sent to the so-called Court of cassation (the last step of Italy's three grades of judgement), but the crimes were time-barred and Coda never served any penalty because of crime prescription.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/05/25/festival-dei-matti-di-venezia-in-un-docufilm-la-storia-e-gli-abusi-di-giorgio-coda-sui-pazienti-psichiatrici/5207397/|title=Festival dei Matti di Venezia, in un docufilm la storia e gli abusi di Giorgio Coda sui pazienti psichiatrici|date=2019-05-25|website=Il Fatto Quotidiano|language=it-IT|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4t576UiIlY - Intervista al giudice Rodolfo Venditti]</ref>
Coda died in Turin on 23 May 1988, aged 64.<ref>Servizi Demografici della Città di Torino - Atto 01653, Uff. 1, Parte 2, Serie B, Anno 1988</ref>
==Effects== The case (as well as the book that collected and analyzed the stories, ''Portami su quello che canta'', published in 1977) shocked the public opinion in Italy and sparked a debate. This led to a new law regulating Italian mental hospitals - the so-called Basaglia Law (in 1978, named after its promoter Franco Basaglia) - that abolished the main articles of the previous law - ''legge n. 36 del 14 febbraio 1904''.<ref>Legge n. 36 del 14 febbraio 1904</ref> The Basaglia Law also introduced and regulated the T.S.O. (that stands for ''Trattamento sanitario obbligatorio'' - Obligatory Sanitary Treatment),<ref>Estratto dall'articolo 2: "la proposta di trattamento sanitario obbligatorio può prevedere che le cure vengano prestate in condizioni di degenza ospedaliera solo se esistano alterazioni psichiche tali da richiedere urgenti interventi terapeutici, se gli stessi non vengano accettati dall'infermo e se non vi siano le condizioni e le circostanze che consentano di adottare tempestive ed idonee misure sanitarie extra ospedaliere".</ref> narrowing its scope and defining a multi-level procedure for its enforcement.
In particular, the new law required the intermediation of the mayor and the judge for the application of a T.S.O, the possibility for anyone (including the patient) to ask the T.S.O. to be revoked or modified, the possibility for anyone (including the patient) to appeal against the order validated by the judge, and the possibility for the patient to communicate with anyone during the T.S.O.<ref>Legge Basaglia</ref> The patient also has the right to change mental hospital, if possible. The previous law had given too much power to the director of the mental hospital and it did not provide that the patient could communicate with anybody during the treatment.
Even though Basaglia Law did not explicitly provide that mental hospitals should be closed, it, in fact, closed most of Italy's mental hospitals, closure that was completed in 1998. Basaglia Law made Italy one of the first countries to abolish mental hospitals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musei.re.it/collezioni/museo-di-storia-della-psichiatria/prima-sala-cronologia/la-legge-180-e-la-chiusura-degli-ospedali-psichiatrici/|title=La Legge 180 e la chiusura degli Ospedali Psichiatrici|last=Viani|first=Andrea|website=www.musei.re.it|language=it-IT|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref>
==See also== * Basaglia Law * Psychiatric reform in Italy * Deinstitutionalisation * Giorgio Antonucci
==References== <references/>
== Bibliography == === Books === * {{Cite book |first=Alberto |last=Papuzzi |title=Portami su quello che canta. Processo a uno psichiatra |year=1977 |publisher=Einaudi |language=it |isbn=8806095714 |url=https://collettivomakhno.noblogs.org/files/2014/04/Portami_Su_Quello_Che_Canta.pdf |ref=Papuzzi 1977 |access-date=2018-03-01 |archive-date=2020-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930092220/https://collettivomakhno.noblogs.org/files/2014/04/Portami_Su_Quello_Che_Canta.pdf |url-status=dead }} * {{Cite book |first=Albertino |last=Bonvicini |title=Fate la storia senza di me |year=2011 |language=it |isbn=9788896873267 |ref=Bonvicini 2011}} * {{Cite book|first=Alessandro|last=Perissinotto|title=Quello che l'acqua nasconde|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9z_mDQAAQBAJ&q=giorgio+coda+l%27elettricista+di+Collegno&pg=PT112|access-date=2018-02-12|publisher=Edizioni piemme|language=it|chapter=Portami su quello che canta|date=7 February 2017 |isbn=9788858516942 |ref=Perissinotto}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2KODAAAQBAJ&q=giorgio+coda+l%27elettricista+di+Collegno&pg=PT68|title=Anni spietati: Torino racconta violenza e terrorismo|last1=Caselli|first1=Stefano|last2=Valentini|first2=Davide|date=2014-11-05|publisher=Gius.Laterza & Figli Spa|isbn=9788858117828|language=it |ref=Caselli}}
=== Italian laws === * {{Cite web |title=Legge Basaglia (legge 13 maggio 1978, n. 180) |language=it |url=http://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:1978;180 |ref=legge-basaglia}} * {{Cite web |title=Legge n. 36 del 14 febbraio 1904 |language=it |url=http://w3.ordineaslombardia.it/sites/default/files/indagine/documenti/nazionali/N-L-36-1904-IN.pdf |ref=legge-36-1904 |access-date=2018-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417120725/http://w3.ordineaslombardia.it/sites/default/files/indagine/documenti/nazionali/N-L-36-1904-IN.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-17 |url-status=dead }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coda, Giorgio}} Category:1924 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Italian psychiatrists Category:Conversion therapy practitioners Category:University of Turin alumni Category:Medical doctors from Turin