Doc 0000173987

- -· ) Septenber 23, 1966 .--· -- -·~ \ I I ~ r_ . ,~, r Dr. ~Heartiest Greet incs from~ . I would like to take this oppof[unity to thank you for your interest in our proposed project. I am sorry that I was not_~ble to return to the States this summer and discuss \I it with you personally~ · think, has kep_t me well informed of developments. He suggested in his lastTe'tter to me that I write to you clarifying some of the details reparc ing the use of 11amytal interview" -·· 'fiospital Psychiatric Prison Service. "Ar.wtal interview'' or the interview of patients while under the influence of intra venous· sodi~~ a~\tal has been considered a routine procedure on the prison service. lt has been perf;rmed at the discretion of the ward physician in any case he felt it was indic:ltcc, in the sar.;e way that the ward physician would decide upon the adminis~rat: of sedative~, tranquilizers and other medication. A shortage of time and personnel penerally caused u:: to limit its use to cases involving serious crimes or problems of particular psychiatric interest. when I first began on the ward stenographer ~lthough ~ was generally present during the interview we later used a tape recorder routinely. Since the interview serves medical rather than legal purposes, there has never been any real basis for objection on the part of either the D.A. or the defense_ _ •. The couns~ matErial, of course, like all data obtained from the patient while at jis not admissable as evidence into the trial. Statements obtained from the patient auring the amytal interview are also not made a part of the regular hospital chart as an precaution. · . . ...._ \ ~dditional The procedure of "amytal interview'' has long been a:,ccepted in the._ 1 Cou;-t System ~!though I can not tell you how long. /at the prison service at (Hospital which also serves the /in a similar capacity as ~ublished an article on the results of its use in the early nineteen fiftles. I might add that in my use of the technique over a period of several years there has not been any morbidity of even significant complications. The only changes in the routine proposed in our project involve more careful docu mentation by the use of more adequate secretarial assistance and more careful call brat ion and monitoring of This page displays a digital banner for "The Black Vault," an online repository of declassified government documents. On the left, a stylized image of a vault door with a blue glow is visible, representing the secure nature of the archived information. The text explains that this particular record is from the MKULTRA/Mind Control Collection, a compilation of over 20,000 declassified CIA documents. The banner prominently features a URL for accessing the entire collection, suggesting it is freely available for download. There are no photographs of people, locations, equipment, handwritten annotations, signatures, official stamps, forms, diagrams, tables, redactions, or visual evidence of experimental procedures. the technique over a period of several years there has not been any morbidity of even significant complications. The only changes in the routine proposed in our project involve more careful docu mentation by the use of more adequate secretarial assistance and more careful call brat ion and monitoring of the administration of the drug. Such m:mitoring as with the use of eye movements is already in use either manually or in select cases with or ENG. The lack of the apparatus on the ward prevented the . nystagm~graphy pr~pzr more routine use of the latter, which we hope will be corrected qy of the c~nditi~ns proposed study, , · If there are any other problens or questions don't hesitate to write ~r if urgent telephone. I am usually at home in the evening and telephone connections to the States have so far been excellent. Sincerely, The document is a typewritten letter dated September 23, 1966, from a "Dear Dr." to an unnamed recipient. It includes a handwritten number "277" in a circle at the bottom right corner. There are no photographs, stamps, forms, diagrams, tables, or other visual elements present. The content is entirely text-based, discussing the "amytal interview" procedure within a prison psychiatric service.