A British nurse attempted to sue the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) after claiming that poor heating and ventilation hypnotized her to the point of feeling possessed. Xandra Samson, who worked as a staff nurse at Ealing Hospital, said that the disturbances were so serious that they led to frequent flatulence during her shifts and feeling as though her private parts were being “attacked.” She also insisted that she was being “gaslighted through the use of low-frequency soundwaves,” MyLondon reports.
- Samson alleged that poor heating and ventilation led to her terrible experience. The symptoms she experienced were so severe that Samson claimed she was being “possessed.” This, she explained, was down to being the victim of “ideomotor phenomenon,” a form of hypnotism that apparently forces people to move unconsciously.
- Samson’s bosses became extremely concerned about her in April 2019. The Acute Medical Unit nurse sent an email in which she described her symptoms as “extremely bothersome” and detailed her claims. “I would like to report an observed pattern of likely inappropriate use of hypnosis/ideomotor phenomenon in my NHS workplace,” she wrote. “In the last three months that I have worked in the department, I have experienced odd symptoms which I think is likely related to the above phenomenon.”
- She refused to believe she could be experiencing mental health problems. “I am a healthy individual and do not have any past medical history but recently I have had various symptoms including headaches, breathing difficulty (a feeling of getting choked), and gastrointestinal disturbance (borborygmus, spasms, flatulence),” Samson’s email continued. “This also includes having slurs similar to that of being possessed (as in a paranormal phenomenon). I have also noticed this in some of my patients and colleagues at work.” She added: “It becomes extremely bothersome and a distraction at work. It also involves a feeling of being attacked in various parts of the body including that of one’s private part, which I feel is very inappropriate.”
- It’s unclear how exactly the heating system could be blamed. However, Samson said in the email that “control is achieved in this [idomotor phenomenon]” and that the “altered state of consciousness” is down to “poorly controlled thermoregulation (heating) and inadequate ventilation” as the ward was located in the basement of the hospital building. She went on to claim that the stress and anxiety she was experiencing in her life made her an easier target of hypnotism.
- The soundwaves responsible for gaslighting Samson were also unexplained. She claimed in the email that she’d seen a van in the parking lot near the ward in which she worked that “carries what appears to be audio equipment.” It’s unclear what purpose anyone would have in attempting to give her flatulence or making her feel weird in her nether regions, but that made no difference to Samson.
- Authorities at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust referred her for psychiatric help. She met with three different doctors and two found her to be unfit for work. They attempted to get her to see a psychiatrist but she refused, claiming she was not mentally ill but instead was being “experimented upon.” She claimed the reason this was happening was that she is “electro-magnetic radiation sensitive” and said that the diagnosis of psychosis was “incorrect.”
- She was eventually suspended from work before being fired soon after. Because she refused to cooperate with psychiatric help, the trust felt it had no other option than to dismiss her from her position. Samson attempted to sue them for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination but lost her case at Watford Employment Tribunal Centre.
