Sheila Anne Cassidy (born 18 August 1937)
is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
doctor, known for her work in the
hospice movement, as a writer and as someone who, by publicising her own history as a
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
survivor, drew attention to
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
abuse in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
in the 1970s.
Early life and education
Born in
Cranwell,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
, to Air Vice-Marshal John Reginald Cassidy (1892–1974) and Barbara Margaret Cassidy,
Cassidy grew up in
Sydney and attended the
Our Lady of Mercy College in
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
, a suburb of Sydney. She began her medical studies at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...
where she was a resident at
Sancta Sophia College
Sancta Sophia College (colloquially as Sancta) is a residential college for undergraduate women and postgraduate men and women at the University of Sydney. The college has a Catholic foundation but admits students of all religions. Fiona Hasting ...
and completed them at
Somerville College, Oxford in 1963. She wanted to become a
plastic surgeon
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniof ...
but could not keep up with the 90-hour week, so she left school.
Career
Cassidy went to practice medicine in Chile during the government of
Salvador Allende
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
.
In 1975, Cassidy was caught up in the violence of the
Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
regime. She gave medical care to Nelson Gutiérrez, a political opponent of the new regime who was being sought by the police.
As a result, she was herself arrested on 1 November 1975 by the Chilean
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...
, the
DINA, and kept in custody without trial.
[ During the early part of her custody, she was severely tortured in the notorious Villa Grimaldi near Santiago, Chile, to force her to disclose information about her patient and her other contacts.]
Later in 1975, Cassidy was released from custody and returned to the UK with the assistance of the British government and Roberto Kozak
Roberto Kozak (14 May 1942 – 4 September 2015) was an Argentinian naturalized Chilean diplomat and humanitarian of Ukrainian descent, notable for his work to rescue people from the prisons and death squads of the Chilean military dictators ...
. Her subsequent description of her experiences, including her account of her torture on the '' parrilla'' and her imprisonment, did much to bring to the attention of the UK public the widespread human rights abuses that were occurring at the time in Chile. Her story appeared in news media and in her book, ''Audacity to Believe''.[Cassidy, Sheila (1977). ''Audacity To Believe'', Collins, London. .]
Later life
After a period of recovery from the physical and psychological effects of her ordeal (during which she briefly became a nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
), Cassidy continued to practise as a doctor. In 1982, she became Medical Director of the new St Luke's Hospice in Plymouth, a position which she held for 15 years. She then went on to set up a palliative care
Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
service for the Plymouth hospitals. Whilst at St Luke's, Cassidy sat for a life-size portrait study in 1982 by painter Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002).[http://www.robertlenkiewicz.org/sites/default/files/rol15_056_dr_sheila_a._cassidy_-_medical_director._1982.jpg A portrait of Dr Cassidy from 1982 by Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002)]
Cassidy has written a number of books on Christian subjects and has been involved with a number of charitable organisations such as patronage of The Prison Phoenix Trust
The Prison Phoenix Trust (PPT) is a charity registered in England in 1988 that offers help to prisoners through the disciplines of meditation and yoga, working with silence and the breath. The PPT encourages prisoners – and prison staff – t ...
. In her book ''Confessions of a Lapsed Catholic'' she outlines her reasons that caused her to withdraw her allegiance from the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Sheila Cassidy now has a Form named after her in St Joseph's Catholic & Anglican High School
St Joseph's Catholic and Anglican High School () is a secondary school in Wrexham, Wales, located on Sontley Road and situated on the edge of the Erddig estate. The school is opposite the Bishop of Wrexham's residence. It is currently the only ...
, Wrexham.
See also
*1973 Chilean coup d'état
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006.
In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...
References
External links
Brief biography and photo of Sheila Cassidy
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Sheila
1937 births
Living people
Date of birth missing (living people)
20th-century English medical doctors
English people of Irish descent
English torture victims
Former Roman Catholics
Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)
Chilean women physicians
People from North Kesteven District
Medical doctors from Sydney
English women medical doctors
20th-century English women writers
20th-century English writers
Prisoners and detainees of Chile
British people imprisoned abroad
20th-century women physicians
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford