By Xandra Samson claims her former employer was using various means to “control” employees, including hypnotization that caused her to experience a nasty case of flatulence. She tried suing the facility, but her bid was ultimately unsuccessful. Administrators say she was suffering from a psychological disorder, which led to her dismissal.
Surreal Conditions
Samson was working at Ealing Hospital in London when she started to feel strange. She claims poor heating and ventilation altered her state of mind and consciousness, which allowed her employers to “control” her.
Records show she was let go from the facility in 2019 for refusing to participate in psychiatric counseling.
At an employment tribunal, she claimed that she experienced “gastrointestinal disturbances” during work, including flatulence.
She believes she was a victim of “ideomotor phenomenon” an approach used in hypnosis that forces people to move unconsciously.
During the tribunal, she said, “I would like to report an observed pattern of likely inappropriate use of hypnosis/ideomotor phenomenon in my NHS workplace.”
“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).”
“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 said her symptoms eventually inhibited her ability to do her job.
“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.”
She believes the hospital intentionally tried to control her through hypnosis.
“I understand that control is achieved in this phenomenon with an altered state of consciousness and the poorly controlled thermoregulation (heating) and inadequate ventilation (the ward is located in the basement of the hospital) in the area is set up for this purpose.”
“I have also noticed that I am being subjected to significant stress/anxiety, which I think makes the subject control easier in this process,” she said.
She also mentioned feeling “possessed” and that she was “gaslighted through the use of low frequency soundwaves”.
Samson says she experienced similar symptoms at home. She wrote to the National Hypnotherapy Society to ask them to back up her claims.
After she told her employers about these disturbances and that she frequently heard “comments” from the TV and radio, the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust sent her to occupational health and repeatedly tried to get her to see a psychiatrist.
According to her medical records, three different doctors examined Samson, and two of them found her to be unfit for work.
However, Samson dismissed their diagnosis and instead claimed she was “electro-magnetic radiation sensitive”.
She was then dismissed from her post for refusing treatment. She tried to sue to get her job back, claiming unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, but the Watford Employment Tribunal Centre didn’t agree.
Employment Judge Oliver Hyams said the tribunal “had no idea what ideomotor phenomenon was”. The committee eventually ruled that the trust did not discriminate against Miss Samson or unfairly dismiss her.
He said her bosses “did what they did purely because of what they perceived to be impairments to her mental health exhibited by her various statements”.
