Behind the Bastards

Part Two: Dr. Sleep: The Australian Psychiatrist Who Made People Sleep Themselves To Death

March 5, 2026

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  • Dr. Harry Bailey was characterized as a charming, well-dressed man prone to drunken rages, who also possessed a tendency to lie to exaggerate his successes and manipulate patients into accepting his treatments. 
  • Dr. Bailey's experimental and invasive treatments, including Deep Sleep Therapy (DST) often paired with ECT, involved non-consensual procedures like surgically inserting metal plates into patients' skulls and resulted in numerous deaths and severe brain damage. 
  • The systemic failure to hold Dr. Bailey accountable stemmed from the widespread acceptance of his behavior within the medical profession, the financial importance of Chelmsford Hospital to the community, and the tendency of regulators to dismiss complaints from patients deemed 'crazy.' 
  • Dr. Harry Bailey's deep sleep therapy (DST) involved dangerously long comas, with the longest recorded session lasting 39 days, leading to severe patient debilitation. 
  • The case of actress Tony Lamond illustrated the immediate negative consequences of DST, including significant weight loss and cognitive impairment, while also revealing Dr. Bailey lied to her employer, resulting in her being fired while unconscious. 
  • The death toll attributed to Dr. Bailey's DST ranges from 24 to 27 direct deaths between 1963 and 1979, with an additional 19 patients committing suicide within a year of treatment, and Dr. Bailey himself ultimately died by barbiturate poisoning after facing manslaughter charges. 

Segments

Dr. Bailey’s Character Traits
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(00:04:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Bailey was perceived as a charismatic, well-dressed charmer who was also prone to occasional drunken rages and noted for lying to exaggerate his accomplishments.
  • Summary: Bailey inspired loyalty despite his flaws due to his charisma and ability to portray himself as trustworthy. Colleagues noted his tendency to lie, often to inflate positive actions. He was also described as having a reputation for sexually inappropriate comments toward female patients.
Invasive Unconsented Procedures
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(00:16:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Bailey performed highly invasive, non-consensual procedures, including the surgical insertion of metal plates into patients’ skulls, sometimes without their knowledge.
  • Summary: A 13-year-old anorexia patient was subjected to electroshock therapy ten times over two weeks while in a drug-induced coma without anesthetic or parental consent, resulting in brain damage. Two patients from 1966/1967 later discovered metal plates surgically inserted into their skulls during their stay at Chelmsford.
Consent Under Sedation
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(00:21:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Any consent obtained from patients while they were heavily sedated with barbiturates was medically invalid, yet regulators accepted signed papers as sufficient justification.
  • Summary: When patients complained about procedures they didn’t recall, staff claimed they had consented while briefly awakened from the coma, despite being heavily drugged. Modern medical ethics strictly prohibit obtaining consent under such heavy sedation. Regulators dismissed these complaints, effectively enabling Bailey’s actions.
Death of Craig McKay
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(00:30:40)
  • Key Takeaway: A 14-year-old boy named Craig McKay died after four months of DST, during which he was secretly electrocuted at night and subsequently billed for over 1,100 sedative pills.
  • Summary: Craig’s mother was allowed to stay at the hospital while her son was treated for depression related to going blind, witnessing staff preparing patients for relatives’ visits. The boy reported a ‘bad man’ (Bailey) shocking him at night, and his death certificate listed bronchopneumonia, avoiding a coroner’s investigation. His parents received a bill for over £1,100 in medication following his death.
Chelmsford Mortality Rates
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(00:42:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Chelmsford Hospital’s mortality rate for Deep Sleep Therapy patients exceeded 3.5%, which was seven times higher than comparable psychiatric facilities in the 1970s.
  • Summary: A whistleblower nurse testified that staff were threatened for documenting problems because Dr. Bailey brought too much money to the hospital to risk losing him. The local coroner filed a report in 1970 due to the number and condition of bodies received, but the investigation was blocked. A 24-year-old teacher died of pneumonia after 28 days in a barbiturate coma.
Bailey’s Flawed Scientific Justification
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(00:52:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Bailey’s self-developed theory for Deep Sleep Therapy (DST) was that the extended shutdown of the brain would ‘unlearn’ bad habits, likening the process to turning off and on a television.
  • Summary: This simplistic ’turn it off and on again’ rationale lacked substantial scientific backing, contrasting with his colleague’s description of him understanding the scientific method. Prolonged sedation prevents patients from processing trauma, which is counterproductive to healing from conditions like addiction or stress.
Benzos vs. Deep Sleep
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(00:55:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Benzodiazepines should be used to moderate symptoms, not induce complete unconsciousness for extended periods.
  • Summary: The ideal use of sedatives like benzos is to bring mania or anxiety down to a manageable baseline, not to completely incapacitate the patient. This approach aids in softening problems while other therapeutic work continues. Knocking a patient out of existence for weeks is not considered healthy or reputable medical practice.
Dr. Bailey’s Extreme Sleep Durations
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(00:55:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Bailey advocated for extremely long sleep therapy sessions, often lasting 10 to 14 days, escalating up to 39 days.
  • Summary: Dr. Bailey was a vocal proponent of extremely long sleep therapy, differentiating his approach in Europe. His normal prescription was 10 to 14 days, but he pushed this to three or four weeks, with the longest recorded session being 39 days. Such extended comas severely weaken the body, requiring weeks or months of physical therapy to recover.
Actress Tony Lamond’s Experience
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(00:57:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Actress Tony Lamond underwent a 10-day DST session, resulting in 7kg weight loss and subsequent firing from her job while unconscious.
  • Summary: Tony Lamond, grieving her husband’s death, sought DST and was put under for 10 days, waking up having lost nearly seven kilos, indicating inadequate care. Dr. Bailey had lied about arranging time off, and Lamond was fired and replaced during her coma. She experienced severe cognitive fog afterward, unable to remember simple tasks like where to place a stamp.
DST Ineffectiveness and Aftermath
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(01:03:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The deep sleep therapy provided no lasting benefit to Tony Lamond, whose underlying problems remained, forcing her back onto sedatives.
  • Summary: The sleep therapy itself did nothing for Tony Lamond; her problems persisted, though she temporarily forgot them. After weeks of recovery, she returned to performing but still required sedatives and began taking Valium. Lamond is considered one of the ’lucky ones’ whose career did not suffer long-term damage.
Competition in Coma Lengths
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(01:05:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Bailey reportedly competed with Dr. Ian Sargent to see who could keep a patient in the deepest coma the longest.
  • Summary: Correspondence between Dr. Bailey and Dr. Ian Sargent revealed they vied with each other to see who could keep a patient in the deepest coma. This competitive drive likely contributed to the extreme lengths of the DST sessions. This behavior is cited as an example of male ego driving dangerous medical practices.
Reported Death Tolls
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(01:06:39)
  • Key Takeaway: Reported direct death tolls from DST range from 24 to 27, with an additional 19 patients committing suicide within a year.
  • Summary: Between 1963 and 1979, 24 people died directly from Dr. Bailey’s DST, with some estimates placing the number as high as 27. Furthermore, 19 DST patients committed suicide within one year of receiving the therapy. One highly questionable Reuters report claimed 183 DST patients died in total, either in the hospital or within a year of release.
Barry Hart’s Assault Case
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(01:08:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Barry Francis Hart was involuntarily subjected to DST after being given a pill in the waiting room, leading to a lawsuit that drew media attention.
  • Summary: Barry Francis Hart, seeking help for depression following botched cosmetic surgery, was given a pill by a nurse in the waiting area and woke up two weeks later naked in a hospital room. He sued Dr. Heron (Bailey’s mentee) for kidnapping and assault, and although records were modified to suggest consent, the hospital settled. Hart’s case brought significant media attention to Chelmsford.
Scientology’s Involvement in Investigation
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(01:13:24)
  • Key Takeaway: A whistleblower nurse, Rosa Nicholson, secretly gathered evidence from Chelmsford and passed it to the Church of Scientology.
  • Summary: Nurse Rosa Nicholson worked undercover for two years, smuggling and photocopying patient records to expose Dr. Bailey’s operation. Her helpers were Scientologists, who despise psychiatry, which ultimately damaged the credibility of the whistleblowers and patients’ legal cases. Hart was smeared by being accused of being a Scientologist himself.
Bailey’s Mental Decline and Abuse
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(01:18:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Under legal pressure, Dr. Bailey began showing delusional behavior, including referring to himself as ‘God’ and a Martian, and regularly had sex with patients.
  • Summary: Facing lawsuits and bad press, Dr. Bailey started to lose his mind, with staff reporting he told them to call him ‘God.’ A 1991 British Medical Journal article noted his delusional behavior, including referring to himself as a Martian. He exploited patient vulnerability by having sexual relationships with female patients, sometimes ordering them sent to his office late at night.
Sharon Hamilton’s Suicide and Bailey’s End
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(01:22:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Following the suicide of his patient and lover, Sharon Hamilton, Dr. Bailey underwent DST himself and was later charged with manslaughter before committing suicide using barbiturates.
  • Summary: The suicide of Sharon Hamilton, who left her estate to Bailey, deeply distraught him, leading him to undergo DST himself and allegedly increasing his drug use. After being charged with manslaughter in 1983 over another patient’s death, Bailey committed suicide in 1985 using barbituate poisoning. His suicide note blamed ‘forces of evil’ and listed his degrees, but not the Church of Scientology for starting his crimes.
Post-Bailey Reforms and Injustice
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(01:29:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Bailey’s death spurred a royal commission that banned DST in New South Wales, but victims were denied damages because they waited too long to report.
  • Summary: A 1998 royal commission concluded that all doctors involved committed fraud, obstruction, and negligence, naming Bailey as the central figure. The New South Wales Parliament banned DST entirely, leading to significant reforms in Australian mental health care. However, victims were denied damages because the commission ruled they did not work hard enough to stop the practices sooner.