FDA misses self-imposed deadline on electric shock device ban, prompting disability advocates' outcry

The Food and Drug Administration did not issue a decision by the end of May as it had set for itself on whether to prohibit electrical shock devices used on people with intellectual disabilities and autism.

The agency had previously pursued a ban but a court order forced it to pause the process. The devices, which deliver electric shocks to curb self-injurious behavior, have been described by United Nations officials as a form of torture.

Although the practice has largely fallen out of use in the United States, it continues at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts, the only remaining facility that still employs the shocks.

Disability rights groups and former recipients are now warning that without a formal ban the shocks may keep being applied, and they are calling on the FDA to act quickly.