Danielle Fournier-Shay

Eleanor Jeanne Riese was born to Caspar Edward Riese (1893-1943) and Ora M. Meyer-Riese (1904-1987) in San Francisco, California, and had siblings Nancy Estelle Riese (1927-2011), Chapman David Riese (1930-2011), and a half sister Madeline Diane Riese-Jones-Takamine (1934-2005). Eleanor was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 25, and was in and out of hospitals throughout her adult life. She sued St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco for her right to refuse antipsychotic medication, and went to trial in 1989 when she was 44 years old. Her lawyers argued that she developed physical symptoms caused by the antipsychotic medication that she did not consent to. At the time, California had protections placed to protect patent's rights to refuse treatment with the LPS Act, however, this act did not specifically address those patients suffering from psychotic episodes. The court decided unanimously that patients who were involuntarily committed to health facilities for short-term crisis care COULD refuse to take antipsychotic medications. Eleanor's life story gained attention with the release of the movie "55 Steps" which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. A synopsis of Eleanor's life has been presented on Ancestry. It includes her inspiration for the movie "55 Steps". See Her story on Ancestry - by Robert Tull for more details. On IMDb, the movie is described as follows: "When patients' rights lawyer Colette Hughes goes to meet her new client, Eleanor Riese, a patient in the psychiatric unit of a San Francisco hospital, she has no idea that besides taking on an uphill legal battle to improve treatment for mental patients in hospitals, she is meeting a woman who will make it her mission to transform Colette's workaholic life." Helena Bonham Carter played Eleanor, who had been diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, in the movie. See The steps to 55 Steps by Mark Bruce Rosin to read an article by the writer of the movie that recalls his meeting with Eleanor and explaining why he wrote the screenplay.