I don't think ECT is quite a straightforward as you believe it to be. There's a site I found interesting on the subject, http://www.ect.org/ and it points out how complex the decision (whether to use ECT or not) actually is for pneuropsychologists and implies that your girlfriend was probably turned down for individual reasons concerning her own case rather than any "society" views on the subject. Psychologists reviewing her case to see if ECT was a good fit for her at this timewouldn't care about society's views on the subject I don't believe.