My Support Forums - View Single Post - ????Police holds doctor assessments & therapists, Who wins?

Nammu · 02:17 AM

I had a bad day, a really bad day (if I had know how bad it would get when I asked for someone to talk to face to face ------I would have never asked for help! becouse my bad day was about to turn into 4 days of really bad hell!

). It started the night before with being too sick too be able to take any medications or get any sleep. Then I go to get in my car which worked fine the day before-nothing, but rrrr, I was going to miss a surgical appointment that took months to set up, tried to call for help, the phone would not work. In a great deal of pain, and battling depression I had a fleeting thought that I just refiled the pills.

Instead of acting on that or doing anything else I emailed--yes my computer was the one thing that worked! I emailed my therapist and briefly said what was going on asked if she could call the mental health deputy(MHD) so I could talk to someone real, face to face.

She emailed back -on their way. I explained your trauma situation, and that you DON"T need to go the hospital just talk. 3 cops show up.

One stays-we talk he greatly misunderstands me-radios the MHD-who never shows up but calls the hospital and books a bed and orders a 72 hour hold. The cop tells me I have no choice, I have to go. I ask how this happened,

we talk more-he realizes he misunderstood what I said-completely- radios back to the MHD who says he can not rescind the hold?? True?? Do not get any time to get things together go to hospital w/o reading glasses, other necessary things. There the Doctor says So very sorry doesn't think I need to be there but nothing he can do??????

This is not what I have heard. If you are not a risk to your self or others, a hospital is not the least restrictive alternative then they do not have to keep you. But both the admitting doc and the one I saw the next day used the police hold as there reason for keeping me and I do not take psych meds, I can't, I do worse on them, I have tried all of them. They did not call my therapist although they told me they did,

the second doc said I could leave when and if she called and said it was OK for me to leave. The third day(Saturday-weekends do not count as part of the 72 hours!!) I had a another patient call for me-I'm deaf cannot use the regular phones and they did not have any TTY's or any way for me to communicate- call my therapist after hours she called back and was angry I had been admitted and she was never called.

I had to sign papers I could not read-they changed my pain medications without telling me, my pain is now out of control. Aside from the many ADA violations is it unnecessary restraint when you keep someone who does not need to be kept in a psych hospital? I have Medicaid and Medicare if I was uninsured would the doctors have let me go? No wonder my state is number 50 in mental health care. There is never any beds for those that need them-I did not need it and I was kept there.Filling a bed that was needed by someone else. There's only two small hospitals in my very large city one of the larger cities in America!

What a waste. I'm thinking of writing to the paper!

Q # 1 The doctors go to school for years do they not have the last word in whether or not someone is kept or released? Not an untrained police officer?

Q # 2 Was I kept illegally sense they lied about contacting my therapist. They said they called her and left a message but until she heard from me via the patent who called her for me, she did not know I was there and had not heard from the hospital. According to my papers of patient bill of rights anyone who knowing restrains someone in a hospital who does not need to be there is guilty of a crime that is punishable by both fine and time. I was released today before my 72 hours were up after my therapist called!

Q #3 If anything had happened to my cat would they have been liable since they told me they called my friend for me and told her where I was and that I would be there until Mon(tomorrow) but when I got home early(Sun morn) my cat had no food or water? Given the record of them and my friend I will believe my friend over them when she say's she did not get a call.

Because they changed my pain medications which are administered by a specialist in pain medicine my pain is now out of control.

Because I was there I missed other appointments, the one thing I have learned from this is to never talk to a police officer or a MHD and if I did need to go into a hospital because of mental health, I think my choice will be something else, after the treatment I received there and saw others receiving--maybe the right words should be not receiving -other than medication there was no treatment. The only time the were concerned and asked me anything is when I didn't eat. I don't eat meat, white bread or really refined food and don't drink milk-so some meals had nothing for me. I only saw the doctor twice the first time he was in a big hurry, the second time was to discharce me. Maybe if I was hearing I would have been able to get a vegi tray?

Oh--my after care? None. They were very impressed with the safty plan I wrote!