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Originally Posted by sidestepper
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!
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sorry you went through that...
to answer your questions....
Quote:
Originally Posted by sidestepper
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?
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I dont know about Texas but here where I live and work in the city hospital in NY if the police bring someone in pending commitment/ or arrest the hospital protocol is to hold that person for a minimum of 72 hours. this is regardless of whether the on call psychiatrist says they seem to not need to be here because many people with mental health issues via the internet now know all they need to do is show a "non suicidal, non threatening front" whether or not they really are a danger to their self or others so that they can go home, commit suicide, harm their self or harm another anyway.. So this city changed the automatic release law to state regardless of incoming state of the person the hospital must hold them for that 72 hours...very few people who are actually in impelling/active suicidal, homicidal or self injurying states cant hold it together for a full 72 hours...especially if its a weekend. sooner or later their true state of mind slips past their false "im ok really" front. so to answer your question no if your city has the same kind of laws we do then its not illegal for them to have held you as long as they did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sidestepper
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
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Again no if you were here where I live and work the hospital people telling you they are calling your therapist and you will have to wait for the therapist to call back is not illegal... in situations when the police are bringing in someone for possible commitment/arrest due to being a danger to one self or others the first rule is at all costs keep the client calm, agree to call anyone they ask whether or not you actually have the time to do so because treatment providers agreeing with a potential suicidal/self injuring/ homicidal person can help defuse the situation so that the person can be interviewed coherently and calmly. its just part of the common sense rules / protocols when dealing with potentially violent people, in fact even the police force are trained in how to negotiate and defuse potentially violent situations/people that are in danger of harming their self or others by using the agree to phone/offer to phone someone for the person rules.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sidestepper
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.
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again if you were here where I live and work no the hospital would not have been held liable if something had happened to your cat because they told you they would call your friend and they didnt for what ever reasons. again when the police here bring someone who is a danger to their self and others a cat or dog is not the immediate concern, and protocol. if its like here the rule is agree with the person who may be a danger to their self or others to calm and diffuse the persons anxiety so they can be interviewed/treated.
if you were here where I live and work, if there really was a danger of your cat starving to death over a 72 hour hold animal control would have been called and given the contact information for your friend, then animal control would have picked up the cat for free, held them in their shelter, fed, cuddled, petted, socialized the cat until either your release or they got a hold of your friend.. cats and dogs are pretty resilient they can go quite a while on little to no food and water depending upon the circumstances. plus even if they did call your friend with a cat theres no guarantee there would have been food and water in the cats dishes, cats are amazing animals sometimes they eat everything the second you give them their food and water and sometimes they graze on and off. some days my cats will have their dishes empty the moment I put it down for them and other days I come home from work and they hardly touched their food.
your after care well if its like here where I live and work they knew you had a therapist so they already knew you would be receiving mental health after care. the safety plan would be just an added bonus to show you knew how to keep yourself safe between release and seeing your therapist.