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Nammu · Jun 19, 2013, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodger

I was in the hospital about six months ago with someone who was faking everything from her voices down to a sore knee. If anyone was getting attention for any "problem" all of a sudden she had that problem too. We were admitted the same day, but within about 18 hours she was gone. We, the other patients and I had to speak up for ourselves and let the staff know what was really going on.

A similar thing happened when I was put on a 72 hour hold when I tried to find partial hospital program. I detest hospitals here and will not go because they are not HC accessible, each time I've been in one I have called Disability Rights and they are investigated and found not in compliance of the ADA laws but make no changes. I don't talk much about my stuff but the inpatients there were trying to help me get out and get the things I needed for my physical problems and there was a woman who was admitted at the same time I was who watched all that and then, out of sight of anyone she "fell" dizzy from meds she said, and hurt her ankle. The next thing you know she had a wheelchair and pain meds and was higher than a kite. Most of the patients there said she did this a lot( there were a number of people that seemed to be regular visitors there), she wanted attention & drugs and she would park herself very close and center in front of the TV where she sat in a stupor & turned it up so loud the rest of us couldn't hear each other. Many complained, but until one guy talked directly to the nursing supervisor nothing was done. After he talked to the supervisor she was discharged a couple of hours later, w/ loud protestations that she would kill herself if they made her leave & also she wanted pain pill prescription! I think that people like that use the threat of suicide to get what they want and treatment is not traumatic to them because they thrive on discord as long as they are getting attention and they don't care if it is negative attention or not.

I agree that there are people who use up the resources and they shouldn't be but I believe part of the problem is the arbitrary nature of psychiatry, until there is a better way to diagnose and treat those with MI, those that want attention or drugs will continue to use the system to meet their own needs. I believe many of them are somewhat narcissistic and don't think about the consequences of their actions. Others are simply trying to escape though drugs-Do they need help, yes. But they will not get the kind of help they need under our current system because it is meeting their short term goals and the system is training them to continue to do that, and it is easier for the staff to deal with eager patients than the truly ill patients so the staff has no reason to change the way things are either. So it is up to the truly MI patients to yell out and get heard about how dysfunctional this system is & insist on compassion, kindness and respectful service for every MI person, not just the wealthy ones. Ironic! The ill are the ones that need to get things done in between the disabling episodes!
Sorry about the rambling

&

this is a topic that gets me going.

Thanks for having the courage to bring this up.