Victims of abuses and malpractice in healthcare system

Hello all,

I am looking for fellow victims of unethical behavior and malpractice at the hands of healthcare professionals. It can be of any kind, there are no rules except to keep specific names confidential. Please share you stories via private messages or on this thread.

I believe there is a major problem in our healthcare system that needs attention. Together we can build a long list of stories. I cannot believe how often this happens. Please share and gather stories and post them here.

If anyone knows where I can find stories like this please share!

thanks,
HD

My husband had a seziure that lasted 15 minutes. Hospital kept him then booted him out of the hospital for drug seeking behavior because he kept telling the doctor he was in pain. Turned out both his arms were dislocated, his shoulder blades were shattered, his shoulder was broken, the humeral(sic?) head was almost sheared off and his wrist and forearm had a stress fracture.

It's taken 4 surgeries to fix the damage they missed and kicked him out for BUT he couldn't sue because of the state we live in. They said the injuries were disabling BUT because he was already disabled he's "no worse for wear".

Feel free to PM me I would like to hear from others too.

OH my god! That is horrible!!! Thank you for sharing.

How is he doing these days?

he's doing as well as can be expected. He has very limited range of motion in his arms despite the surgeries and it has severely impacted his quality of life. But as he's been told by more than one person "he's disabled so why does he need quality of life?".

The worst part has been his new found mistrust of docs. He's schizophrenic and the experience set his paranoia off the charts AND he's scared if he complains they won't believe him because of getting kicked out of the hospital.

I have much difficulty seeing doctors for any kind of healthcare today due to the medical community's complicity in covering up all the abuse I was enduring throughout childhood and adolescence ... Back then there were no questions asked ... They'd just patch the kid up and toss them back into whatever hell they were living in ... Therefore, I find it extremely difficult to trust any of them for anything I need now!

I will add my story in short form:

I was in a DBT clinic in the public healthcare system. Things got sour between myself and my therapist and I had disagreed to sign a contingency plan that stated we could talk for no more than 5 minutes per session about topics of my choosing. I found this unethical and so I ended up leaving voicemails in anger and got terminated from the program. I threatened to kill myself and I was brought to hospital and told I had to do a psych assessment. I found this strange, as I had already done one to get into DBT, so I asked for them to prove to me who was asking for it.

A nurse printed a document that stated the program supervisor believes I am faking my illness, that I am a sociopath and apparently threatened their lives (among other things)! None of this was true.

I immediately threatened a lawsuit.

After being told I had a monster under my bed, that if I didn't do the psych assessment it would look like I was hiding something: I did the test. I passed with flying colors and proved this was all just rediculous nonsense, definitely intentional.

I got back into the program and they said not to order health records, that they would order them for me. I was also promised a copy of the document I had seen in the hospital as well as a copy of the psych assessment. I reviewed it for a second time and told them this is the kind of thing people file lawsuits over. At the end of the session, the program supervisor took the documents from my hand and said, "this is all about survival, you are too dys-regulated right now, you can have these at a later date." She also said I could have copies of the voicemails that had led to my being terminated in the first place.

After waiting over a month, I asked for the documents and voicemails. They met with me again and said they were unable to give me the documents and that I would have to order them through, "legal channels." I decided to ask for the voicemails. They finally said we could meet and I could get copies in the following session. When I met with the program supervisor, she said, "we have some bad news... We lost the voicemails." I immediately ordered my health records and after waiting another 30 days, they were altered.

During this entire time waiting, they were busy writing lies in my charts in preparation for a lawsuit. I thought I could trust them. They screwed me over twice. They particularly wrote that I had memory problems whenever I read documentation (convenient since I seen the original document twice) and that I was paranoid (convenient since they actually were colluding against me).

I left the public healthcare system and went to a private DBT clinic in the same community. The public DBT clinic knew of my plans to pursue private DBT.

After four months of working with my private therapist, I finally learn to trust her. At one point I tried to get into the public healthcare hospitals due to suicidal issues, but they didn't let me in because I wouldn't tell them who my private therapist was... Shortly after, my private therapist hires one of the people involved: it is the therapist who terminated me and who falsely accused me of these things. (This is the therapist who everyone else protected) I told my private therapist who all of these people were in our very first session and her defense was that I didn't tell her the therapists last name, despite the fact that she had warned me about hiring her... My private therapist said that if I wanted to continue working with her - that I would have to include the public therapist in consultations; which would essentially ruin all confidentiality. My trauma's had to do with their unethical behavior! She said she did not disbelieve me but when I told her I was scared she said my fear was unjustified! (She couldn't possibly admit to hiring a lion) My therapist protected this unethical therapist guilty of a myriad of crimes and corruption.

In the end, I left that private therapist and she ended up writing the same nonsense in my charts: that I have a problem with memory and paranoia, despite the fact she had said I had a good memory prior to hiring this therapist...

A cover-up that spans approximately 25 healthcare professionals in both the public and private healthcare sector.

I have left out a lot of details but trust me: the story is far more scary than it sounds.

Thanks,
HD

Pfrog - please share more!

Every time they had made mistakes with me, they have always refused to pick up the pieces. That is what I hate the most. No one had ever tried to follow up or repair the damage done. If I tried to talk about it I was verbally abused. It has gone on off and on for as long as I've been treated, over 20 years.

I still suffer from something that happened half a year ago, I would need counseling for it and a med change, but nothing will happen since the mistake was "nothing". In their eyes.

I know every interaction with health care can be the beginning of the end.

I know it's not me. I know people who work in health care and see their coworkers neglect and abuse patients.



It is very easy for me to think that I am alone and I brought this on myself, but puts things in perspective seeing how patients had a much rougher deal, and no actions were still taken.

i have so many stories of abuse by medical staff, doctors and therapists, that it would fill a book. the worst was when i went to a public mental health clinic in Sacramento, and was given Lithium, which caused a psychotic break. it their haste to cover it up, 12 different 'partially retired' old farts gave me 24 of their favorite meds in 18 months, each one of which caused more and more damage. they said it was me getting worse and not responding to treatment. they left me with substantial and significant brain damage, and would have institutionalized me if i hadn't overheard them planning it in the hall and ran away.

that was all in '89 - '91. i had the IQ of a damaged 6 yr old, when i began my self-directed recovery program, at which all the psychiatrists i had to see to apply for disability laughed. yes, right out loud, in my face. well,,, i am now fully recovered from bipolar disorder, OCD's, Phobias, Panic, GAD, hair pulling, and everything but PTSD (which is continually re-traumatized) and agoraphobia (who can blame me for being afraid to go out ?? ).

recently, i was seeing a doctor for a systemic infection, which he didn't even believe in, and didn't know there was a test for, and when he got nasty with me, i sought a second opinion. sadly, i didn't understand that all the docs at that clinic (the only one in this rural community) were in cahoots with each other, and the second doc attacked me verbally. when i filed a complaint, i was told to seek medical attention elsewhere. even tho they ALL KNOW there is no elsewhere for a person without transportation. it's 60 or 70 miles to the next doc or hospital.

i bluffed them, and they caved, i got 12 minutes with a third doc when i was promised a 30 minute intake, and no meds. come back in 6 months (IF you're still alive, scum). i hate docs,, i despise the medical system, and their entitled 'better than thou' attitudes. but i'm not so delusional as to think that we or any group smaller than the AARP can affect medical practices.

best of luck to you all ~

Its a medical "practice" not a cure. I dislike people fishing for claims.

What happened to your other thread on this topic?

Your problem seems to be a disagreement in treatment rather than malpractice.

Don't DBT programs have strict rules about what can and cannot be discussed?

This isn't strange. Anyone who threatens suicide and is sent to hospital will be assessed by a psychiatrist.


Psychiatric records tend to be filled with personal opinions that are not objective. A clinician is supposed to write professional notes. Attacking a patient's character isn't considered professional. I haven't read any character attacks in my records even though some clinicians were very abrupt with me.

Medical records are limited. They only state one side of the story. Often what professionals see and hear isn't reality. Half the stuff I read in mine was inaccurate. I have discovered one particular doctor's charting didn't match any of my encounters with him. Obviously he falsified my records to cover his ***. I looked into him and discovered he is known for this style of charting.

You can request a correction of your medical records. I'm doing it.

If you expect healthcare professionals (or anyone else) to save you, you will be profoundly disappointed.

i hope you can get the help you so need. i remember being abused by psych staff and felt no one heard me. i've been in the system over 30 years now and did see a complete turnaround of the way docs and t's got better and now i trust them more, but there still is shady things going on too. These people turn against us if we don't comply. our names get rolled through the mud on our charts and paperwork. you're right there are difficult docs and t but there seems to be no way to regulate them. good luck

How do you go about getting your records cleared of lies from a bad therapist? Please send me a PM if you don't want to post.

Wow thanks for the responses. I know this industry has the ability to help, but it also has the ability to harm. Not everyone's experience in the healthcare system is wholly positive: do not shame people for wanting or needing to vent their negative experiences. If anything it is vital to spread awareness and educate one another so as to prevent this from happening to others and to improve the healthcare industry. Be lucky that you have not had negative experiences because believe me - it has been by far the hardest thing to deal with in my entire life. When someone in an ethical position of power decides to abuse you like this, it ruins your ability to trust and gives you a long list of additional ailments and traumas...

TheLittledidgee,

The other thread is dead and I put it in a different sub-forum. I want to get this topic out into a bigger audience. People need to express this stuff!!! It is becoming a huge issue and needs to be made known.

I left out a lot of information for the sake of keeping things short. Thank you for asking some questions I will clarify the best I can. First off, the parties involved are in fact, guilty of malpractice. Altering and falsifying documents is both highly illegal and unethical, as is breach of confidentiality and deleting important evidence. Manipulating and gas-lighting is sadistic and socio-pathic, protecting friends and colleagues at the expense of an honest victim's credibility is beyond evil. The list goes on and on...

Firstly, I should note that I was given permission to express anger in therapy prior to leaving the voicemails. I was told that I could not speak about my issues via phone coaching (which is indeed correctly in line with DBT modality) and thus, my anger would have to be saved for individual sessions. I had repeatedly asked my individual therapist to speak about anger in session, but she kept pushing it off and said it would have to wait until she returned from vacation. After she returned, she drew up the contingency plan: essentially barring me from talking about my anger. This is arguably unethical AND it also pushes the bounds of DBT modality. I have asked DBT therapists about this and they say it seems a bit harsh considering the importance of talking about issues in therapy, (let alone DBT) especially when I had given weeks of notice of my building anger. I told my DBT therapist I would go find another therapist outside of DBT to vent my anger to, if she did not allow me to, and the response I got was that I was not allowed to have another therapist outside of DBT... See my predicament? I had just started DBT groups and so I had next to zero knowledge of the skills; so how could they possibly expect me to handle the anger on my own? Usually these things come on gradually after a patient is taught the skills, not the other way around.

Secondly, I have been in the hospital many times and I am well aware that on staff physicians and psychiatrists do a psych evaluation on patients at each visit. This is not the same evaluation that I am referring to. Have you ever been forced to do over five hundred true and false questions and threatened to be discharged if you decided against it? I was told I had a monster under the bed for $@#% sakes, that alone was traumatic! Everyone in the hospital was reacting to a series of malicious lies written in my charts. In order to get back into DBT: they gave me no choice but to do a full-fledged psychological examination by a forensic psychologist. This is the type of professional who is assigned to sociopaths and serial killers in law enforcement and litigation. It was traumatizing! This, in addition to the fact that this was all occurring because of a series of falsified medical records; namely the ridiculous accusations that I was somehow faking my illness despite having been traumatized by the abandonment of my therapist and also accused of threatening to kill people I loved and trusted?! ABSOLUTE NONSENSE! This made things even more strange. Not to mention I had already done the DIB-R intake to get into DBT and had the borderline diagnosis for approximately 5 years at the time. This was all very strange and they knew it, so I threatened a lawsuit and they ended up covering up the mistake to large extent.

Thirdly, the original documentation stated that the program supervisor said these things and had requested psychological examinations... A program supervisor IS NOT a physician: so requesting such examinations is both illegal and malpractice. LOL BIG MISTAKE! My assigned psychiatrist was away on vacation and the only people present during this entire ordeal was myself, my therapist and the program supervisor, and security and police. They attempted to have me banned from the program because the content of my voicemails challenged the program and my therapists unethical contingency plan. I mentioned how unfair it was for them to claim I was not utilizing phone coaching as it was designed, when they did not even offer phone coaching as per DBT modality: (due to union policies) and thus, they could not be considered a certifiable DBT clinic. Funny thing is, one of their therapists was indeed offering phone coaching (despite union policy) while the rest were not - and I had also mentioned how unfair this was... I also felt it was rediculous to give me permission to express anger in therapy, yet not allow me to express it via phone coaching or in individual sessions, and expect me to deal with it all on my own without having taught me the skills; and that if I was to find a therapist outside of DBT in order to handle it, I would be terminated...

I found some major flaws in their program and in my therapist's style. She was both unprofessional and in my opinion, bordering on unethical.

So you see - there are many reasons they didn't want me in the program. When it comes to public healthcare; IF someone is in DBT and does not fit the criteria of borderline - they are immediately removed from the program to make room for others. By intentionally and maliciously trying to have me misdiagnosed, this would have been easy, except that I happened to see these false claims in medical records and threatened a lawsuit before they could get away with anymore of their antics. In the end, however, they altered the records to make it look like a different psychiatrist from the DBT clinic had made the request for psych evaluations (despite the fact that she was not present during the ordeal on the day this all happened and I have never even met her).

I understand the whole, "medical records are merely opinions," argument - but try to convince a courtroom of that when they are requested through a subpoena and authored by, "professionals." It doesn't matter how much of an opinion it is - when you have 25 healthcare professionals who are friends and colleagues and have a common interest to protect one another, and thus, write the same malicious content in order to cover-up a series of very serious events; you cannot possibly hope to defend yourself in court with the simple argument that medical records are merely opinions. Sure, medical professionals are supposed to treat medical records as opinions and take a patient at face value, but do you really think they will listen to someone who suffers from mental illness over charts written by their fellow friends and colleagues?

I don't know about you, but, I live in Canada - and apparently if I wanted to change a document I would need to make an official request to the author... In this case - I would be requesting for changes to be made by conspirators in a cover-up... Do you really think they would be willing?

Thanks,
HD

Hi, I sent you a PM......Nicole

One thing I think the majority of us psych patients have happened to us, is that the assumption is made that we have no bodies and therefore we cannot become physically ill.

If a doc learns you have a mental diagnosis, anything physical you look for help for, might be thrown back at you as being your MI talking.

I'm not saying it always happens like this. Some docs actually take their time and investigate your physical illness. But I think a lot of us, at least once, have searched treatment just to hear it is in our heads.

It is really, really dangerous to brush people off like that. Especially since people with MI are MORE prone to physical illness.

Also people with MI, if rejected from health care, rarely find strength to go back if their physical symptoms get worse. Even more reason to take them seriously.

Are there really THAT many hypochondriacs to justify this behavior towards us?

Have you considered using your experience as a teaching opportunity? A lot of clinicians who are in a teaching role are very interested in improving care.

It is hard to sue doctors here in Canada. You need a lot of money to pay a good lawyer and have a strong case. Have you spoken to a lawyer? Another option to consider is submitting a complaint to the professional college.

Venting anger is okay up to a certain point. If it comes across as threatening people don't appreciate it. Therapy and treatment has to feel safe for all involved for it to work. Once that safety is threatened people tend to react.

Leaving threatening messages implies you don't deal with conflict and rejection very well. Clinicians don't take kindly to argumentative and difficult patients especially ones who project rage. Angry and hostile people are hard to work with.

Your diagnosis may be contributing to your problems. A lot of psychiatrists avoid clients with your diagnosis.

How much do you use services? If you are a heavy user who presents with chronic suicidal ideation and needs constant emotional support it tends to frustrate the hell out of clinicians.

This is definitely odd. I've never heard of a patient doing psychological testing in the emergency department.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD7970GHZ I understand the whole, "medical records are merely opinions," argument - but try to convince a courtroom of that when they are requested through a subpoena and authored by, "professionals."

It is you versus them.

Have you considered that you may not be ready for DBT at this moment in time? Maybe you need to work on the skills with a therapist who has strict boundaries to help prevent you from developing a strong attachment. You seem to get over involved with these people which is hurting you. Why do you do this? What do you really want from these people? A sense of identity? Belonging? Nurturing? Think about this.

I hope my response didn't offend you. It wasn't my intent.

Thank you for the reply,

Littledidgee,

I have indeed. I think litigation is a dead-end idea, so I've been thinking of ways to educate fellow citizens. The primary motivation is to keep others from having to go through this very traumatic experience. It can happen to anyone of us and unfortunately these circumstances happen more often than we know...

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I have also heard this. I really have no intention to sue anyone, that is not in my character. I think it will be much more effective to do something positive and change the system versus pick a battle with a group of professionals who are defending one another.

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I agree that venting anger is okay up until a certain point. Let's get something straight: I did NOT threaten anyone. EVER. If they ever felt threatened it was never my intent and I never escalated to the extent of threatening others. I did NOT leave threatening messages, I left angry messages asking for answers; which I felt was well within my rights as a patient, especially after having been given permission to express anger. Keep in mind this is the first time I have ever felt safe to show anger in therapy.

I have heard that some clinicians dislike working with borderline sufferers, however, this was never an issue prior to these particular circumstances. It is amazing how a set of lies in charts will impact treatment moving forward. It shows just how broken this system really is, especially when the content is written maliciously.

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It is strange indeed. I should clarify that the actual testing wasn't done until I was out of psych-emergency and in a ward.

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This is the problem. I realize the fact that I am up against a long list of unionized, "professionals," who also happen to be friends and colleagues with one another... How can I possibly fight against that?

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At this time, due to the additional traumas and complex PTSD from all of this - I am in no space to do DBT. Especially with the strong attachment issues like you mention. I do indeed get overly involved and vulnerable with these people and I even experienced a touch of Stockholm syndrome; which I can only recognize now that I am out of the situation and have gained clarity. I actually loved these people. Yes: I needed all those things, nurturing, comfort, security, belonging, etc... They offered me these things just long enough to alter documentation and build a case against me in preparation for a lawsuit... It was disgusting. And once I got my records and realized they were changed, they gas-lighted me and pretended like nothing was wrong!

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I appreciate the sentiment. I am sensitive but I appreciate you taking the time to ask questions; it means you actually have an interest in this and care.

Thanks,
HD

This really sounds like a good idea. Maybe you can reach out to some mental health agencies. So are you going to make a movie?

I've been emotionally butchered by psychiatry because of misdiagnosis. Even though it happened years ago I'm still hurting from it. I didn't need to go through that ordeal. All one clinician had to do was listen, observe and ask the right questions. Cognitive bias blinded them, because it was easier. I was blamed, but I know better now. The experience taught me to fight and believe in myself.

When I read or hear of others going through a similar experience I want to protect them and let them know the truth.

P.S. There is nothing wrong with being sensitive. Don't let anyone tell you it is.

Yup.

They picked a fight with 1/5th of the entire population of the world; they just haven't figured that out yet. Years of lack of accountability has come to an end.

I am heartbroken that you went through that! Can you please share more about your experience?

Thanks,
HD

I was assigned a psychiatrist who I discovered was bilking the system. She was charging for services she basically wasn't offering. Namely, she had me come once each week, put on a relaxation tape, and leave the room. Once the tape ended, the session ended. Often she didn't even bother to ask how I was feeling. I reported her to the College of Physicians and Surgeons for my province. It was investigated and I was advised they found against her. I never was told what her reprimand was however. Still, it was a win.

Thank you for sharing!! I am happy you got some resolve! I am surprised to be quite honest. How did you feel after? Did you feel guilty or shameful? Or did you feel content?

I would like to know more about the complaint process you went through. Perhaps that is more private message content but feel free to message me.

Thanks,
HD