Sue Bergeson
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
I had one of those calls that we all dread getting. A casual friend, who I hadn't heard from for six months or so, called me from a locked ward. "They are not listening to me", she cried. To make matters worse, she was on vacation, away from home, when her husband decided that she was i...
Sue
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 04:12 PM
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Sue
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 03:36 PM
This is an update to my response to Nightmare Hospitalization. It has been 10 years since my horrible experience on that airplane episode. Just last week I found myself on the same airline sitting next to a pilot. It took a long time to get in the air backups of planes I was told. During the delay I found myself getting nauseated and faint. The air conditioning didn't work until we got in the air. All of a sudden the stewardess and the pilot sitting next to me were putting wet rags all over me and they gave me some water to drink.After about 5 minutes I was better.As I felt better and started talking to the pilot next to me I told him of my experience 10 years before. He explained to me that the pilot is in charge of everyone on the plane and that he had made a judgement call and that I shouln't have taken it so personally. Oh my God all the wasted energy over the years on that episode. I truly appreciate that pilot being so honest and kind to me . Like my daughter always tells me "It isn't always about me" I just wanted everyone to know that when things happen my daughter is right It isn't always about them Sue A.
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Sue
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 03:38 PM
This is an update to my response to Nightmare Hospitalization. It has been 10 years since my horrible experience on that airplane episode. Just last week I found myself on the same airline sitting next to a pilot. It took a long time to get in the air backups of planes I was told. During the delay I found myself getting nauseated and faint. The air conditioning didn't work until we got in the air. All of a sudden the stewardess and the pilot sitting next to me were putting wet rags all over me and they gave me some water to drink.After about 5 minutes I was better.As I felt better and started talking to the pilot next to me I told him of my experience 10 years before. He explained to me that the pilot is in charge of everyone on the plane and that he had made a judgement call and that I shouln't have taken it so personally. Oh my God all the wasted energy over the years on that episode. I truly appreciate that pilot being so honest and kind to me . Like my daughter always tells me "It isn't always about me" I just wanted everyone to know that when things happen my daughter is right It isn't always about them Sue A.
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tabby
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Unfortunately this does happen and quite a bit. Once you are "signed in" whether of your own initiation or someone else's - you are theirs.
A lot of staff deal with folks who are "not right" everyday and after a while some get quite jaded. You wouldn't be in there if you were okay. So, you are then looked at not as a person but as a crazy person who can't handle themselves otherwise they'd not be there.
I signed in my last time on my own. I was told that after 72 hours I could go home if I felt the need. Then, I got onto the ward. Once on the ward, I was handed the policies and procedures, patient rights, and how things worked.
After 72 hours, should I have felt the need to leave, I'd have to write in complete detail a letter to my psychiatric team explaining why I felt I should be allowed to leave. If the psychiatric team differed, I'd be kept on an involuntary hold for a minimum of another 72 hours which I'd then be re-evaluated. You weren't allowed to just "check yourself out" as I was told during the intake session.
When my insurance ran out (6 days) so did my stay. This happened once before with a hospitalization. My insurance refused any further days and I was discharged. Only that time, I really badly needed to have stayed an extra month.
Just think - if it were a "real" hospital for "medical" purposes I'd been allowed & so would have your friend - to sign out even if against medical advisement.
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HP
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 09:17 PM
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Eric
Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 04:22 AM
Hi Sue,
I wish the story you had written was unique, but its not and happens every day. As a family member, the worst thing you can do is to drop off your loved one and think the hospital and staff will do right by them. Of course there are some good units out there, but in the same token there are as many bad ones as good.
You are in the position of advocating for the person there, because they do loose all their rights and a voice in the decisions. What you & Tabby wrote about insurance companies paying the bill rand so true as to when the hospital is ready to release you. In our case, Medicare paid for 30 days and on day 30, the local hospital had my wife sign a statement that she was not being released because Medicare refused to pay any further even though she was not ready to be released nor was she stabilized.
You also have no recourse against the hospital. Most attorneys will not take on the case when it comes too malpractice concerning mental health issues….In our case it was an easy open and shut case…I almost got killed from the psychiatrist pulling the Thorizine, Haldol and Ativane in the shot form the day she was released. They cut her loose unstabilized and going through withdrawals from these heavy hitters and misdiagnoses as schizophrenic needed to learn to live with the voices… even though she had been diagnosed bipolar for better than 20 years.
I did try to sue the hospital and psychiatrist and ended up being turned down by two attorneys not wanting to take on the case. The hospitals and psychiatrists on duty are given the green light to do as they please. In our case, it did put the hospital on notice; they did change some of their practices but still send a notice every two weeks of wanting the co-pay of 1300.00 after collecting more than 20,000 from Medicare for doing nothing. Her own psychiatrist was the one to get her the help she needed…. It was not the hospital or their staff.
btw...I am paying the hospital 4.00 a month and the bill should be paid off in the year 2037.
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Rusty
Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 05:39 AM
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Shannon
Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 12:47 PM
During my recent hospitalization, the attending psychiatrist threatened to have me committed to a state run mental hospital. He got angry with me when I asked to be released early (by a few hours) to eat Easter dinner with my family. When I started to cry over the frustration is when he told me that I needed to "Get a grip or I'll have you committed to [taking out name of hospital) by tomorrow morning".
My father contacted the ACLU and they were extremely helpful to us. Although I didn't need to get a Lawyer involved, I made it clear to the staff that this threat was not something that I would tolerate. They also helped me a lot because it turned out that he had violated HIPPA when talking to my boyfriend about me without my consent.
Needless to say, as soon as HIPPA is brought up, people around you start to take action. I was released in time to be home for Easter dinner. All went well with the psychiatrist. I explained to him that although I was upset about the HIPPA violation, I intended on taking no action as long as I was not threatened anymore while being there.
Going to law school really helps in these situation. I appreciate the other tips that you had in this article!
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Denise Short
Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 04:20 PM
It is my understanding that a nurse practioner can diagnose and treat mental illnesses, at least in the state of Idaho. However you would want a NP that has special training in the psychiatric field. We have a couple of really good NP in our community. They definately fill a void as we are short of psychiatrists.
Sorry to hear of your friends experience. I sure many of those who have been hospitalized with similar experiences. However when I look back at the times I've been in the locked down unit I see that my perspective was warped.
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sherrie l
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 07:23 PM
Recently my psychiatrist decided that I was stable enough to wean off my Paxil and just stay on a mood stabilizer. I had not had any depression, suicidal ideation, or any other symptoms for months. Unfortunately stopping the Paxil brought on a discontinuation syndrome that included loss of balance and coordination, dystonia and ataxia (twitching, jerking, and general loss of control of my extremities and head and neck). I went to the ER and they were concerned about the possibility of seizures so they admitted me... to the psych ward!
When I got to the ward I let the RN know that I had already fallen a few times and really didn't feel safe walking around on my own but she informed me that they could not have wheelchairs on the unit and they didn't have the staff to walk me back and forth from my room. So, I was settled in the lounge and when I had to go to the bathroom I walked down the hall, clinging to the wall and promptly fell backward, striking my back and shoulder on the floor. A staff person came up to me a few seconds later and said "Why don't you get up off the floor and go lay in your bed instead." I was never asked if I was injured or helped up or to my room. The big knot on the back of my head was waved off with the advice that maybe I shouldn't fall on the floor again.
This was just the tip of the iceberg. During this hospitalization, which was supposed to be strictly medical, I was accused of being a drug addict because I was on ADD medication, a nurse told me I was lying about my history of eating disorder because I was overweight, and I never saw a real doctor - only a med student. After my hospitalization I had the opportunity to read my chart and was shocked to find no mention of the fall and frequent statements about my symptoms being 'somatic', 'exagerated', 'attention seeking', and 'manipulative'(regarding calling an advocate).
Luckily, I work in the medical field and coincidentally for the same facility that I was in, and so I knew what my rights were and I immediately called the patient advocate who called the nursing supervisor who came and spoke with me and promised to take corrective action on these issues. I was later informed that the RN who had accused me of lying about my history and drug use was "dealt with" and that the entire unit was forced to go through retraining on falls prevention and reporting patient injuries.
I think that there is an attitude amongst psych nurses and psych techs that all of their patients are manipulative, attention seeking, deluded and lying. I don't know the answer to how to finally be treated with respect and understanding within the mental health system but advocating for yourself or having someone advocate for you is important. Regretfully, this wasn't even the worst experience I've had in an in-patient psych unit and things don't seem to be getting any better.
Hang in there. Work for systems change and advocate for yourself and others.
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Mel
Monday, September 01, 2008 at 09:28 PM
Law requires a physician to see a patient within 24 hours, story is a little unlikely...
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners , PMHNP-BC, are masters certified and highly qualified, they are NOT just : prescribing nurses. A nurse may be a practical nurse, a registered nurse, a bachelors degree registered nurse, or advanced practice and board certified after obtaining a Masters degree and many many hours of clinical training and supervision above a registered nurse.
Perhaps your friend saw a psychiatrist and was so ill she did not recall... I suspect the hospital followed the law and requirements for an attendant MD.
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