I recently had the unfortunate experience of being locked up against my will in a psychiatric institution. Here are the series of events and please feel free to tell me if you see there is more than ONE thing wrong with this situation or if you totally agree w/ them and why.
On Wed. May 21 I went to Holy Spirit hospital to look into an intensive outpatient program for more intense therapy after learning that my unemployment checks would no longer be coming in the mail leaving me w/ ZERO income. During the course of the inpatient program you meet w/ various therapists for various activities and you meet w/ your psychiatrist (med Dr). In therapy 1, I was pulled to meet w/ mine and during the course of our conversation she happened to ask me if I was taking the 10 mg of prescribed Valium still at bedtime to help me sleep. Being the honest person that I try and claim to be I told her that over the course of the prior 5 days I had exceeded the recommended dosage, but had been fine. Walked, talked, drove, was in church, had witnesses blah, blah, blah. She told me that she could no longer prescribe it for me and I was basically like "DUH" I could see that coming. All seemed fine and I left and went back to group.
At 2nd group (just as at 1st) I had alerted the therapist that I would not be returning for the afternoon as I had important appointments that needed to be taken care of.. besides I had not even committed to the program.. but anyway.. I left at lunch to go about my afternoon errands and a few hours later received a call from a number not familiar to me. I let it go to VM and then I listened to the VM and it was my med Dr telling me it was urgent that I get in touch w/ her. I called her right away and didn't get her so I left a message. 13 minutes later she returns my call to tell me that she was doing a "302" on me and that I had to get to the hospital by 4 p.m. or the cops were going to come pick me up and bring me in.
Now, for those of you who are not familiar w/ a "302" it is when "someone has observed your conduct and feels that you present a clear danger to yourself or to other people. W/in so many hours you will be examined by a physician. If the Dr finds that you do not need treatment you will be returned to whatever place you desire w/in reason. If the Dr agrees that you are mentally ill and clearly in danger of harming yourself or someone else, you will be [involuntarily] admitted by the county administrator for a period of treatment UP TO 120 hours" (=5days). Then under my Bill of Rights it states:
"If you have been involuntarily committed in accordance w/ civil court proceedings and you are not receiving treatment, and you are not dangerous to yourself or others, and you feel you can survive safely in the community, you have the right to be discharged from the facility."
Here's a few things that are VERY wrong w/ this situation and how my freedoms as an American citizen were infringed upon. 1st... according to the 14th amendment the individual MUST BE EXHIBITING behavior that is a danger to themselves or others in order to be held. The hold must be for evaluation only and a court order must be received for more than very short term treatment or hospital (typically NO LONGER than 72 hours)------------if I was exhibiting behavior that made me a danger to myself or others why did the Dr let me leave her office to begin with? AND if I was a danger to myself or others why did she instruct me to operate a motor vehicle to bring myself into the ER? Plus, I was never given a 72 hour option it was 120 hours or longer.
Next is my 5th amendment violation. I was not free to remain silent. When you remain silent they use it against you (as per my psychiatrist when I was in the hospital) as proof of mental illness and then can incarcerate you involuntarily for a longer period of time. W/ each time they go back to court the time frame increases and be increased to 12 months and you have NO RIGHTS TO STOP IT!
* They were supposed to provide me w/ transportation by law to the ER. I was not to be transporting myself.
* A Dr MUST examine me in the ER. Never happened. He came in, sat on the plastic cot and said that he agreed w/ my med Dr and they would be admitting me.
* I received no papers on the "White Paper" court order that I was to receive
* I was not given the right to an individual examiner. There are 2 examiners and by law I have the right to choose one of them, meaning I could have chosen my own therpist and was denied that right
* For and EMERGENCY admission by law the Dr is to have OBSERVED MY ACTIONS FIRST HAND which she did not. She was merely going by what I had told her AND I had NOT USED that day... just the 5 days prior
* I was to have a court appointed attorney and I never got one
* In order to involuntarily commit they have to have reason to believe that I cannot care for myself, be safe in the community or will die w/in 30 days if not admitted.
* It was reported that I threw my phone at the check-in nurse when in all actuality I simply dropped it onto a chair from about 4 inches high up after i was advised I would not be allowed to have it while incarcerated. People w/ power can make your life miserable if they want to and there's nothing you can do about it and of course who are they going to believe? The nurse or the "crazy"person?
So, how free are we REALLY in the great US of A? From what I experienced your freedoms can be yanked so fast it will make your head spin, turn your world topsy-turvy and make you feel more depressed than you felt when you were free. If you didn't want to die before you were incarcerated you would after being locked away.
When you are "302'd" and you arrive at the ER this was my experience. I was taken back to the looney room. It's not padded, but it has a plastic cot-like "bed" in the middle of the room bolted down w/ a thin "mattress" and a sheet and blanket on top. There are 2 security cameras to watch you, a red buzzer when you need someone and a very narrow glass in the door by which you have to voice your needs.. mabe 3 inches wide. When you arrive a security officer brings you paper scrubs and tells you to change into them and ONLY if you ask will they escort you to the bathroom to have privacy to change, otherwise it is expected that you change in the looney room w/ an open glass on the door and 2 security cameras watching you. After they have taken your belongings and clothes they also take your shoes away from you. I was fortunate enough that my guard let me have pen and paper to which I could journal the whole time I was in there lest I REALLY go bonkers on someone and was allowed my phone.. even charging it for me about 2 in the morning.
They come in and they take your vitals. My BP was 158/98 since I was in distress it's no wonder. No one told me I had to pee in a cup but they did take 3 vials of blood which I am happy to report [and which should have been proof] there was nothing wrong w/ my blood except my white cells were slightly elevated and they concurred that was from stress...HELLO that should tell you right there I don't need to be here. If I was committing a slow suicide, which is what they were alleging then there w/b drugs in my system.. dontcha think?
I sat calmly writing for hours on end. When I finally did get up to be escorted to the bathroom no one advised me that "Hey, we need some of that in a cup" until about 15 minutes after I was escorted back to my room. I know this is TMI but I have to tell to get my point across. I have a tank for a bladder and I don't drink nearly enough liquids so generally i go to the bathroom 2-3 times a day and that's it.. so when the nurse came in to tell me she needed me to pee in a cup I told her it was going to be a long wait.
A few hours more passed and a crotchety old nurse came in advising me that I had been there for 6 hours and had not given them a urine sample and I advised her that if her staff had done their job and told me that they could have had it hours ago. She then proceeds to tell me if I don't pee in a cup they are giving me a catheter and I proceed to tell her that I will not be getting a catheter and I'd like to see her get my legs uncrossed to give me one.
Finally one of the staff from crisis comes in w/ 3 cups of water... ICE WATER... I DON'T drink ice water it make me feel icky and I hate the way it feels, it bothers me. Ask anyone who knows me.. my water is room temp and if its too cold in a bottle I will microwave it. So I tell her this and she tells me she not running a restaurant. I wait for the ice to melt and water to warm and its just not happening so I proceed to scoop all the ice out of all 3 cups and put it on the bed... yes I was being defiant.. I was beyond pissed at this whole ordeal! I drank the water and then when I STILL didn't have to go I rubbed all the ice cubes left on the bed over my face, neck, arms, and back trying to make myself cold enough to have to go to the bathroom for these creepers. Finally after that and walking for what seemed to be about 20 minutes I buzzed for them to escort me to the bathroom w/ my cup in hand (can I just say YUCK?)
The rest was a waiting game until a little after 7 a.m. [mind you I have not eaten since Tuesday nor have I slept and its now Thursday morning] A nurse pokes her head in the room and advises me that I should go to the bathroom so that I have a comfortable ride. I tell her I don't have to go and she advises me that I am on my way to Philly, about a 2 hour ride, and the ambulance WILL NOT stop for me to use the restroom... WHAT???!!!
A few moments later 3 folk appear and advise me I am going to PPI in Harrisburg after i was just told I was going to Philly. When I no longer have a choice I get up and go out and lump myself onto the gurney. The big fat man at my feet told me that would be enough of that and he of course received a few choice words from me that also involved me telling him that if he thought he was scary just cuz he was big he was talkin' to the wrong sister.. he didn't scare me one bit. He then fires back that he is going to get a restraining order.. WHAT??!! o-O Seriously and I advise him that I know he can't do that just cuz I got on the gurney in a way that he didn't want me to and that i would have to have touched him for him to get a restraining order and I did no such thing.. he had no grounds.
I took my ambulance ride over to the hospital. I was informed that I did not have to answer or do anything I did not want to... however they failed to mention; as i would later find out, that in doing so it would be held against me (as I mentioned earlier) when they went to petition the courts on my behalf and would keep me involuntarily incarcerated in a mental institution for a longer period of time. I then filled out paperwork&told them that on all of the days in question I spent time w/ people, while under the influence of the extra Valium, that could vouch for the fact that I was fine. I was not slurring my words, walking unbalanced, driving badly or suicidal. Those statements from those people on my behalf bought me my freedom so that I only had to stay 120 hours.
I did not eat for 4 days while I was there. I had intended to fast the entire time as it seemed the one thing I could control, but the smell of the food finally got to me on Sunday and I had dinner Sunday night after not having a bite to eat since the prior Tuesday. I got my clothes back after 24 hours and my shoes minus laces plus a plastic grip tag to help tighten them on my feet.
When i told the psychiatrist that I wanted to be on less meds and that I had asked MY psychiatrist to do so and she would not he was very puzzled and asked why. I told him that she said that what I had seemed to be working so why mess w/ it? That perplexed him and so HE changed my meds for me.
I won't bore you w/ the details of this whole incarceration; you can see me privately and I'll be happy to share my experience. I just wanted to make you aware of how quickly your freedoms can be removed from you and you have NOTHING you can do about it and this is supposed to be the free-est country on the planet. Think about it. Think about who and what you vote for. Think about not only how your vote affects you but also how it affects others.
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