OOC: "Real life" history/medical chart information (mod-approved)
Name: Karl Fuchs
Sex: Male
Age: 65
Marital Status: Married
Blood Type: A+
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 165 lbs
Chief Psychiatric Complaint:
Dr. Fuchs was first admitted to Landel's Institute for the problem of severe delusions affecting his ability to work and live independently. After he engaged in a self-injurious episode, his wife determined that he required professional care and treatment for his disorder.
History of the Present Illness:
The apparent onset of Dr. Fuchs' disorder started approximately fifteen years ago. At the time, his only odd behavior was a sudden six-month-long sabbatical for the purposes of "research" in his home country of Germany. Since then, he had become increasingly "absent-minded" and delusional, at first occasionally believing himself to be a notable figure in the curriculum he taught, and over time, the beliefs have become intractable.
In the past year, before he was placed on indefinite administrative medical leave, his behavior has become threatening to himself and to others. He was found to spend excessive time with one of his students, believing her to be his own daughter. Furthermore, he has become more agitated and violent over the past month, screaming and engaging in self-injurious head-banging whenever someone tries to point out one of his own errors or to reason with him.
Social and Family History:
Dr. Fuchs was born in Germany, and emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of ten. He was a highly gifted student, attaining virtually perfect marks in all of his classes. He graduated from high school at the top of his class, as a valedictorian, then went on to study criminal justice in college, eventually earning a Ph.D. at Ivy University.
At the age of twenty-five, he commenced his career as a professor of criminal law at Ivy U. The curriculum he taught was highly rigorous; few students ever passed his course. He had a reputation for being a "drill sergeant," tolerating no errors in the work he assigned his students. However, every one of the students who did pass went on to become extraordinarily successful in law, bringing special prestige to Ivy U. over the years.
Due to the intense workload involved in Dr. Fuchs' career, he had little free time to socialize. However, he and his colleague Dr. Kant, Ivy U.'s Dean of Students, were noted to have a positive, close working relationship with each other. Furthermore, at the age of thirty-five, Dr. Fuchs married one of his own students, Helene, after a brief courtship, and they had a daughter, Claudia, shortly after (who herself is now married and has a daughter of her own).
Review of Systems and Habits of Life:
Dr. Fuchs is remarkably fit for a gentleman of his age. He occasionally requires a cane to aid him in walking but has no other general mobility issues. He denies any other physical complaints, citing "perfect health."
Dr. Fuchs denies the use of tobacco products or controlled substances. He does occasionally have a single drink of red wine during meals. Before his mental state declined during the past year, he took walks around the neighborhood for exercise. He follows a healthy diet, shunning most sweets and fatty foods.
Assessment:
Dr. Fuchs is in good general physical health. The results of his basic blood panel are all normal, and his blood pressure is a healthy 120/70. He was oddly uncooperative when we asked him to remove his shirt so that we could complete the examination; we had to sedate and restrain him in order to do so. As a result, we found that he has an old scar on his right shoulder and related slight weakness in his right arm. Nothing in his history to date explains what caused the scar; this may be worth investigating further.
He was also uncooperative and largely uncommunicative during much of the psychological portion of his assessment. He had a tendency to insult our staff and to try to order them around. His delusional state is extreme at this time; he is firmly convinced that he is a famous prosecutor featured in his curriculum, who never lost a court case during the entirety of his career. He doesn't fully recognize his wife, daughter, or granddaughter, and he believes that he has another daughter, who was actually another of his students from last year.
Preliminary Diagnosis:
Axis I: 294.8 Dementia NOS with delusional features
Axis II: 301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Axis III: Deferred
Axis IV: None
Axis V: At the time of admission -- 20; During the past six months -- 30
Treatment and Prognosis:
We are still attempting to determine the likely cause of his dementia. Further tests are required to rule out Alzheimer's Disease and other typical causes of dementia. In the meantime, we will attempt cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as medication, in the hopes that these will alleviate his condition. Because we don't know the cause, a prognosis cannot be determined at this time.
Update [effective as of Day 41]:
Dr. Fuchs suffered a stroke in his sleep six days ago. Though he was near death at one point, his family and Dr. Kant prevailed upon us to take extreme measures to revive him. During his recovery, we have performed more tests and found the likely cause of his condition: a partially-decomposed lead bullet has been lodged inside his right shoulder. We have removed the bullet, and preliminary tests reveal that it has likely been there for fifteen years, which coincides with his sudden disappearance and subsequent gradual decline in mental functioning. A more comprehensive blood panel was subsequently done, which revealed an elevated level of lead concentration. We will need to perform more tests upon the bullet to determine how much lead had been released into his bloodstream and into his brain over the past fifteen years.
After a six-day-long coma, Dr. Fuchs finally reawakened. Though he seems to be just as delusional as he was when first admitted, he might be more amenable to treatment now that we may have halted the downward spiral that the bullet caused.
On the same day that he regained consciousness, his student, Wilhelmina von Richter, was admitted to Landel's. She is the one whom he believes is his nonexistent younger daughter. As he may pose a threat to her own well-being and recovery, we will need to keep them separated as much as possible. Should they encounter each other, we must observe them closely and intervene as needed.
Sex: Male
Age: 65
Marital Status: Married
Blood Type: A+
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 165 lbs
Chief Psychiatric Complaint:
Dr. Fuchs was first admitted to Landel's Institute for the problem of severe delusions affecting his ability to work and live independently. After he engaged in a self-injurious episode, his wife determined that he required professional care and treatment for his disorder.
History of the Present Illness:
The apparent onset of Dr. Fuchs' disorder started approximately fifteen years ago. At the time, his only odd behavior was a sudden six-month-long sabbatical for the purposes of "research" in his home country of Germany. Since then, he had become increasingly "absent-minded" and delusional, at first occasionally believing himself to be a notable figure in the curriculum he taught, and over time, the beliefs have become intractable.
In the past year, before he was placed on indefinite administrative medical leave, his behavior has become threatening to himself and to others. He was found to spend excessive time with one of his students, believing her to be his own daughter. Furthermore, he has become more agitated and violent over the past month, screaming and engaging in self-injurious head-banging whenever someone tries to point out one of his own errors or to reason with him.
Social and Family History:
Dr. Fuchs was born in Germany, and emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of ten. He was a highly gifted student, attaining virtually perfect marks in all of his classes. He graduated from high school at the top of his class, as a valedictorian, then went on to study criminal justice in college, eventually earning a Ph.D. at Ivy University.
At the age of twenty-five, he commenced his career as a professor of criminal law at Ivy U. The curriculum he taught was highly rigorous; few students ever passed his course. He had a reputation for being a "drill sergeant," tolerating no errors in the work he assigned his students. However, every one of the students who did pass went on to become extraordinarily successful in law, bringing special prestige to Ivy U. over the years.
Due to the intense workload involved in Dr. Fuchs' career, he had little free time to socialize. However, he and his colleague Dr. Kant, Ivy U.'s Dean of Students, were noted to have a positive, close working relationship with each other. Furthermore, at the age of thirty-five, Dr. Fuchs married one of his own students, Helene, after a brief courtship, and they had a daughter, Claudia, shortly after (who herself is now married and has a daughter of her own).
Review of Systems and Habits of Life:
Dr. Fuchs is remarkably fit for a gentleman of his age. He occasionally requires a cane to aid him in walking but has no other general mobility issues. He denies any other physical complaints, citing "perfect health."
Dr. Fuchs denies the use of tobacco products or controlled substances. He does occasionally have a single drink of red wine during meals. Before his mental state declined during the past year, he took walks around the neighborhood for exercise. He follows a healthy diet, shunning most sweets and fatty foods.
Assessment:
Dr. Fuchs is in good general physical health. The results of his basic blood panel are all normal, and his blood pressure is a healthy 120/70. He was oddly uncooperative when we asked him to remove his shirt so that we could complete the examination; we had to sedate and restrain him in order to do so. As a result, we found that he has an old scar on his right shoulder and related slight weakness in his right arm. Nothing in his history to date explains what caused the scar; this may be worth investigating further.
He was also uncooperative and largely uncommunicative during much of the psychological portion of his assessment. He had a tendency to insult our staff and to try to order them around. His delusional state is extreme at this time; he is firmly convinced that he is a famous prosecutor featured in his curriculum, who never lost a court case during the entirety of his career. He doesn't fully recognize his wife, daughter, or granddaughter, and he believes that he has another daughter, who was actually another of his students from last year.
Preliminary Diagnosis:
Axis I: 294.8 Dementia NOS with delusional features
Axis II: 301.4 Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Axis III: Deferred
Axis IV: None
Axis V: At the time of admission -- 20; During the past six months -- 30
Treatment and Prognosis:
We are still attempting to determine the likely cause of his dementia. Further tests are required to rule out Alzheimer's Disease and other typical causes of dementia. In the meantime, we will attempt cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as medication, in the hopes that these will alleviate his condition. Because we don't know the cause, a prognosis cannot be determined at this time.
Update [effective as of Day 41]:
Dr. Fuchs suffered a stroke in his sleep six days ago. Though he was near death at one point, his family and Dr. Kant prevailed upon us to take extreme measures to revive him. During his recovery, we have performed more tests and found the likely cause of his condition: a partially-decomposed lead bullet has been lodged inside his right shoulder. We have removed the bullet, and preliminary tests reveal that it has likely been there for fifteen years, which coincides with his sudden disappearance and subsequent gradual decline in mental functioning. A more comprehensive blood panel was subsequently done, which revealed an elevated level of lead concentration. We will need to perform more tests upon the bullet to determine how much lead had been released into his bloodstream and into his brain over the past fifteen years.
After a six-day-long coma, Dr. Fuchs finally reawakened. Though he seems to be just as delusional as he was when first admitted, he might be more amenable to treatment now that we may have halted the downward spiral that the bullet caused.
On the same day that he regained consciousness, his student, Wilhelmina von Richter, was admitted to Landel's. She is the one whom he believes is his nonexistent younger daughter. As he may pose a threat to her own well-being and recovery, we will need to keep them separated as much as possible. Should they encounter each other, we must observe them closely and intervene as needed.