Even more... I don't even know what to call it.
First of all, I want to thank the people who responded to my last entry. This has been pretty insane, and the occasional 'attaboy' does me good. Unfortunately, though, the stuff I described in the last post is only a drop in the bucket of horror compared to what has been happening recently. I would have updated more often, but I hardly have time to eat, much less surf the interwebs.
Thursday afternoon he cut himself extensively - multiple lacerations covering both forearms - and was taken by Orion and myself to Mercy San Juan Hospital where he was well cared for. Friday morning he was taken by ambulance to a mental institution which we were told was Sutter Psychiatric Hospital.
What follows is an account of what transpired from that point to the present. At best it's a flagrant violation of the Patient's Bill of Rights, and at worst reckless endangerment of the lives of my friend and every other patient in the hospital.
Transcribed from Patient's Journal, Written on Scraps of Paper
- Patient is informed he was being sent to Sutter Psychiatric, and is made to sign papers admitting him to Heritage Oaks Hospital while in a dissociative state. He is admitted at 6:30am, Friday.
- Nurse demands to see wounds, and applies gloves without removing the chain of rusty keys from around her wrist. She tears the bandages off, gasps, and then starts to re-dress the wounds with the bandages she just removed. While re-wrapping them, her keys scrape into the wounds, and the bandages are dragged across a dirty table.
- Patient needs to be processed, so he is taken to the "Quiet Room". This is a small, bare, filthy room with a cot in the very center. There are smears of bodily fluids on the walls. He is left in this room from 7am until at least 11am, after which he is released to wander around the hallways without being assigned a room.
- When patient is finally allowed to see a therapist, he says that he's feeling delusional and is immediately given Zoloft.
- Patient's wounds itch and are painful, and have bled through the old bandages. They have still not been seen to by 8:30pm, although he had been told earlier by a doctor that he could have them cleaned and dressed. When a nurse comes in to give him his medication, he tells her that he hasn't showered in days, is covered in blood, and still wearing the same bloody clothes he was when he was admitted to the ER. He says that his wounds itch horribly, and he wants to wash the blood off. He is told by the nurse to shower with the old bandages on and go to sleep, and they'll see about changing them in the morning. When he begins to cry in frustration, the nurse makes him take the pills and then leaves the room.
- At this point the patient reeks of blood and open cuts, he is covered in blood, and has not been allowed to change his bloody clothes or wash the blood from his skin without ruining his bandages. A second nurse finds him crying. She condescendingly tells him to "not be frustrated", that he should "just go take the shower", and that "we'll clean you up tomorrow unless you make a huge stink about it".
- After sobbing for a while, the patient gives in and showers with the bandages on. The bandages fill with water and inflate. Patient tries to wring the water out of them, but this is incredibly painful and opens the wounds underneath. The water that comes from the bandages is a sickly brown color, and soaks the patient's pajamas and bed, making him cold.
- He goes out into the hall to ask again if he can have clean bandages. A social worker asks him why he thinks they need to be changed, and he shows them the wet dressing. The current nurse tells him he shouldn't have showered with the bandages on, and no one believes that the last nurse had told him to shower while wearing them.
- Patient says that it was a choice between getting them wet or going three days without showering while still covered in blood. He expresses concern that the doctor in the ER told him that the wounds needed to be meticulously cleaned and cared for because he was at high risk of infection.
- The nurse who told him that he wouldn't be cared for unless he "made a stink" agrees to change the bandages, but realizes once she unwraps the wounds that she does not have enough pads or ointment. She tells the patient that she thought "it was only one cut". (Note from Patient's Friend: I later asked to see the patient's chart so I would know what information they had on him. There is a diagram showing the large areas of injury, along with a note: "multiple lacerations". This nurse had obviously not looked at the patient's records before attempting to treat him.)
- The nurse, instead of getting more supplies, bandages the patient up using what she has. Less than half of the lacerations are actually covered by bandages - the rest are either left exposed to the air or are covered in clear tape. The tape pulls a number of the cuts open whenever the patient moves and causes them to start bleeding. He shows his arms to a fellow patient, who agrees that the dressing looks "pretty half-assed".
-The patient is told by way of explanation that Heritage Oaks "isn't equipped" to take care of such extensive injuries. However, when he asks the doctor in the morning why he wasn't taken to Sutter as promised, he is told that Heritage Oaks often takes patients directly from the ER when other mental hospitals don't have room. Patient wonders why, if they regularly take people from the ER, they "aren't equipped" to handle injuries.
- The exposed wounds begin to fill with lint and debris. When the patient shows them to a nurse and expresses concern, he is told to "leave the sleeve rolled up so lint won't get in there". When the doctor takes his vitals, the patient tells him that he's in pain. When the patient gets a look at the doctor's paper, however, he has written "no pain". After his blood pressure is written down, the patient tries to situate the sleeves around his elbows to keep the lint out of the cuts. The doctor roughly grabs the sleeves and yanks them down so that they're covering the wounds; he had been making disgusted faces at the exposed lacerations the entire time he was taking vital signs. This rips the bandages out of place, and the doctor shakes his head disapprovingly as the patient tries to roll up his sleeves and re-situate the bandages.
- As time progresses and all this happens, the patient begins to feel sub-human. He's ignored and brushed off as "crazy" by the staff. In his diary, he refers to being treated as just "one of Them[sic]". If he didn't have daily visitors observing his poor quality of care, he says he would assume he was getting the treatment he deserved because his complaints are continually ignored.
Events and Complaints not in Diary - Expressed Verbally or Observed During Visits
- When the patient was admitted Friday morning, his belt and shoelaces were cut off and confiscated, but his pockets were not checked. My cousin and myself informed the staff on Friday night that he had knives in his pockets - we knew this because the patient told us on the phone earlier while standing in the hallway. Despite being informed of the risk, no one ever checked his pockets. He was still in possession of the four Exacto/box cutter type knives he had used to cut himself until Saturday afternoon when the patient approached the staff and voluntarily surrendered them. As a reminder: the patient who was admitted for extensive self-inflicted wounds and who was later deemed "a danger to others" by Heritage Oaks was locked in an isolation chamber, allowed to freely wander the halls, seen by a doctor, and put into the day room while armed with multiple knives. It is unlikely they would have ever been confiscated had the patient not decided to turn them in himself.
- When we first relayed the patient's complaints about his first day in the hospital(four hours in isolation, and not being allowed to eat anything but an apple for twelve hours), we were told that no one was ever in isolation for longer than twenty minutes, and that everyone was given something to eat when they were admitted. After these (obviously false)assertions were made, the staff refused to look into the matter further.
- While visiting the patient, we've seen four different sets of dressings applied by the hospital. The first was the set described in the diary, with most of the wounds open to air or covered in clear tape. By the time we saw him, blood and pus was seeping through the sloppily applied absorbent pads. The second dressing was much different but no better - a crumpled mass of the same absorbent pads loosely wrapped with tape and completely covering the forearms. These bandages were not attached, put no pressure on the wounds, and slid up and down the patient's arms whenever he moved, scraping against the cuts, making them bleed, and causing pain. The third dressing was similar to the first though a little more securely attached, and we were able to take photographs of it with a camera phone - we can supply these if you think they would help our case. The fourth set of bandages were competently applied. After having talked to everyone else in the hospital, we were finally allowed to speak to the "House Supervisor" in charge of the staff; an RN named Buffy. She was appalled at the poor job that had been done and re-dressed his wounds herself, telling us she would use her own personal first-aid kit from her car if she had to. These new bandages evenly covered the full area and were applied with adequate pressure without having taped over any of the open wounds.
- Whenever he attempts to talk to someone about his treatment, he's told he's a "problem patient" and a "whiner". The patient also says that the staff regularly get angry with and yell at patients.
-The nurses will often probe his wounds with their fingers without wearing gloves. The patient will ask them to put gloves on, but the nurses refuse. One even said "It's okay, I don't mind", as if the patient should be apologizing for exposing his wounds to her hands.
- The patient is worried about his medication. He was given Zoloft and Ativan without a proper interview or being given a chance to really talk about his symptoms. He has attempted to mention his occasional hallucinations, but on those occasions was told it was "just depression" and given Zoloft. However, when he talked to the doctor about his Dissociative Identity Disorder and second personality(something that has been going on for at least ten years), he was told "the sleeping pills will make those thoughts go away". He is now given a dose of Seroquel strong enough to knock him out every night at bedtime.
- The medications the patient is on make him feel sick and dizzy. When he showed signs of vertigo, the nurses forced him into the isolation room. He was removed to allow us to see him, come visiting time. He was crying and terrified because he had been forced to spend such a long time in the room when he was first admitted. To "reassure" him, the nurse squeezed his bandaged wrist. When he cried out and asked her not to touch his arms, she became irritated and chided him.
That's the situation up until last night. He's negotiating his release from Heritage Oaks in court on Tuesday, and it's my sincere hope that he will be able to leave and find a place where his mental and physical help is not in jeopardy and he's treated with human respect and dignity. Thank you for taking the time to help us and look into this case.
Please, everyone who has me on their friends-list. Read that. Take it in. Be as outraged as I am, and tell people about it. Tell people you know. Link to it from your journal. I don't want to sound egotistical, but for gods sakes something needs to be done.
Talking to Alex last night, he said "What would happen to me if I didn't have you guys to fight for my rights?" And the thing is, I don't know. He has us. We're not going to let this shit go unpunished, but how many people out there DON'T have anyone fighting for them? How many people are being treated like shit because they're Just Lunatics and no one cares about them?
Last night we passed the gaggle of under-18 patients as they were led back to their rooms just before visiting hour. I overheard one little girl turn to another and say with tears in her eyes "No one's going to visit me this time. No one ever visits me." That is chilling.
Someone needs to care about these people. If it has to be me, then so fucking be it.
Thursday afternoon he cut himself extensively - multiple lacerations covering both forearms - and was taken by Orion and myself to Mercy San Juan Hospital where he was well cared for. Friday morning he was taken by ambulance to a mental institution which we were told was Sutter Psychiatric Hospital.
What follows is an account of what transpired from that point to the present. At best it's a flagrant violation of the Patient's Bill of Rights, and at worst reckless endangerment of the lives of my friend and every other patient in the hospital.
Transcribed from Patient's Journal, Written on Scraps of Paper
- Patient is informed he was being sent to Sutter Psychiatric, and is made to sign papers admitting him to Heritage Oaks Hospital while in a dissociative state. He is admitted at 6:30am, Friday.
- Nurse demands to see wounds, and applies gloves without removing the chain of rusty keys from around her wrist. She tears the bandages off, gasps, and then starts to re-dress the wounds with the bandages she just removed. While re-wrapping them, her keys scrape into the wounds, and the bandages are dragged across a dirty table.
- Patient needs to be processed, so he is taken to the "Quiet Room". This is a small, bare, filthy room with a cot in the very center. There are smears of bodily fluids on the walls. He is left in this room from 7am until at least 11am, after which he is released to wander around the hallways without being assigned a room.
- When patient is finally allowed to see a therapist, he says that he's feeling delusional and is immediately given Zoloft.
- Patient's wounds itch and are painful, and have bled through the old bandages. They have still not been seen to by 8:30pm, although he had been told earlier by a doctor that he could have them cleaned and dressed. When a nurse comes in to give him his medication, he tells her that he hasn't showered in days, is covered in blood, and still wearing the same bloody clothes he was when he was admitted to the ER. He says that his wounds itch horribly, and he wants to wash the blood off. He is told by the nurse to shower with the old bandages on and go to sleep, and they'll see about changing them in the morning. When he begins to cry in frustration, the nurse makes him take the pills and then leaves the room.
- At this point the patient reeks of blood and open cuts, he is covered in blood, and has not been allowed to change his bloody clothes or wash the blood from his skin without ruining his bandages. A second nurse finds him crying. She condescendingly tells him to "not be frustrated", that he should "just go take the shower", and that "we'll clean you up tomorrow unless you make a huge stink about it".
- After sobbing for a while, the patient gives in and showers with the bandages on. The bandages fill with water and inflate. Patient tries to wring the water out of them, but this is incredibly painful and opens the wounds underneath. The water that comes from the bandages is a sickly brown color, and soaks the patient's pajamas and bed, making him cold.
- He goes out into the hall to ask again if he can have clean bandages. A social worker asks him why he thinks they need to be changed, and he shows them the wet dressing. The current nurse tells him he shouldn't have showered with the bandages on, and no one believes that the last nurse had told him to shower while wearing them.
- Patient says that it was a choice between getting them wet or going three days without showering while still covered in blood. He expresses concern that the doctor in the ER told him that the wounds needed to be meticulously cleaned and cared for because he was at high risk of infection.
- The nurse who told him that he wouldn't be cared for unless he "made a stink" agrees to change the bandages, but realizes once she unwraps the wounds that she does not have enough pads or ointment. She tells the patient that she thought "it was only one cut". (Note from Patient's Friend: I later asked to see the patient's chart so I would know what information they had on him. There is a diagram showing the large areas of injury, along with a note: "multiple lacerations". This nurse had obviously not looked at the patient's records before attempting to treat him.)
- The nurse, instead of getting more supplies, bandages the patient up using what she has. Less than half of the lacerations are actually covered by bandages - the rest are either left exposed to the air or are covered in clear tape. The tape pulls a number of the cuts open whenever the patient moves and causes them to start bleeding. He shows his arms to a fellow patient, who agrees that the dressing looks "pretty half-assed".
-The patient is told by way of explanation that Heritage Oaks "isn't equipped" to take care of such extensive injuries. However, when he asks the doctor in the morning why he wasn't taken to Sutter as promised, he is told that Heritage Oaks often takes patients directly from the ER when other mental hospitals don't have room. Patient wonders why, if they regularly take people from the ER, they "aren't equipped" to handle injuries.
- The exposed wounds begin to fill with lint and debris. When the patient shows them to a nurse and expresses concern, he is told to "leave the sleeve rolled up so lint won't get in there". When the doctor takes his vitals, the patient tells him that he's in pain. When the patient gets a look at the doctor's paper, however, he has written "no pain". After his blood pressure is written down, the patient tries to situate the sleeves around his elbows to keep the lint out of the cuts. The doctor roughly grabs the sleeves and yanks them down so that they're covering the wounds; he had been making disgusted faces at the exposed lacerations the entire time he was taking vital signs. This rips the bandages out of place, and the doctor shakes his head disapprovingly as the patient tries to roll up his sleeves and re-situate the bandages.
- As time progresses and all this happens, the patient begins to feel sub-human. He's ignored and brushed off as "crazy" by the staff. In his diary, he refers to being treated as just "one of Them[sic]". If he didn't have daily visitors observing his poor quality of care, he says he would assume he was getting the treatment he deserved because his complaints are continually ignored.
Events and Complaints not in Diary - Expressed Verbally or Observed During Visits
- When the patient was admitted Friday morning, his belt and shoelaces were cut off and confiscated, but his pockets were not checked. My cousin and myself informed the staff on Friday night that he had knives in his pockets - we knew this because the patient told us on the phone earlier while standing in the hallway. Despite being informed of the risk, no one ever checked his pockets. He was still in possession of the four Exacto/box cutter type knives he had used to cut himself until Saturday afternoon when the patient approached the staff and voluntarily surrendered them. As a reminder: the patient who was admitted for extensive self-inflicted wounds and who was later deemed "a danger to others" by Heritage Oaks was locked in an isolation chamber, allowed to freely wander the halls, seen by a doctor, and put into the day room while armed with multiple knives. It is unlikely they would have ever been confiscated had the patient not decided to turn them in himself.
- When we first relayed the patient's complaints about his first day in the hospital(four hours in isolation, and not being allowed to eat anything but an apple for twelve hours), we were told that no one was ever in isolation for longer than twenty minutes, and that everyone was given something to eat when they were admitted. After these (obviously false)assertions were made, the staff refused to look into the matter further.
- While visiting the patient, we've seen four different sets of dressings applied by the hospital. The first was the set described in the diary, with most of the wounds open to air or covered in clear tape. By the time we saw him, blood and pus was seeping through the sloppily applied absorbent pads. The second dressing was much different but no better - a crumpled mass of the same absorbent pads loosely wrapped with tape and completely covering the forearms. These bandages were not attached, put no pressure on the wounds, and slid up and down the patient's arms whenever he moved, scraping against the cuts, making them bleed, and causing pain. The third dressing was similar to the first though a little more securely attached, and we were able to take photographs of it with a camera phone - we can supply these if you think they would help our case. The fourth set of bandages were competently applied. After having talked to everyone else in the hospital, we were finally allowed to speak to the "House Supervisor" in charge of the staff; an RN named Buffy. She was appalled at the poor job that had been done and re-dressed his wounds herself, telling us she would use her own personal first-aid kit from her car if she had to. These new bandages evenly covered the full area and were applied with adequate pressure without having taped over any of the open wounds.
- Whenever he attempts to talk to someone about his treatment, he's told he's a "problem patient" and a "whiner". The patient also says that the staff regularly get angry with and yell at patients.
-The nurses will often probe his wounds with their fingers without wearing gloves. The patient will ask them to put gloves on, but the nurses refuse. One even said "It's okay, I don't mind", as if the patient should be apologizing for exposing his wounds to her hands.
- The patient is worried about his medication. He was given Zoloft and Ativan without a proper interview or being given a chance to really talk about his symptoms. He has attempted to mention his occasional hallucinations, but on those occasions was told it was "just depression" and given Zoloft. However, when he talked to the doctor about his Dissociative Identity Disorder and second personality(something that has been going on for at least ten years), he was told "the sleeping pills will make those thoughts go away". He is now given a dose of Seroquel strong enough to knock him out every night at bedtime.
- The medications the patient is on make him feel sick and dizzy. When he showed signs of vertigo, the nurses forced him into the isolation room. He was removed to allow us to see him, come visiting time. He was crying and terrified because he had been forced to spend such a long time in the room when he was first admitted. To "reassure" him, the nurse squeezed his bandaged wrist. When he cried out and asked her not to touch his arms, she became irritated and chided him.
That's the situation up until last night. He's negotiating his release from Heritage Oaks in court on Tuesday, and it's my sincere hope that he will be able to leave and find a place where his mental and physical help is not in jeopardy and he's treated with human respect and dignity. Thank you for taking the time to help us and look into this case.
Please, everyone who has me on their friends-list. Read that. Take it in. Be as outraged as I am, and tell people about it. Tell people you know. Link to it from your journal. I don't want to sound egotistical, but for gods sakes something needs to be done.
Talking to Alex last night, he said "What would happen to me if I didn't have you guys to fight for my rights?" And the thing is, I don't know. He has us. We're not going to let this shit go unpunished, but how many people out there DON'T have anyone fighting for them? How many people are being treated like shit because they're Just Lunatics and no one cares about them?
Last night we passed the gaggle of under-18 patients as they were led back to their rooms just before visiting hour. I overheard one little girl turn to another and say with tears in her eyes "No one's going to visit me this time. No one ever visits me." That is chilling.
Someone needs to care about these people. If it has to be me, then so fucking be it.