The Revolving Door Mental System

 

It used to be when you were sick people would really take care of you and make sure you got the necessary medical/psychological attention you needed. However, due to laws and regulations and the outrageous cost of health care, we now have a revolving door system that only works for the good of the government, government funding or should I say underfunding.

 

Just like a stroke victim, the longer you leave the brain without medical attention the more it deteriorates and I do mean deteriorates! This is nothing to take lightly, however, the government has taken this lightly and avoided the whole mental health issue altogether. This leaves the system broken and stressed to the point of underfunding and undermanned. It is usually at the bottom of the budget.

 

With the stigma of “mental illness” plaguing so many of these individuals and just doing the paperwork to get through all that red tape, it can be very overwhelming and upsetting. Thanks to the NAMI organization, people are able to get support and help, so they can move forward, however, it is still a long way from getting the necessary attention for the gravely ill and debilitating ones who continue to sift through the system and roam the streets only to get picked up again and again and again…..

 

I am a mother of a schizophrenic son, aged 23, who has been fighting the system now for about 4 years. It is very frustrating to take care of all these things when he is sick and I have no power due to the privacy act, etc. etc. He has had 8 hospitalizations now and 3 alone in the month of July. He has been all over the place. He claims to be somebody else when they pick him up. He has no identity on him because he lost it. He is non compliant with his meds, has no place to go and cannot handle his money. In essence, he is seriously ill and gravely disabled. The longer he goes being non compliant with his meds, the more his brain deteriorates and the worse he becomes.

 

Instead of repeatedly hospitalizing someone with a mental illness, why don’t they just treat him properly the first time and then avoid all that unnecessary expense each time they are hospitalized. It is a system that is totally frustrating not only for the ill stricken, but also for the families. The families are left to care for them with little or no finances, not to mention the physical and mental toll it takes on the family. This toll often results in sickness with family members and bankruptcy! I am totally wiped out physically and financially. It’s virtually impossible to handle all this as a single parent!

 

When I contacted the DMV office about the loss of his driver’s license, I was told to contact the police in that town. They in turn, told me to go directly to the DMV office in my town where I was directed to the other one across town to talk to the SR Compliance. A lady said there was an officer on duty who would talk to me. The officer got the whole story wrong and thought I said husband. Who are these people running our offices? Nitwits!!! I proceeded to call the police department in that city and was transferred twice to 311, where they said, they could not file a complaint.

 

It is such a frustrating system. And they wonder why they have such disgruntled customers to say the least. They have no idea what customer service means or is for that matter!

 

It’s unfortunate that our “Privacy Act,” which is supposed to protect the privacy of the individual, in turn, ends up hurting the privacy of the individual. It does this, by neglecting to treat them properly. The doctors are not getting the necessary information about the person with mental illness situation, medications or the fact that they are not taking medications.

 

I think it’s sad that a parent has to fight like “hell” to finally get some help for their loved one. To receive this help take several years, and most often you never get it, depending on how loud you scream!

 

There needs to be more support and advocacy for these people and the laws need a drastic change in the health care system so they can get the help they need without being tossed aside and put on a back burner. These people are a part of our community and we have a responsibility to help them get back on the road to recovery. We should not leave them out on the streets where they can become victims to crime and even death!!

 

Cathy

Survivor and Recovery from Mental Illness

 

I have been hospitalized multiple times. For the most part I was treated kindly and with compassion. I was hospitalized in Kaiser College Hospital, Northridge Hospital, Cerritos Hospital and in Arizona at the Kingman Hospital.

 

I'll tell you the worst first. Once I went a bit bonkers out in the world and was sent to Kaiser emergency room. A doctor saw me there and assessed that I needed to be hospitalized somewhere. All the beds were taken up at the college hospital. There was a bed available at the Cerritos hospital. I had been admitted there once before and I didn't like it. But the doctor and my mom felt I needed to go somewhere. So, I went. I get there and am shown to my room by an orderly. Its smoke break time and everyone is outside smoking. When the break was over, my roommate walked into the room. He flopped onto a bed and started to hump the bed feverishly. I told him, "Can you stop that?" And he stood up to me and said, "I'm psychotic." That was nice. So, I asked if I could have a different room. They said, "Okay." I met my new roommate. He was busy staring at the sun through the narrow window in our room. He said," I'm as powerful as God."

 

I was getting the feeling that I needed to get out of this place. A voice came over the loud speaker, "Smoke break." I didn't smoke but I wanted to go outside. I entered the outdoor area and looked around. I didn't really know it yet but I was planning my escape. An overwhelming feeling came over me and I ran for the fence. I tried to run through the bushes but I ran right into the chain link fence. An orderly caught me and they threw me into the solitary room. I was in there for what felt like a couple of long hours.

 

The voice came over the loud speaker again, "Smoke Break." I heard the voice and knew what I needed to do. When everyone was busy lighting up, I ran for the fence. They tried to stop me but I had climbed too high to reach. Some of the patients even screamed" He's escaping!" I got out of there. There were several high fences I needed to climb to get out of there. But, I did. And I ran. I slipped coming down from one of the fences and hurt my knee. I still ran. I made it out of there. I felt in the core of my being that I was in danger. Let's move on.

 

I can recall some good experiences. At College hospital I can recall eating in the cafeteria. They had good Chile Rellenos there. At Northridge hospital I was pretty sick, physically. I couldn't eat anything. I just kept throwing up. A nurse at Northridge invited me to come back when my medical issues were treated. So, they sent me back to Kaiser and found I had an abdominal blockage. They treated me there and the blockage cleared. I was sent back to Northridge and I started eating again. They had a really good turkey dinner there with all the fixings.

 

I ran away to Arizona and hiked into the Indian reservation there. I was acting psychotic and after a while I was picked up by the reservation police. I was sent to Kingman and stayed at their hospital for nearly two months. For every meal the attendants served us ice tea. I was used to hot tea, so I asked, "Can you heat this a while for me." So every time we had ice tea they would let me put my tea in the kitchen microwave. I also remember the staff at Kingman let us dance to some music. All the patients delighted in the music and we all danced for some time; until we started yelling, laughing and cackling with enjoyment. The staff turned the music off saying, "You're getting out of control!" I guess we were, but it was fun while it lasted. The other patients gave me a nickname of "Michael. " Saying, "I danced like Michael Jackson. This was a great compliment to me. Also at Kingman I saw the psychiatrist there. He reminded me of an old west sheriff. He was stern with me but he was kind and reasonable. I told him I didn't want to take any more "man-made medicines." He astutely reasoned that, "Man made medicine was made by God through people. All in all I have received good treatment by the medical staff at the hospitals I was admitted to. The orderlies were tough but caring. The doctors were stern but resourceful. I thank them all for helping me through a very tough time in my life. Without their care I don't know how I would have made it today.

 

Keith

Many States

 

My 23 year old daughter has Schizophrenia with a mood disorder. She, like many young adults with Schizophrenia are dual diagnosed, in that they use drugs or alcohol to counter the effects of the medication they take, and to deal with the symptoms of the disease. In addition, 50% of people with Schizophrenia lack insight to their illness, in other words, they don’t know they are sick.

 

Under current Minnesota state law, a person has to be a harm to themselves or others, or in grave endangerment before one is able to call the police and get a mentally ill person in the hospital. Many times a parent or relative has to wait and watch until their child or loved one deteriorates to the point where they meet this threshold. Then once the threshold is met, the hospitals, doctors and staff hide behind the Federal HIPPA Laws to shut parents out of the treatment and discharge plan.

 

How many times will a mentally ill relative in a hospital give a doctor a release so that the doctor can talk to the person that put them in the hospital? Not a high percentage, so the doctors profess, oh we tried to get your relative to sign a release but they refused to. Well, no kidding. Why would a person who is delusional, who does not want to take medication, who doesn’t know they are ill, and who just wants to get out of the hospital as soon as possible sign a release for the person who they know wants them to keep them in the hospital.

 

I have attached the pertinent information involving my complaint with Fairview Southdale Hospital. I am so appalled by the treatment my mentally ill daughter received, by the hospital and staff that I felt it necessary to file a complaint not only with the Department of Mental Health and the Board of Medical Practices. Someone has to stop the corporate greed, stigma, and unfair care that those with brain illnesses receive in the medical arena. Doctors and hospitals hide behind the Federal HIPPA Law, State and Federal Laws, and insurance company policies of reimbursement and intimidation to substantiate the inhumane treatment that they give those with mental illness. You would think that trained staff in a psychiatric ward would want to know information about a patient instead of stonewalling them by hiding behind the Federal HIPPA law.

 

What happened to my daughter happens to thousands of mentally ill people every week. They are thrown out on the street while still lacking insight into their illness and or still psychotic, and expected to take medication, find housing, fill prescriptions, see a doctor, and all of this with a bus token given to them as they are kicked out of the hospital. The law does not give the hospital permission to kick someone out just because they want to leave. This is what they tell you, so that they can comply with the insurance company’s wishes of getting people out of beds they are paying for. The hospital and staff acted with malice and gross incompetence, by not communicating with the family and throwing a psychotic patient out into the street.

 

I have attached all of my correspondence which was sent to the hospital before and after my daughter's discharge.

 

I hope that your office is not like most complaint departments where you allow the care facilities to make excuses that the law required them to take certain action, when we are taking about human lives and fair treatment for those who cannot think properly or take care of themselves. Remember every time a person goes into relapse, it causes the persons brain further deterioration and lower expectations for recovering to a high level of competency. How is that alone not a harm to oneself? How is throwing a psychotic young 23 year old vulnerable woman, dual diagnosed, without any money except a bus token, not being a grave endangerment to herself.

 

I have read several articles about the new health insurance bill which becomes effective October 1, 2009 which is suppose to require companies to give the same coverage for mental health benefits as other coverage. Most of the articles I have read are pessimistic about the real change that will take place, due to the number of loopholes and exclusions from the bill. While I hope the bill does make a difference, the problems that my daughter and our family faced, are problems that are not addressed in that legislation.

 

The areas that I have talked addressed are still major hurdles for fair treatment and good outcomes for those with mental illness. The Federal HIPPA Laws must be relaxed for families trying to help those with mental Illness. Studies have proven that outcomes are better when the family is involved with the treatment plan.

 

Eddie

Broken System

 

My son developed bipolar disorder at the age of 17, which consisted of depression one week a month, but with no marked mania or psychosis. This all changed just as he approached his 30th birthday. We entered the "twilight zone" of the mental health system. We were the lucky ones that had insurance, but that did not spare us the inadequacies of the system.

 

Keith had multiple hospitalizations, many on the heel of one another because of the inadequacy of the 72 hour hold system. He would be admitted, be treated for 72 hours, and then released with medications that had not had a chance to begin working in that very short time frame. In his psychotic state, he either did not believe he needed medication, or thought they were poisons. So the merry go round went round and round.

 

Some of the hospitals were decent, so he was treated as a human being. But one was so terrible, and reminiscent of the old Bedlam hospital of time gone by, that he said he knew he would have died had he stayed there. He managed to escape while on a "5 minute watch." I believed that saved his life.

 

When he had a 4-5 story fall off the Getty Center Drive in 2002, he was on life support, and most of the care he received was good, except for one incident. He had complained to me that he could not eat, and kept on vomiting. I relayed this information to the staff. They had written down his "I and O's"(intake and outputs) as normal. I questioned this, and asked if he could have a bowel obstruction, or be severely constipated as a result of the pain medication. I asked when did he have his last rectal exam and they told me it was on admission. They told me his symptoms were psychosomatic. I disagreed, saying that he might be psychotic, but he had never complained of these GI symptoms before. Although I am an M.D (medical doctor), I was treated as if I didn’t know anything, and I was the overly concerned mother. He was transferred to a psychiatric hospital, only to be readmitted in less than 24 hours, and was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction!

 

At one time in his psychiatric saga he was released from the hospital and placed in outpatient hospitalization, but he was too sick to participate. I was told that he was a very sick young man and his prognosis was poor.

 

The system is broken, it needs to be fixed. The 72 hour hold is often too short, and you can't expect a person with a sick brain to participate in a program while their brain is still "scrambled." You would not ask a person with a broken leg to run a marathon. This illness is an illness of the brain, and we need to have better programs to deal with it.

 

Deborah R. Ishida M.D

Revolving Door Hospitals

 

My child has had to deal with a schizoaffective illness for about 20 years.

 

With respect to the privacy of my child who believes that there is a stigma attached to having a mental illness I do not feel comfortable in sharing my name.

 

My child was hospitalized at least 12 times in one year. Unfortunately the way the system works is that as soon as the symptoms are stabilized the person is let out of the hospital. It can take weeks to know whether or not a certain medication is effective or not. Sometimes symptoms disappear only to reappear a few days later. Also, many times the person will stop taking their medications because of the side effects. Under this system what happens to the patient is not the responsibility of the hospital or the staff after they are released.

 

My child was hospitalized over and over again… stabilized and let go.

 

Under the HIPPA laws, if your child is over the age of 18, your child has the right to not allow the psychiatrist to talk with the parent. However, the parent always has the right to give information to the hospital and doctor. But too often, the hospital refuses to take this information.

 

After one of the hospitalizations in which I let the hospital know that my child was homeless, they basically dumped her. If it were not for the organization of NAMI who put me in touch with Gail, a NAMI member, my daughter would be on the street or possibly in jail. Gail played a large role in helping me to become a conservator for my child which then allowed me to help with medication, housing, etc.

 

I was lucky because, between the support of Gail, and the last hospital where my child was placed as well as the cooperation of my child, I was able to become conservator rather easily which is usually not the case.

 

Gail knows a lot about medication and helped me to convince the psychiatrist that we should try a new medication. The psychiatrist did not believe that it would matter. I can honestly say that my child is on the road to recovery. The new medication helped, not only with the mood swings and the thought disorders, but also with the social skills and organization skills. Even the psychiatrist was amazed by the changes.

 

Instead of being on a cocktail of many medications, my child is taking only two medications. One is for anxiety and one is for the schizoaffective illness.

 

The message that I tried to give to my child was to identify with the healthy and functioning part rather than the label of mentally illness.

 

Having a mental illness should be treated the same as having any kind of physical ailment. It is a chronic illness but does not have to define the person.

 

The stigma of having a mental illness needs to be erased, through the education of the general public, the medical community including psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, so that all people can have the right to a healthy and fulfilling life.

 

A Fighting Mom