A Girl Dumped from the Hospital

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A girl with both Aspergers Syndrome and a bipolar schizoaffective disorder was discharged from a Maryland hospital and left to fend for herself in cold weather at a bus stop.




https://www.cbsnews.com/news/university ... ral-video/

Baltimore hospital video fallout: Woman who identifies as patient's mom says she was mocked by security

Thank you. ^

I had such a hard time showing the link. This story isn’t too far from what my nephew went through and my own experiences with security only nothing near as vicious as this.

And thus it is with for-profit-medicine.

It was a terrible thing to do to that woman. I wish I knew why this happened.

The cameraman was brave. I probably would have just called 911 without filming.

Why this happened...

A person with Schizoaffective Disorder and Aspergers, has the right not to have parents involved her personal life. She has the right not to take medication. You have the right to fight guardianship. You have the right to FUBAR your life.

Dimes to donuts, the woman was wandering around, non verbal and probably someone thought she had a drug reaction, and dragged her into the ER. No drug reaction. Even a blow to the head with a bump isn't enough to keep you in a busy inner city ER. The only reason in my area to keep a psych patient for a 72 hour hold is will harm yourself? The woman above wasn't suicidal.

Why did the woman leave in a hosptial clothes? Paranoia? Clothing by misplaced and after she signed the discharge papers got up and left? We had patients do that (usually drug addicts). Leave with the heparin lock in their arm, and a hospital down on. Usually had shoes and pants on.

Of course HIPAA laws will not let the parents find out about their daughter. They have no legal right to that information. Being mentally ill and disabled doesn't mean the world has a right go know your business.

Medically the hospital had no reason to keep her. Being delusional and non verbal is not a reason to hold a person against her will. Had the staff got her street clothes back on, this wouldn't be in the news. It happens all the time.

Parents of children with mental illness/disabilities need to think about what the hell will happen when the kid turns 18, BEFORE the kid turns 18. You legally have no say over an adult, unless you get some sort of guardianship. This poor mom is finding this out the hard way.

What does society do with people who don't want treatment? A person hates their antipsychotic's side affects, and doesn't feel the burning need for social skills classes or ABA? Do we make them? Maybe there was talk about her going to a shelter the night, and the woman thought f**k that s**t, I'm out of here.

Emergency rooms are one big dumping ground for society's out of control problems. If a woman is fighting about putting clothes back on, and wants to leave with a hospital gown on, does she have that right? It's 40F out. It's not smart. Legally you can't make her get dressed in street clothes.

In the end, some ER tech will be written up about losing/not helping getting street clothes back on person. That's the only issue here. The woman can refuse treatment. Security can't stop her from leaving. Being mentally ill isn't enough to detain you. Whole thing looks like s**t because she was in a hospital gown and slippers.

She wasn't in a psych unit. She was in the ER. Different rules.

The ER has to evaluate you. My hospital would eat the bills on someone like Rebecca.

Being homeless, ill clothed, and mentally ill doesn't mean you don't have rights. Who knows why the woman was brought in. Psych evaluations in the ER is can you tell the difference between and apple and an orange. That's about it. Orientated times three is to person, place and time. It's a really high standard to meet keep someone in an ER hold. If Rebecca knew her name, where she was at, time a day, and wasn't florridly psychotic, what's the reason for the hold? It's cold outside?

How reasonable is the average Aspie in the middle of melt down/shut down? If people didn't know you were on the spectrum, how likely would they humour you to stay rather than go, f**k it let her leave? Security at my hospital can't tackle a discharged person. In a busy ER people leave all the time without telling the staff.

It is horrible she wound up on the street. It broke my heart seeing her in a hospital. There is one camp that would say we need to force Aspies/mentally ill/people with poor judgement to do things they don't want to do. Like take medication, do your treatment plan, be under supervision blah blah blah. Rebecca left her group home because of treatment non compliance. That's her legal right, even if she's wandering around homeless and "out of it."

The other camp says, as long as you aren't actively trying to kill yourself or others, FUBAR your life until the court says you need a guardian. The law is on this side. Ask anyone who has tried to force a loved one to get psychiatric help who wasn't psychotic or suicidally depressed. It's damn near impossible.

We all want the hospital to "do something", but to do what? She chose not to take medication. She chose to leave her group home. She chose to not contact family. The court hasn't determined she needs a guardian. Granted, I think these were ALL horrible decisions, but the law is really her side.

Time and time again I've talked about how mentally ill people are given short shrift in this society. With no mental health professionals around, we often see people in crisis confront the police only to get themselves shot.

That a hospital would have the balls to order security to drag this mentally ill woman out in the cold is beyond reprehensible. It reminds me of that day I drove naked to a psych hospital for help, but instead, they called the police to drive me to an ER. What was the psych hospital's use then? More shoddy care once again.