Make all treatment options available to the mentally ill in all states at all the times.

  • by: Cindy Durrwachter
  • recipient: Anyone one who has a mentally ill family member. Laws that restrict treatments

When you have a loved one who has a mental illness they sometimes have to wait years to get offered a treatment that will help them immediately. One case that I know about is a young woman who has a U-tube video. She suffered from severe mental depression for years. Finally after 10 years of struggle she was offered a chance to try Electromagnetic Therapy. They want you to have a documented case of severe depression before this is even offered to you. Some people don't even seek help for years after their first symptoms appear. So if you have severe depression for 5 years finally see a doctor and you wait another 10 years. That's 15 years of being in pain. Most people give up on life. Some commit suicide. Even if these people have to continue with medication most likely it would be at lower doses. The hippa laws also need some common sense adjustments. This is part of my experience Here we go. Last March 2016 my son had a breakdown. I'm not going to go into any detail except to say it was bad. We tried to get him to see a psychiatrist before this break because we knew he needed help. We could not get an appointment until July of that year. Unfortunately he had the breakdown before we could get him in. He was hospitalized. Overnight they moved him to another hospital without our knowledge. Because of the HIPPA laws they were not allowed to tell us where. So I had to search around to find where he was. Not wanting this to happen again we went to court and got guardianship over his medical. We were afraid if we didn't he could have a future breakdown and be released on the streets without our knowledge. The HIPPA laws need some common sence adjustments. That's why there is so many mentally ill homeless people by the way.Imagine you have a child that is metally ill and you know they need your help but you don't know where to find him. For many families that is a reality. Every time we seemed to have  my son the right path we would have to put him in the hospital for help. These episodes include schizophrenic symptoms. This year he had been seeing Dr. M. His office is in the building of a well-known hospital in Weldon Springs Missouri. Anyway he has become non med compliant. Very common thing. They don't realize they are sick or they don't like the way the meds make them feel etc. Dr. M. Suggested we try the new long acting Ability shot. It would be a once a month thing. That is a good thing if you have someone who won't take meds. We found them all over his room. He was spitting them out. He didn't trust us. Anyway my son refused to take the shot. Dr. M. said even though we have guardianship he could not force him to take it. Perhaps the hospital next door could do that. Anyway we took him home and for two weeks we tried to convince him to take it. He got really bad so we took him to the hospital mainly to get the shot. A couple of days went by and he did not get the shot. Apparently no one read the chart with the instructions to give the shot. So I made them aware that he was supposed to get the shot. He finally did. At this point we were not sure if the shot would even work on him. If it does work it will take at least two weeks to kick in. I get a call asking if the can give a Zyprexa injection until it kicks in. I agreed. The next day they called and asked the same question again. I said" I gave my O.K. it yesterday". Didn't he get it? Response sorry I don't have his chart in front of me. My response "shouldn't you have a patient's chart in front of you before you call. Then the male nurse started to argue with me telling me the chart was a few feet away. Yah so. In the mean time I am trying to educate my self has much as possible so I can help my son. Dr. K. is the doctor at the hospital. He actually taught Dr. M. They do ECT (shock therapy) there and from what I have read it has been very beneficial for many mental illness patients. It is not like it used to be. Dr. K said he would be willing to try it but he wanted Dr. M to be in charge. (Note in Missouri you have to have 2 doctors agree on it and then you have to petition the court to O.K. it.) So I call Dr. M. Office and give them the info I just recieved. Three days no call back. So after visiting my son one day I'm in the parking lot and I call the office. I get an answering machine saying they are closed for the day. I see people in the office so I go in anyway. Not closed just not answering calls for the day. The waiting room is full of patients. I tell the front desk no one returned my call. The office manager comes out. She does not look happy to see me. (Hmmm. Did she just roll her eyes?) She proceeds to ask me in front of a waiting room full of people what I wanted to talk about. Since I didn't want to talk about my son's illness in front of everyone I asked if we could talk in private. So she told me that Dr. M. would prefer that Dr. K. handle the case. But I say Dr. K. wants Dr. M to handle the case. O.K then. Dr. K. said he would be willing to try ECT. No Dr. M said no to the ECT. They were in the same building but they didn't even speak to each other about the case. They both want the other person to take control of the case but when one of them makes a decision the other one says no. Needless to say they were not doing anything there that we could not do at home. So we took him home. We kept on hoping and praying this shot would kick in but nothing yet. I called to verify that he got the shot. I was assured he did. I go on my insurance web site and notice it was not billed to the insurance the day they said he received it. I need to know if this shot isn't working or did he fail to get it. Finally I get the information he got the shot and the first one was free. See the pharmaceutical companies were pushing doctors to promote this shot. He was not given this shot because they thought it might help him this was an experiment. Thank you so much.So since the shot did not work he got worse. We end up taking him by ambulance to the first hospital he went to last March. He liked that one. This was Wentzville. When we get there we were told by management that he can't stay there because he is too bad off. What do you mean he is too bad off? He didn't even know his name the first time he was here." We have changed the rules". O.K. "Well he has not slept for at least 3 days can you give him a shot so we can take him home". No sorry that would be against his rights. We have guardianship. Doesn't matter won't do it against his will? You have the right to remain mentally ill. You have the right to be homeless. You have the right to commit suicide if it gets too bad. I go to the car and call some group that is supposed to help us. They tell me to go inside and hand the phone to the nurse in charge. Not sure what she said but they change the story. They say they can send him to another one their hospitals but there is no opening at this time and it could take days. Yes and because you have guardianship one of you will have to stay here with him. I got the impression that they really wanted us to go. So yes, naturally I stayed. The first thing they did was give him the shot we asked them to give him so we could take him home. Why now I ask? Well he is a danger now with his pacing and all? Gosh who knew? So I stay in the waiting room. I watch people come and go. Around 1:30 the nurse gets me a recliner so I can be in the emergency room with him. Did I mention it was my birthday? He again starts his dangerous pacing. So he gets another shot. The nurse then tells me I can take him home now. He got the shot or shots and again it might be days before they have an opening. I smile not leaving. 15 minutes later the nurse comes in and says they have an opening. Hmmm. Did someone die? Did someone get discharged at 2 in the morning? So they take him by ambulance to the other hospital. He still won't take med and the meds don't seem to be working. I again ask about ECT again was turned down. He doesn't fit the criteria. I read the criteria. He fits it perfectly. He may not be able to get off meds totally but there is a chance he could take less meds if he can get this treatment. These meds are hard on the body. They can cause Parkinson's type symptoms. Trying to do what's best for my son. He is home now. Tried another long acting shot.Didn't work either. Not only that it left his body so stiff he could barley move his head from side to side.From everything I have read or studied this treatment would help my son and many others. Because of the laws in my state not only do I have to have 2 doctors agree to the treatment then we have to petition the court to make it happen. Someone who doesn't know my son or his history gets to decide what's best for him? Severe mentally ill people don't know they are sick. Your not being kind by giving them the option to refuse treatment. You are however ensuring them and their loved ones have a life of great pain and sadness with the chance of being homeless or incarcerated. We do need to ensure that no one is wrongly committed but we also need to ensure no one who needs treatment is turned away. Also all options should be available from day one.

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