Delaware- ”Possible misappropriation of money from patients’ accounts by staff at the Delaware Psychiatric Center has prompted one state lawmaker to request yet another federal investigation of the trouble-plagued state hospital.
“It’s the Sopranos. They’ve got organized crime running the place,” said Rep. Gregory F. Lavelle, R-Sharpley, who was reacting to the findings of a special investigation released last week by Delaware Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr.”
Connecticut- “Angered by problems such as rising costs and the use of potentially dangerous restraints at the state’s psychiatric hospital for children, legislators are planning an investigation into the performance of the Department of Children and Families.”
August 12, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The Tampa General story is outrageous. That’s a seriously high number of suicides by hanging on their psych unit. Of course, it IS pretty much the only way to do it, but in all my inpatients stays, I have never seen a completed suicide, or even many attempts by inpatients, not even on units with poor supervision. It’s really bizarre.
August 12, 2008 at 1:40 pm
The only completed suicides I have read or heard about in psychiatric units have been hangings, you would think places would have it down by now how to prevent them, especially after the first one. It’s perfectly possible to retrofit an older unit to make these kinds of deaths virtually impossible. It’s also more sensible to use continuous observation on a highly suicidal patient than 15 minute checks. Common sense really.
The comment in the article that no one can predict who will commit suicide is a non-sequitor, every patient admitted for suicidal ideation is a possible suicide risk and should have the same precautions, you don’t need to decide which is most likely to succeed to prevent deaths.
August 12, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Moreover, if a psychiatric unit is not able to keep patients from killing themselves, how can courts ethically commit anyone to it for being a danger to themselves? Why not commit the person to walking around the mall for 2 days straight, probably harder to kill yourself in front of all those other shoppers than in this psychiatric unit in Florida.
August 12, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“Moreover, if a psychiatric unit is not able to keep patients from killing themselves, how can courts ethically commit anyone to it for being a danger to themselves?”
Well, that’s just it…once they commit someone who expresses suicidal ideation, they really don’t do anything much but remove certain items from their possession and ask them if they can “contract for safety” and then usually do 15 min. checks. I’ve always thought it ridiculous that they trust a suicidal patient that they have committed to tell them they won’t harm themselves. Of course, say no, and you’ll get a room lock-out or seclusion room lock-up. They CAN’T prevent suicides even on inpatient units. I think they often do it as a formality, keep a patient several days until they insist they are not suicidal and/or have not demonstrated any self-harm or expressed any suicidal ideation, and then release back to the same problems. Then they usually have their a$$es covered legally it the patient does commit suicide. Then we have the issue of people getting discharged from the hospital only to commit suicide soon after, and I think very often the commitment experience only fuels that despair and hopelessness.
August 12, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Yes, a very high rate right after discharge and I’ve always thought it was related to the demoralizing experience of being locked up and told what to do like a child as if the problem was the suicidal person’s behavior and not their intense feelings of hopelessness and despair etc. or their external circumstances to which they are returned on discharge. But you’ll hear the TAC and their clones say it is the fault of too short commitments or too easy discharges as if being more punitive and demoralizing a person more will make them less likely to kill themselves.
August 12, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I can definitely say that I was more suicidal after I left the hospital than I was going in. It was such a soul-killer.
August 13, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I can also add that, having been mauled by the “mental health system,” I prefer to die than have those people “care” for me ever again.
August 13, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Ditto.