Despicable!

[Warrior]

This is totally despicable!

http://blogs.rgj.com/poweron/2008/07/video-woman-dies-in-hospital-waiting.html

[ostarella]

This is totally despicable!

http://blogs.rgj.com/poweron/2008/07/video-woman-dies-in-hospital-waiting.html


Welcome to the world of mental illness - where patient's needs are typically ignored (along with the fact they're human beings), or they're locked up on the word of a poorly trained social worker, accused of "acting out" or treated like recalcitrant children for not "behaving", given barbaric "treatments" that destroy their brains, physically beaten, drugged into oblivion - shall I go on? The US is not a good place to have mental problems...

[junkfoodmonkey]

I just can't even understand how things like this can happen. You see a person who is sick or injured, you help them. You don't have to have special training to know this, it's part of being a human being.

[bibbi]

That made me very, very angry when I read that. :mad:

[ostarella]

I just can't even understand how things like this can happen. You see a person who is sick or injured, you help them. You don't have to have special training to know this, it's part of being a human being.


Well, it's not really about being human. :( The other patients I can totally understand - they not only have their own problems dealing with reality, they have most likely been conditioned not to respond spontaneously - that's a bad thing to do, you know. :rolleyes: And the guards/staff most likely figured she was just trying to get attention - typical reaction unless they feel threatened.

You don't want to get me on my soapbox about mental illness...:mad:

[bibbi]

Well, it's not really about being human. :( The other patients I can totally understand - they not only have their own problems dealing with reality, they have most likely been conditioned not to respond spontaneously - that's a bad thing to do, you know. :rolleyes: And the guards/staff most likely figured she was just trying to get attention - typical reaction unless they feel threatened.

You don't want to get me on my soapbox about mental illness...:mad:

Very well said.

You don't want me to get me on my soapbox about mental illness either. :mad:

[bibbi]

I just can't even understand how things like this can happen. You see a person who is sick or injured, you help them. You don't have to have special training to know this, it's part of being a human being.

Very well said too.

[sara]

Terrible.

In Italy we had a private hospital called S.Rita. Many of the doctors have been discovered doing unuseful surgery on people who were completely healthy just to get money. And some people died because of these unuseful operations (heart, breast, lungs..). Doctors said there was a cancer and poor people (even a young girl - 25 years old) was operated. but the only reason was the budget. Whole Italy is totally upset because of these news...

[ostarella]

A lot of "treatment" for MI runs along a similar vein - like ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy). It hasn't proven to be of any long-term value, but the doctors use it as a last resort - just to "prove" they're trying. (Ask me about the 30-year-old man who lost *all* memory because of it.)

There are several problems with mental illness - for one, there's virtually no cure, only methods of coping with it (drugs, talk therapy, natural remission). So nobody wants to spend money on it - it was only a few years ago that companies offering "health" insurance to their employers were required to include MI coverage - and then it's barely enough to cover the first few months. The doctors keep coming up with new "ideas" for treatment, trying to prove they're on an equal "God level" as the ones treating the body - but again, they can't cure it, so...

Also, people with MI don't act "normal". If you think it's uncomfortable listening to Aunt Ella complain about her lumbago, try talking to someone who can control the weather, or who's convinced they're much better off dead than living that way. And there's this idea that people with MI are dangerous - even though they're more likely the victim of violence than the perpetrator. So there's a lot of crap ideas about MI and people with it - and nobody gives a damn about how the patients are treated because they're "dangerous" and "strange". Only when a tragedy like this occurs - then there's a big hue and cry - for a few months. Then it's back to the attic...

Okay - so I got on the soapbox a bit...:rolleyes:

[Lucia Helena]

The times I think and I fear of the scenes and facts that arrive to us in the days of today.
What is going to be normal? What is going to be insane?
Unfortunately, in my country scenes happen like this. Recently an infant was played by the window of his apartment by its family.
What is lacking in the heart of the persons??
(It EXCUSE ITSELF WILL HAVE ERRORS, I AM DOING THE TRANSLATION THROUGH A SITE):rolleyes:

[Arciris]

Horrible...:(:( Many horrible...
I think this things are happening in all countries..But many times if Tv News don't say it we don't know..
I hope the future be a little better..If not...:rolleyes::rolleyes::(
I agree with all comments from us.
A prayer for her.

[julie w]

Yes, that was a disgusting thing that happened. However, I do have to say that there's a place in Ohio called OSU Harding Hospital. It's a place for patients with mential illness. Obviously there are a plithera of different kinds of mental illnesses not to mention many different *degrees* of those illnesses as well (such as depression). I've known at least two people who had gone there for a short time but they both were VERY impressed with the treatment and professionalism they recieved.

Yes, there is MAJOR work that needs to be done not only within the field of MI but with the ones who are suppossed to be helping and aiding in the treatment of people with MI. Unfortunately, things like this with continue to happen - BUT things are better than they were 100 years ago. Back then, MI patients didn't even stand a chance. They were just locked away.

Julie

[ostarella]

I'm not sure they're that much better now. Many homeless are MI; jails and prisons are acknowledged to be the new de facto mental institutions. Is that so much better than the family attic? Short term treatment - yes, it's possible to find good care. Long term, especially for those without insurance or private funding - questionable. Fifteen years ago, a three month stint in a *state-run* hospital cost over $28000. Not exactly pocket change, especially with little or no insurance coverage. Even out-patient treatment is expensive and again, for long-term treatment, the costs are rarely covered by insurance. And we have to accept that mental illness isn't like appendicitis - you don't just get treated and it's done with. It's forever. Sometimes better, sometimes worse - but always there.

[julie w]

"Is that so much better than the family attic?"

I wasn't talking about the family attic (though I'm sure there were many instances like that). I'm talking an institution for any kind of MI.

"And we have to accept that mental illness isn't like appendicitis - you don't just get treated and it's done with. It's forever. Sometimes better, sometimes worse - but always there."

You're absolutely right.