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Need Advice For Friends Daughter In Inpatient

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Fadeaway

MyPTSD Pro
I have a friend with a 15 year old daughter. Parents are recently divorced and mom has been working 10 hour days to make ends meet. The daughter is a very bright young girl, straight A+ student and a talented artist. During a hospital stay for pneumonia she told Dr.s she was depressed. The put her on celexa. About 2 weeks later she was saying she had bugs under her skin and was digging holes in her skin. They added Geodon and when she was released after 72 hours of inpatient she came home and made an attempt on her life.

She has been in inpatient ever since and made a second attempt using her pant legs around her neck and tying them to the door. Mom says ever since she has been in there she has gotten worse and they are now planing on doing electro shock. Apparently they have her on Lexapro, Geodon, Adderal Ativan and one other medication that her mom couldn't remember.

They have diagnosed her with OCD and PTSD. apparently her trauma is her dad slamming the door in her face when she was younger during an agument. Mom who has PTSD along with myself aren't believing the diagnosis and don't have faith the Dr.s when the daughter insists that is her only source of trauma. Mom insists her daughter would tell her if anything else had happened. I think there is always a chance her daughter wouldn't tell her, but that is besides the point.

Her symptoms started after being put on Celexa and then Geodon. Not only are we questioning the diagnosis but the medication. When mom put her foot down on the Celexa they switched her to lexepro telling her that the two medications were worlds apart. I had her mom look it up and I could see her mom fury and lost trust in her eyes. Why the hell do they have her on Adderal?

So mom wants her transferred to a different hospital and since she is working all of the time, I told her I would look into it, but I don' even know where to begin. The hospital she is currently in is saying since they have gotten the necessary signature per state rule for ETC that it is out of moms hands.
 
Omg @Fadeaway i think it's worth the mum taking some time off work and get the daughter out of hospital, off medication and seeing a good therapist if she can possibly afford to do so.
I witnessed this happening to my cousin when she was 16 and she got caught in the system for the rest of her life.
Psychiatry and psychology are not exact sciences and love trumps them both hands down!
I was depressed at 16 too!! I just needed someone to talk to!
I hope the mother can free herself up to be their for her daughter - this feels like a crossroads.
maybe I'm biased, but I have no faith in this kind of help - esp not for a teenager. This girl needs the help of those who love her, not a confusing cocktail of drugs
 
Anyone who has a mental illness - if it is Depression. Anxiety or PTSD - most of us probably are on drugs to stabilise with but sometimes meds just don't help. Mindfullness and EMDR and other therapys are used and it works differently to everyone and its great !. We are not all the same of course and Meds will make us feel quite crazy at times. This poor girl who is only 16 years old is crying out for help. She is seriously needing urgent medical attention from professional doctors who can help her. I would advise that she gets another opinion from another doctor ASAP to start fresh with everything - and get her into a program that suits her. She really is only still a teenager and a mothers love is unconditional - Mum just hold in there and do whatever you can to get your daughter into another doctors room to start over from fresh. All the very best and my advise is lots of love hugs and more hugs
 
I agree.
Love trumps all.
Can you spend some time with her? (The daughter)
Just hold her hand? Read a book?
She needs a lot of time and TLC.
I don't know enough about the other stuff.
You or Mom or anyone else that can just be by her side and keep her company.
Prayers and hugs.....
 
I'm no dr, but it sounds like the girl was a bit depressed because of her parents divorce, mom working many hours. This to me sounds a bit normal. But to put her on meds???? I'm sorry, but I rally think that the drs jumped the gun here. I think if I had been one of the drs, I would have asked her if she felt like talking to someone would help, and then brought in a therapist.

It sounds like the kid is having bad reactions to the drugs, and she needs to come off of them.

Is it possible for mom to hire an attorney? I think she needs one!!!!
 
OMFG. :mad:

1. Lawyer. Now. If they're claiming that neither mom nor daughter has legal rights to revoke consent to treatment, you're going to need a lawyer to fight that*. It could be pure bullshit. It could be true. It could be loophole, since daughter is 15 so there's a crack she's falling into as not old enough to consent/is deemed incompetent to consent because of mental health, meanwhile privacy laws X mom out, even though mom is legal guardian. I've never heard of someplace using those cracks in the laws for risky & controversial -non life saving- treatment, because of the risk for lawsuit, but that it happens in some places wouldn't surprise me. Regardless. Bullshit or true or technically true? Lawyer.*

2. I'm just going to assume that half assed totally incompetent unethical infuriating treatment is NOT being done at a Level 1 Regional Children's Hospital. Which gives you a very fast option; find the one that is for your region. It may be Seattle Children's Hospital (quite a lot of Utah kids are flown in, but I'm not certain. Idaho for sure, but I'm not sure about Utah). They're usually responsible for 2-5+ states, and their docs -legally- trump docs at lesser hospitals. Then you get on the phone, tell them Celexa >>> ECT & request an immediate transfer to their facility &/any all help -including legal*- they can possibly provide.

$. Most regional children's hospitals not only take kids regardless of their ability to pay, but also pay for transport, & parents get put up in Ronald McDonald Houses. Most states also have lesser known laws in place which prevent eviction & place certain bills on hold for this kid of medical emergency -for a short time- which gives parents time to set shit up with social workers & get short term funding / disability / medical grants / etc. to cover the bills in the short term. People donate hundreds of millions to these hospitals every year and (having dealt with 3 of them, across the country) my own experience is that in the event of an emergency there is no single better place to be.

* Ideally, let the transferring hospital lawyers fight the asshole hospital lawyers. A) It's heir speciality & B) It's free. Not always possible, but if it is, use it.


HIPPA Patients Bill of Rights
Informed Consent

Part of communication in medicine involves informed consent for treatment and procedures. This is considered a basic patient right. Informed consent involves the patient's understanding of the following:
  • What the doctor is proposing to do
  • Whether the doctor's proposal is a minor procedure or major surgery
  • The nature and purpose of the treatment
  • Intended effects versus possible side effects
  • The risks and anticipated benefits involved
  • All reasonable alternatives including risks and possible benefits.
Closely associated with informed consent, voluntary consent means that the patient understands these concepts; the patient rights include the following:

  • Freedom from force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion
  • The right to refuse or withdraw without influencing the patient's future healthcare
  • The right to ask questions and to negotiate aspects of treatment
A patient must be competent in order to give voluntary and informed consent. Thus, competent consent involves the ability to make and stand by an informed, freely made decision. In clinical practice, competence is often equated with capacity. Decision-making capacity refers to a patient's ability to make decisions about accepting healthcare recommendations. To have adequate decision-making capacity, a patient must understand the options, the consequences associated with the various options, and the costs and benefits of these consequences by relating them to personal values and priorities.

Some factors may make a patient incapable of providing competent consent either temporarily or permanently. Examples include the following:

  • Mental illness or mental retardation
  • Alcohol or drug intoxication
  • Altered mental status
  • Brain injury
  • Being too young to legally make decisions concerning health care
Patients that are judged incompetent (often determined by two independent physicians or in some instances, by a legal decree) can have others legally permitted to make medical decisions for the patient.

ETA. I'm just f*cking pissed. On sooooooo many levels. One of the "least" of which being that you don't mix ADHD (adderal) & Bipolar (lexapro) meds without serious risk of psychosis & chemical induced mixed episodes (mania + suicidality). So furious right now. So, so furious. :mad: Get this kid the hell OUT of the f*cking charlatans hands. ASAP. Mom is exactly right in wanting transfer to another facility. So. Furious. I know! Let's shove a pharmacy down a teenagers throat, then electrocute them! That will just be f*cking perfect! Great patient care there, you bunch of completely unethical, talentless, medical morons. Did they get their degrees from a crackerjack box or by motherf*cking mail order?
 
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This is horrifying. It's so terrifying that they always resort to meds these days, which often just make things a million times worse.

I would second @Friday on hiring a lawyer, or at the very least telling the hospital she will be hiring a lawyer. Make a big fuss, threaten to go to the press. Hospitals get spooked about that sort of thing.
 
I'm not an expert and haven't taken the time to look it up, but isn't an increased risk of suicide a potential side effect for some psychoactive drugs, especially in kids? These doctors sounds like THEY are the ones who need to be medicated.
 
Some more people to contact or threaten to contact:
  • The Joint Commission
  • Your state's Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing
  • Your state's Department of Public Health (Every state uses slightly different phrasing for the name of the department, but it should be something like this.)
  • Within the Department of Public Health there may be a Division of Mental Health
  • Health and Human Services
  • Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights
  • Any elected official
If she is insured by Medicare or Medicaid, a complaint may also be filed with them.
 
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