State Hospitals In The Us

[xena21]

I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced being in a state hospital in the US? I had been in "the best" trauma hospital in the US but my insurance ran out. The doctors told me they couldn't help anymore so they were sending me to the state hospital. They didn't realize or didn't care that I was a military veteran and could have been given care at the local VA hospital. Although then they wouldn't have been paid.

I didn't know how to fight for myself either at that point. So when I got transferred I was just terrified. It was such a horrible place. Nobody with any type of trauma should ever get sent to a place like that. Blood on the walls...feces and urine on the floor and chairs. The rooms were packed with patients no matter what the deficiency. Some were completely psychotic, some just bipolar or PTSD. It was so unimaginable. The prison psychiatric patients were housed here as well. Violent psychiatric crimes were the norm, but the nurses were suppose to be trained to intervene. The problem was, they were being sent to the hospital as much as the patients to get treated for physical wounds occurring while at the hospital.

I was fortunate because I was trained as a law enforcement officer and a Marine to defend myself, and I had to several times. It was very good training. Others weren't so lucky. Confidence was the key. I wasn't afraid of the other patients I wanted to kill them actually so that helped me a great deal. They knew too. I also had a HUGE friend that looked out for me. He used to inflict a lot of damage on others. Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to is that the state hospital system is archaic and despicable. People are hurt worse psycholigicly leaving that place than they ever were coming in to it. I was just interested if anyone else ver experienced the state hospital system.

 

[Justmehere]

You are not alone in what you experienced.

I attempted suicide in HS and I ended up in the state hospital for 8 hours before a family friend came and yelled at my family for putting me there. He raised hell and yanked me out. He was a psychologist. He said it was basically like "a jail, with a few more nurses and a lot more trauma."

The 8 hours I was there was pretty horrible and traumatizing for me. It changed me as a person and my whole perspective on the world. It destroyed what little sense of safety I had in the world.

I have done trauma work at a trauma focused inpatient unit. It took Medicare/Medicaid, but it wasn't the state hospital. That place helped me so much. It changed me for the better.

 

[xena21]

The 8 hours I was there was pretty horrible and traumatizing for me. It changed me as a person and my whole perspective on the world. It destroyed what little sense of safety I had in the world.

Thanks for your input. I can see how that 8 hours would do that. I remember my first 8 hours. I was so terrified. There was nothing I could do though. My therapists had left me, and the private hospital had sent me there, so I had nobody looking after these doctors or nurses to check on them and make sure they were doing things in my best interest. Originally I was told I would be there 2 weeks, but obviously the mental health system is severely flawed. After 4 weeks I was so traumatized I didn't know what to do anymore except try to escape...which I did, successfully. The problem was, the state looked bad that I escaped from their hospital. I actually got 2 doctors on the outside to say I was not suicidal and competent to be out of the hospital, but the state wouldn't accept it, and had the police pick me up from their offices.

Of course I deteriorated being in such an animalistic society where people are waiting to be euthanized like any animal would. I tried to survive as best I could but after 4 more months I couldn't take it. I escaped again. This time the Veterans Administration came to my side and saved me. I did try to kill myself when I escaped, but that was because of what was endured at that place. Once I was out of there for a while I became more aware of normal life. The VA let me feel like a person again. I had been a Marine, and they were helpful in putting order in my life once more.

 

[Justmehere]

@xena21 - my heart breaks reading what you have been through. I appalled at what the state did - and just the fact that you were there at the state hospital at all. They are places of great victimization. My therapist and I have talked about it a lot. She worked for a very brief time in one. It's awful, just awful. They really do make things WORSE, and new trauma is created there. It's not even just trauma, but trauma at the hands of people who are supposed to help, and at the hands of patients who are offenders, predators, mixed in with people who are already survivors of trauma...

It's like slipping into a black hole to end up there... I'm so glad you made it through. 4 months would have killed whatever sanity I have left, and you made it through. Wow! I'm really glad the VA stepped in and that things are better again.

 

[Illinois40]

Quite a few, one was like a Russian gulag. It's a crime against humanity.

 

[Rumors]

Xena, were you put there by a court? Did someone have you legally committed?

 

[xena21]

Xena, were you put there by a court? Did someone have you legally committed?

No I wasn't committed by a court, only by doctors at a private hospital that didn't want to pay the bill anymore. My insurance had run out, they didn't notify anyone else that I was a Veteran who would have qualified for federal services. I was new to the mental health field so I didn't realize I could have been treated by the VA. I later learned that the private hospital received a stipend from the state for sending me there, but would have received nothing from the federal government for sending me to them.

Believe me when I found that out I was horrified but I was already at the state hospital for 6 months so it didn't matter. The VA had already started to intervene at that point. I couldn't wait any longer though because I was ready to kill myself there. I escaped before all the paperwork was completed which could have taken a few more months, and within a month I was at the VA.

 

[Rumors]

In the US, unless a court places you into state care or a family member has you committed, you cannot be held against your will. You have the right to check yourself out at any time. There could be extenuating circumstances that I don't know about your story however.
I hope you are able to find someone or something that can help you move through that experience. I can't imagine!!! Sorry!