j-mac

Her Axis II, is indeed borderline. This was diagnosed about 6 mos. to a year into her treatment. She also hears "whispers" before she was prescribed Effexor, I believe. So schscophrenia (sp?) may be of concern as well. I have readd the sites you provide, however it's been awhile, maybe this weekend I do a refresher...thanks. The last couple of sentences here are very true, unless ofcourse, she informed staff of sucidial thoughts and was rebuffed. I apoligize if this comes off as rude but, I feel that this statement is little more than an excuse designed to absolve staff for incompetence. The girl was allowed to purchase razors and bring them to her room on the floor undected. That in no way is akin to using her fingernails, teeth, or paper. Again I am not trying to be rude here but when something happens that is the very first thing we hear. And thanks for you genuine concern for me and my family. j-mac

It is the "iffy" situations that concern us most...We are aware of the manipulation factor in anyone that suffers this type of behaviour, and although I'm sure there was a bit of that intwined in these incidents, we have repeatedly given the RTC the benefit of the doubt by allowing them to continue with our daughter for 4 1/2 months now. The screming incident is a perfect example of this. The fact that they were caught off gaurd and had to up the precautions is not disputed at all by us. In fact I applaud it. But supposedly a search was done before her entering this room which lends creedence to meg's view of events. That she was allowed to enter her residential room after the search and without supervision. They have the choice of the regular cotton gowns as well, because she has been in them before. I'm sure it was uncomfortable as well, I don't like those gowns when I see my doctor much less having to wear them in front of everyone including male staff. She didn't milk that situation, she seemed fine with it, it was myself who had the problem with it. And it was cold enough that she was shivering, and when I gave her my coat I was chilly, and I was in street clothes. I'm alittle confused by your last sentence. In the previous paragraph you told an unfortunate story of a woman who was successful at suicide using nothing but her teeth. Giving the all to common therory that we have heard of " well, if she really wants to harm herself, we can't stop her." Then here you take precaution of a basic such as a blanket to keep warm, while direct monitoring? Forgive me. Sometimes I assume that floor plans are simular for other RTC's as they are here. There are two sides with a staff station seperating the two wards C3 and C4. Meg was on C4 at the time and C3 had two female staff. Actually I was informed that eyesight was to be maintained. Not "arms length." We visit our daughter every other day like clock work along with her brother. Some of the other girls on the floor have kind of adopted us because of the fact that most parents don't visit as often if at all. It's sad. We are accute to anything that would produce injury and to notice signs in Meg's behaviour that signals this type of action. And I am her father, but nothing was in my coat but dryer lint. There was nothing in the pockets. As for bending the rules, how would I know because as I have stated we have repeatedly asked for protocol and proceedures so that we may be familiar and have never been given anything but the papers that we signed to admit her. Thank you for the input here. I really appreciate it. It does help to kind of get an insight to all of this from the professonals point of view.... Why not? whos liability are they protecting? Mine or theirs? Liability should not be a concern unless they are not following their own policy and something happens, right? ie: allowing a cutter to purchase razors......etc. But thanks again.... j-mac

Yes, except for the having us buy her things that she shouldn't have part, this sounds exactly like Meg. I am concerned with the ability to pruchasee razors as well and not having them dectected when on the floor. I believe that this was undertaken as a procedure for her when she was able to concele a shard of broken CD and harm herself in the quiet room the first week. And I can see that as well. But my concern is that she was closely monitered and still couldnt have a blanket, and was clearly shaking during our visit at that time. I gave her my coat to cover with during that visit. Also the staff seemingly listening in on our conversation. I should clairify, the male staff member was present on the floor along with another female staff member. Meg was allowed during the day to be on the floor, out of the room, under the females supervision. But the male staff member was there as well. I was concerned with the humilliation factor. Thanks for your prayers. I also have a wife that suffers from schizo-affected disorder but is under controll and functional. So you can see I do appreciate and need every prayer and edge I can get..... :) j-mac

Hi everyone. I'll start by letting you know first off that I am not a nurse of anykind but I have a particular problem that a friend on another site told me you all might be able to help with...I'll try and explain as completely as possible. My daughter is a diagnosed bi-polar that is a "cutter." She has had this problem for over two years (that we know of) and has been hospitalized 13 times on stablization units at (name removed to preserve privacy). Three of her incedents of cutting occured while she was in school and after a difficult process of IEP and recomendations she is catagorized as "level 5" by the state and afforded for RTC. In October of last year we thought we had been very lucky to find an opening at the RTC right there on (name removed to preserve privacy) own grounds. We admitted her and signed all the neccessary papers, and I asked at that time if they had anything that showed what their rules and protocalls were, and was told that they would check into it and get back with us. The first incedent was within the first week. My daughter had informed staff on the unit that she did not feel safe and was appropiatly placed on suicide observation (SO). It was unclear weather the staff allowed her into her room or if she had a peice of broken CD hidden in her clothing but she was able to cut herself while in the "quiet room." Ofcourse this was the first bone of contention between myself and the floor staff. Because I wanted to know how she was able to harm herself while under SO. The next incident was about three weeks or so later. She had cut herself again overnight in her room. She was placed on SO again and put in paper gown with nothing under. A staff member was constantly in earshot and eyesight. Which I had no problem with except the earshot part during our visits. It felt that the staff was listening in on our conversations. I asked if we could have a little privacy, also if she could have at least a blanket to wrap herself, and was denied. I had to give her my coat because she was shivering uncontrollably. I brought this up with the admin. And they said they would look into it. I also asked again for protocalls and proceedures in writing so we could understand the different levels of what actions they were taking. Never recieved them. The next incident happened during school. She had taken a personal pencil sharpener apart and cut her arm. When we arrived again she was on SO and in paper gown with nothing underneath, and a male staff member was present on the floor. I blew a gasket. I immeadately called the head of the RTC, and demanded that she either be covered up or the male staff be moved to the other side, off the same unit as my daughter. And told him I was disappointed with the decission to put her in that humiliating circumstance. During the visit we were told by my daughter that overnight while she was sleeping in the quiet room she was awakend by an itch on her head and when she wen to scratch it there was a mouse in her hair! I called a meeting between the administrator, floor supervisor, and social worker/theripist. After hearing my greivences about everything from cleanliness of the floor to rodents to the merit of allowing my daughter in nothing but paper in the presence of male staff. Nothing was done but to re-paint the art/visitation room. The next incedent happened while I was at work. My daughter wanted to get away from the chaos on the floor and go into the quiet room and read and was told by the supervisor that would be fine, she was on safety observation but not SO. So she did. At the change of shift the next staff member told her that she couldn't have anything in the quiet room and had to read at a table in front of the station (commonly done if the kids are "zoning") My daughter got into a little battle about weather or not she was "zoning" or not and called home. I called back and talked with the staff and told them that I understood that different staff had different perceptions and that I would talk to my daughter. That was fine with her. I called back and got ahold of my daughter and started to have her tell me her side of the story when from the backround I heard the same woman I just got off the phone with begin screaming at my daughter accusing her of lying to me. I finally got her back on the phone and told her to put the staff on. When this woman got on the phone she lit into me yelling that my daughter was lying and that she wasn't going to put up with me interfering. I asked for the supervisors number and was refused. I then again called the head of the RTC and arranged a "meadiation hearing." During this hearing this woman lied and said that I cussed at her and was beligerent and that what my wife and I were saying was untrue and no creedence was given to our concerns. We spent the next week or so going back and forth about weather or not to transfer her to another RTC. During a team meeting we had decided to leave her in place, with the understanding that communication would be more free and we could just start over. We were willing to over look the neglegence to that point because my daughter really likes her theripist and we are very happy with the family sessions. We were told by the team that they didn't want to continue this, in so many words. I couldn't believe it! Which brings me finally to the latest incident. Two weeks ago while on an "outing" (on the weekends one of the staff will take a few of the girls to say, a Target or Wal Mart, or a movie) my daughter got away with purchasing a pack of disposable razors, she got them up on the floor and hid them. 3 nights ago she told a staff member that she was unsafe, and felt like killing herself. And was ment with the staff member telling her that she didn't know how to handle it. Nothing was reported. And the next morning my daughter cutherself deep enough to require 13 stitches, and was moved to the main hospital under the adolesent unit care. My question is what the heck is up here? What can I do? When she is released she will be sent back to that unit and we are frightened of that. We have another RTC process started but that is not completed yet....Help, suggestions? j-mac