SD in psych ward?

[Nalla]

I might be going to a psych ward for a little while because I'm really not doing well, I get evaluated tomorrow. Does anyone know what to expect having a SD in a psych ward?

 

[mechurchlady]

Hugs Nalla tight and prays and hopes and prays some more.
I hope you can get better with out the psych ward. I have miss d your posts so much and missed you. I wish you had come and talked with us long ago.

I wish I could keep you with me safe from all alarm and hug you and tell you it will be better. I have not answer for you about your dog. Just prayers and hugs and snugs.

hugs
Laurie

 

[bookwormde]

We have missed hearing from you.

It mostly depends on the “philosophy” of the facility you are going to. Even if your dog were not a SD some clinics allow animals for “companionship therapy”. As an SD dog it will probably come down to a decision if having her with you is either medically needed or appropriate.

I assume you have a trusted person to care for her if she cannot stay with you, since this is important so you can focus on yourself and making progress while you are there.

If you can, keep in touch, as you know we all here to support you in any way we can.

bookwormde

 

[SueM in MN]

Legally, you have a right to have the dog with you if you continue to need the services that the dog provides.
That can be up to interpretation or conditions on the unit you are at. There are conditions where they could legally say that the dog may not be with you. I have worked in inpatient Psych and also wrote our hospital system's policy about Service Animals.

They may argue that staff would be caring for you and providing for your needs, so the dog is not needed. That is a valid arguement.
Having the dog there could also be a safety issue, which is a very possible valid argument. If the staff feel it would be unsafe for you, the dog or the other patients, you could legally be denied having the dog with you. That could be true even if you and your dog are not doing anything; for example:
- if another patient is very scared of dogs, just the fact that your dog is there might be a danger for that person.
- a confused or paranoid patient may consider your dog (and you, since you are controlling the dog) to be a threat. That patient could attack or target you or your dog, possibly endangering both of you.
That would be especially true on a locked unit where the patients are less predictable. Because of these things, I would consider very long and hard whether a locked unit would be a good place for my dog, even if they did allow it. The staff usually have a good idea about the dynamics of the unit you will be going on and should consider that in deciding safety of having the dog on the unit with you.

You would also need to be able to control and care for the dog while you are there. If not, the staff are not required to do any care of the dog for you. Even if you are able to care for the dog at first, if you become unable to either control or care for the dog, she could be sent home.
If you are on a locked unit or are on any kind of hold, those things could be automatic reasons for not allowing a dog. The patients are not as predictable on a locked unit and, if you are on any kind of hold, that would be an argument that you are not able to care for the dog.

And, depending on your condition or the place you or at, you may choose to not have the dog with you because you feel it is not in the dog's best interest.
You may not be able to provide the dog with the support and direction she needs. It may be uncomfortable to the dog to be in a place where people are doing things in an unpredictable manner or to see you in that kind of situation. It is also possible that the dog may interpret some of your care as a 'threat' and respond in ways that could be harmful for everyone. Also, some people just don't want their dog to see them in a situation where their human is not the 'top dog'. It would be hard to have the dog not with you, but it may be better off for the dog and your relationship with the dog in the long run.

If you don't already have a safe care situation for the dog, I'd suggest calling either your vet or the organization that placed the dog with you. They may have ideas for sort of temporary foster care for the dog.

The 'philosophy' part may determine whether or not they would allow your dog to visit you if the dog is not staying with you. I would argue that the dog is the same as a family member to some people and should be allowed to visit if family and other support people are. If you need a visit from your dog, the hospital should have some way of arranging a safe visiting place for you and your dog.

 

[Nalla]

I had one ward say they won't allow my dog, even after I explained what the dog does that humans cannot do (various medical alerts and stuff).
I have an eval appt with another one today, and they at least seemed open to the idea but I think they want to see Nalla first (I guess so they know I'm not faking).

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the update and hope you get the help you need.

 

[mechurchlady]

hugs for Nalla and glad to hear from you. I hope life turns around for you soon.
I send you lots of hugs, chocolates and dole whips and prayers.

Laurie

 

[Nalla]

I got out of the psych ward, almost as soon as I got in.
Two doctors made fun of me. The nurses ignored me or yelled at me. They decided after I'd been there for a day that the dog wasn't allowed near other people and that I had to eat separately from others and that I couldn't go to groups or even leave my room. Then they took her guide harness and until I got it back from them another patient helped me get around because staff couldn't be bothered.
Then after I told a social worker how I was being treated, they told me I couldn't leave for 48 hours. Then yesterdat they put me outside to walk my dog without her guide harness and without a human willing to be my guide. I fell down a hill. I went back inside and threatened to sue them for negligence because I fell. They let me go AMA yesterday.
I feel so terrible about myself. They said I wasn't good to my dog because she was stressed in the hospital. The only time my dog got stressed was when that one doctor pretended to hit me in the face. He thought it would be funny because he thought I'm fully blind when I've got partial vision. Jerk. He scared he crap out of me. After we calmed down from that my dog showed no stress signals at all.
And they called me immature and not an adult because I kept insisting I talk to my parents about everything and involve them in pretty much every treatment desicion.
They also didn't approve of my using a service dog for anxiety rather than medication. They insisted it was impractical and unfair to the people around me. I don't respond well to most medications. Meds for acute anxiety are usually benzos, and I have a history of substance abuse. So yeah, dog works better for me.
They took one non-fasting blood test and my sugar level was 122. I have hypoglycemia, and before that blood test had spiked my sugar higher so that it wouldn't drop from the blood test (did that make sense?). They told me that because my sugar was high (122 isn't even that high!) that I'm diabetic, and then switched my diet to one that had no sugar at all. Hypoglycemia means my sugar likes to be low, and I eat sugar to bring it back up. I had to go a whole day and a half without sugar, until another patient stole several things of juice for me and I used that to boost my sugar high enough that I could move around without falling on my face. My parents yelled at the staff until they fixed my diet. One non-fasting test isn't enough to diagnose diabetes, not to mention that because diabetes runs in my family I get tested properly every year. I know I'm not diabetic, they just made an assumption that I was because of my weight.
Once they switched my diet back they insisted that I check my sugar like everytime I ate or something stupid like that. I told them I don't need to because it only goes low and if it does my dog will alert. They just scoffed at the fact that the dog could do that and said I was making it up.
Oh and the psychiatrist... what an idiot! She didn't seem like she was paying attention when I walked in so when she asked how I was I said "I've been getting harassed by staff on account of my dog all day" She said "That's good." When I told her that my meds don't work and I need them adjusted she said "Oh, that will just take time to get better". Um no... it won't, they won't magically start working again.
And the nurses were completely incompetent! They forget to give me my meds twice. And when they checked my blood pressure they did it so badly that I have stripey bruises on my arm from it.
I'm so angry and I don't know what to do. I still need help and meds and I don't know how to get either.

 

[KPeveler]

do you have a GP or other dr you can trust? I would go that dr and ask for help that does NOT require inpatient treatment. At least until you find a place that will work for you.

then I would contact a lawyer. NOW. Immediately. You fell because they would not allow you proper equipment for your dog and did not have someone guiding you. I would sit down and document EVERYTHING immediately. and I mean everything. Even how many times you went to the bathroom and where your dog was and how many times SHE went to the bathroom. everything! Then get a lawyer involved, because there needs to be corrective measures taken at this facility, before they hurt someone else!!!

oh, and request ALL records from that place immediately, BEFORE they hear from a lawyer or another dr contacts them and they change things!

hope you're doing ok, lots of hugs!

 

[peemagg]

I agree with KPeveler. You need to get your records NOW!!! You need to document everything said, done, by whom and when. You need to contact a lawyer immediately too!

Heck if it was me I would go into an ER and have them check you out for documentation as to any injuries you might have from the fall or neglect. I wouldn't care if it was for a scraped knee. I would go in saying that you thought it was getting infected after your fall from this place.

I can almost guarantee that there is a security tape of your fall too. Most psychiatric centers have those to be sure that no one wanders off or anything else without their knowledge.

Maybe for a while you can turn this into a good thing for you. GET MAD and Fight. It might be some of the best medicine for you. I know it helps me when I am slipping down into my depression. It gives me something else to fight for and I forget even if for a short time, that problem.

You hang in there kid!!! You can overcome!!

 

[mechurchlady]

Sue will be here shortly and will post.

I agree with the others above. They are in for a lawsuit and their license yanked. I have no funding until the third but will give you $25 if you need it for anything hun. I love you like a niece and want the best for you. Nobody whould treat a person like they treated you. Maybe you need help in out patient and with people online like Sue who can help you when you have a down day.

You are surrounded by an army of angels and we will never let you down. AT least not me for sure. I am so sorry to hear this news and wish I could come and hug you and tell you everything is going to be ok.

Isend you a big box of doggie treats and lots of chocolates and hugs for you.

Nala hang in there and do what the above posters tell you to do.

hugs
Laurie

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't have time to write much, but my suggestions right now are:

1. write everything down that you remember, including as much detail as you can (like who did what, who said what).
2. separate things into categories - the stuff doctors did should be separate from the things the other staff did because they will be handled by different people
3. what you wrote down is just for your notes, not necessarily to share with anyone
4. pick out 1 or 2 of the problems you had and write them up objectively (leave out your feelings like "what an idiot") to answer the questions: who, what, where, when. I personally would probably concentrate on the fall and one or two things that had to do with patient care - like forgetting your medications.
5. Contact someone you know and trust, like the GP or whoever helped you to get into the hospital in the first place. I would talk to that person, not necessarily contact a lawyer at this point.
6. each hospital has someone to deal with patient concerns. In many cases, the person is called the PATIENT ADVOCATE. That person's job is to listen to problems or complaints patients have and try to resolve them. If they don't have an actual Patient Advocate, the Director of Nursing would be the person to contact. You want to contact that person and give them your concerns. Not the whole list to start with - that is too much to start with and they won't be able to listen to/concentrate on what your concerns are. Make sure to keep your concerns answering who, what, where, when. They need those things to answer your concerns.

It is not that easy to actually change a medical record, so I would not worry about getting a copy of it so much. If it is a computerized medical record, it can't be changed without leaving a record of who looked at what part. If it is a paper record, people would have to draw lines thru the parts they were changing and then there would be no room to make a change. Usually, if someone makes a complaint to the Patient Advocate or Director of Nursing, that chart will be secured so that no one can access it without the Patient Advocate, Medical Records or the Director of Nursing knowing about it.

Some of the things are probably misunderstandings or things that were not explained well. These would be on their part and on your part.
For example, they probably have a rule that belts and things that could be used by someone to hang themselves are taken away, at least for the first 48 hours. They would have probably looked at your dog's harness as a belt, not as your way to control the dog. That is a misunderstanding that they did not handle the harness as part of the dog.
One of the other things that was probably a misunderstanding is about the blood sugar. I don't have time to explain right now, but one of the most common treatments for hypoglycemia is to use a diet that is the same as a diabetic would use. The problem in diabetes and hypoglycemia is in how the body handles sugar. It sounds like they did not explain what they were doing well and that made you distrust them. They would test the blood sugar to see what is happening; even if your dog alerts you, they need to know what the level is, not just that it is low. They would need that in order to plan a diet and see how different foods affect the blood sugar.
The social worker saying you could not leave for 48 hours was probably true. In many cases, there is a 48 hour 'hold' on patients who are admitted to a Psych unit. Depending on your state, that might be the law. The social worker should have explained it better if that is the case.

 

[LauraVV]

I would encourage you to ask your parents to help you with this problem. Also, what does your normal psychiatrist say about your current problems?

Being discharged AMA can be a headache because sometimes your insurance refuses to pay. Please follow up as others have suggested. Document, document, document all you can remember.

As Sue said, leave out editorialization when documenting. For example, say "5/25/09 at about 12:30 pm, Dr. Joseph R. Johnson waved his hand in front of me as if to slap my face."