Abused at hospital

[Tbsdy]

Unfortunately, my story is one where I was traumatised because I was taken to a major Sydney hospital and when I discovered I’d been “sectioned” (god I hate their shorthand) I asked repeatedly why and I got placed into the seclusion room for 5.5 hours. In that time I had no assessments, didn’t get to go to the toilet and was humiliated in front of the full hospital who were watching me.

to make things worse, the hospital’s GM repeatedly lied about the situation and claimed I was not in seclusion but was in a “dual purpose facility”. There’s a lot more, but the upshot is that I fought hard ask st the system and they have now admitted I was abused, and both the HCCC and the Local Health District has apologised to me.

The issue I now have is I have a complete lack of trust in virtually all health professionals. I am incredibly angry with the way I’ve been treated, and I feel isolated from family and friends. I used to regularly attend church, but I can’t any more. I can’t go round to family events, I don’t go to social events except with very close friends, I do t like leaving the house on weekends and I don’t spend enough time with my beautiful children or my wife.

I basically feel ashamed of how I have reacted, feel stigmatised by the health system, disrespected and feared even though I’m actually a very gentle person. At the same time my sense of indignity and the fact that I was blamed and ignored for three years has made me pursue this - probably to my detriment. Because there were three years where I was largely ignored and disbelieved, I have sent heaps of letters and emails to a variety of people. I haven’t had much of a choice really as until recently I was utterly ignored by the hospital (well, not just ignored but actively lied to - I writing actually), the HCCC, a private medical facility where they did very little to help me, and was told by my psychiatrist to just accept injustice.

I’m not sleeping well, my mind is constantly ruminating on what happened to me, I feel equal measures fear but oddly I also feel angry and fearlessly confrontational. I have read of PTSD symptoms and I honestly think my “off switch” is broken and my anxiety has been set to 11.

I woukd like like to go back to feeling like my old self, regain my dignity and be able to put the whole thing behind me but I am incapable of doing this. I thought I might post here to share my experience and try to see what responses I get from forum members.

[monkey_magic]

Hi Tbsdy,

I've also been sectioned in the past & put into that room. While I was in there I was injected multiple times with a drug bcas I was kicking the door, punching the mattress and yelling. I wasn't let out of a hospital for 3 months on an occasion so u can probably understand my anger.

I too believe it was an injustice and don't agree with my diagnosis or the fact I had to remain medicated. I also don't believe in being medicated against my will. I wasn't believed while I was in there and feel like it was a case of mistaken identity... I'm not a harm to myself or others. It was all rubbish. Good on you for pursuing the matter.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Tbsdy,
Welcome to the forums and thanks for being here!

I’m not sure how much help I can be but at the very least I thought I’d at least say thanks for joining us and sharing your story.

To be honest I read your story a few times thinking of what might be helpful to help you put it behind this, but instead I just start to feel frustrated for you. It sounds like there’s been a betrayal - the one place (hospital) that’s supposed to take care of you when you are unwell and vulnerable and instead you’ve received terrible care.

I think that if the same thing happened to me I too would be feeling angry. I think it’s worth validating that; because I personally don’t see a need to be ashamed. Wouldn’t anybody react the same way? It’s an awful position to find yourself in and with what seems to be no support.

As to how to move on, I’m not sure but somehow I think you won’t go back to your old self - I only say this because it seems impossible to me to imagine life without it; so perhaps it’s about finding a new self. One that can somehow handle that lack of trust but still balance it so that it doesn’t hold you back from the important things. Is there a way that you can start to wiggle yourself back in to spending time with your children or wife, or attend church? Even if it’s just a short time - it might be a place to start in finding your ground again.

I hope this helps and hope you enjoy being apart of the forums

[Tbsdy]

Hi romantic_thi3f,

It is very difficult. One of the biggest issues is that feeling you have been patronized by people in the system. This sort of behaviour is very paternalistic and I have found medical people automatically assume they know what is best for you. In fact, it's baked into the Mental Health Act - even though section 68 says that "every effort that is reasonably practicable should be made to involve persons with a mental illness or mental disorder in the development of treatment plans and recovery plans and to consider their views and expressed wishes in that development" this is not what happens. In fact, I believe that if a nurse ever tells you that you are "sectioned" in NSW, then they wouldn't even know they are referring to section 20 of the Mental Health Act.

There are serious issues in the health system around informed consent and the ability of patients to be involved in medical decision making. This is largely because of the attitudes of well meaning, but ultimately ignorant, medical staff. It is particularly bad amongst nurses in hospitals, but I'm sure that there are psychiatrists who also show the same ignorant and condescending attitude. That has been my experience.

For me, I'm fighting them. I have been for close to three years now, and I have made major headway - to the point where I am the case study on what not to do in an ED. I hope that things are improving, but I know there are still people who don't get it and I'm sure that people will continue to be badly treated whilst their attitudes are tolerated.

As members of society and a community in our own right, there needs to be some sort of body that advocates for those who have been mistreated by the medical community. Unfortunately, the Mental Health Advocacy service doesn't seem to consult (I should know, I tried to get in contact with them, but they told me that they could do nothing) and certainly if you have been abused in care legal aid does nothing to assist as they will only help those in a psychiatric ward and who are being held against their will. The HCCC won't do anything either - they advised me initially that there was "no evidence of systemic failures that would give rise to public health and safety issues", even though the Chief Psychiatrist, Murrary Wright, wrote a report that came to an opposite conclusion.

Frankly, I don't know what can be done, but it is ruining lives and I would love to see something serious be done about it.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Tbsdy,


Thanks for your reply.

I’ve been doing a bit of Googling and reading because I completely agree with you - there are serious issues in the health system that haven’t been properly addressed.

The Mental Health act is unfortunately treated as 50 shades of grey. What ‘reasonably practical’ care for one person is going to be different to another - depending on what they’re going through and how much information they’re able to take in and understand. This also includes the resources available to the person as city is going to have different resources to the country/rural areas. To read out the Mental Health act to every person who is being sanctioned would be time consuming, daunting and unhelpful. People want to know what their rights are (and should be told when possible), but the information out there is extensive and overwhelming.

I read that you went through the HCCC and they do have a process if you are unsatisfied - http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/Complaints/Complaint-Process I also wonder if it might be worth contacting MH Australia as they have done reports in the past about misconduct in hospitals https://mhaustralia.org/

The fact you’ve said you are the case study on what not to do in the ED shows me that you have made huge progress in the system - it would be a lie to say there’s no evidence of failures and dismissive of them.

With that said though, what else can you do? The difficulty is that what you’ve gone through is not just a once off - but a procedure that’s been trained and implemented all over Australia. So even though you’ve had this experienced and been apologised to, I do wonder what the process might be to change something that’s been fixed or stuck for a long time.

Is advocating something you need to do - how much energy can you afford to spend doing this?

[alma17]

Hi Tbsdy,

I can understand your intense emotions towards the health system, as I've experienced similar injustices. I actually had a HCCC case against a past therapist for sexual assault and have since, read so many stories of people experiencing similar things, or being sedated or invalidated, instead of being cared for and listened to. I know relying on such a system can leave you feeling rather helpless and ignored. I've been there. I became absolutely disillusioned with authority or medical professionals in general. Some people may perceive you as overreacting, but I do think our reactions are very real, and legitimate. There are clearly so many things wrong with the health system, and I find a lot of professionals just don't understand the intensity of the outrage because they have never experienced it themselves, or don't have the sensitivity or intelligence to really acknowledge what has happened. In a lot of cases, the victim is often stigmitised; their perfectly legitimate outrage is seen more as a personality defect, instead of an actual reflection of the bad that has happened to them.

The more I sought help from these people, the more hopeless I felt, so I honestly just stay away from the majority of them, unless of course they were proven to be exceptional -- by my own experience, not according to someone else.

I agree that there should be more accountability for health professionals, but sadly, a lot of them are accepted by a really faulty system and oftentimes will go unpunished, unreported.