January 07, 2010

Some Thoughts For Western State Hospital, DSHS

So things have gone into the crapper for Lindsay at Western State Hospital. She's being denied the ability to go outside at all, a true prisoner of the system. Or so her mother, Stephany Newman, reports on her blog after attending a treatment team meeting for Lindsay yesterday at which Lindsay's doctor, Daniel Ruiz, yelled at Stephany and Stan Cavers, who'd gone along as a patient advocate, as Stephany told me in an email last night.

Some thoughts:

1. It is entirely unacceptable for a public employee (cops excepted in some circumstances) to yell at a citizen. Ruiz owes Stephany and Cavers a written apology.

2. It is a violation of medical ethics as well as professional standards in this state for a doctor to yell at a family member. Ruiz is lucky Stephany hasn't filed a complaint with the Medical Quality Assurance Commission, the name of our medical board out here.

3. Why isn't Lindsay permitted to go outside? Have you folks at WSH gotten that understaffed or that hard-hearted? For God's sake, I've toured your facility and you do have fenced-off outdoor areas attached to the units where Lindsay could be outdoors for a bit each day without being in danger of walking off.

4. I recall WSH personnel once telling me how sad it was that many patients at WSH had families who'd written them off and forgotten about them. Now you have a parent who has fought extremely hard for her daughter and the best you guys can muster is disrespect? That's some nice public service there WSH/DSHS. Really touching.

5. Why are male sex offenders housed in units with women? That sounds like a disaster in the making. What are you all doing to guarantee that women like Lindsay are not raped and molested (much less beaten) by some of the men on your wards? How are women supposed to achieve psychological stability in such an environment?

6. I know Lindsay's case is remarkably complex clinically, but the reality is she was sent to WSH not because she was a danger to self or others but because her condition puts her in danger from society. It strikes me as bizarre that in 2010 there isn't appropriate community housing available for someone like Lindsay, especially when it would likely cost the state about half of what one day in WSH would (about $450 a day at WSH per person). What are you all doing to create appropriate community housing for people like Lindsay, even in an extremely challenging budget environment?

7. A note for readers: on her blog, Stephany encourages people to write Washington's Gov. Christine Gregoire. I know Lindsay's case has stirred strong emotions in some readers and I simply ask that if you write the Governor, please be polite. If you cannot be, don't write her.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 7, 2010 12:01 AM
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Comments

The doctors do not know what they are doing.

Chemicals and restraints can not make people sane. Chemicals and restraints can force people to become obedient.

For a reason of anger of yelling from Dr.Daniel Ruiz.
from the last psychiatrist website

"The worst thing that can happen to a narcissist is a narcissistic injury-- in which their desired, constructed identity is revealed to be invented.

What happens in narcissistic injuries? Rage and violence."

Posted by: mark p.s.2 at January 7, 2010 01:37 AM

Phil, I am outraged by this inhuman and inhumane treatment of a patient and her parent. I ask "is this for real"? I will write a letter but it sure seems like nothing will work. Where are human rights in all of this? Jail time seems easier, doesn't it?

Posted by: maggie at January 7, 2010 10:24 AM

What a bizarro world... How have people lost the ability to think in anything other than generalizations? (It's "the outside world" vs. "the safe confines of a hospital". Except this patient was not living alone on a street corner; she has an involved, dedicated, loving parent. This is not a subtle nuance.)

Posted by: Sarah at January 7, 2010 12:07 PM

I don't understand how this is even legal how Lindsay is being treated. I am so terrified of psychiatric hospitals after my son's very brief but horrid experience in one and reading Stephany's blog. It's terrifying how much power the doctors in these hospitals have and how unnatural, creepy and abusive the doctors and the environment itself can be.

Posted by: Meg at January 7, 2010 06:30 PM

My brain is fried with lack of sleep so I wrote Change.org and asked what category this situation fell under. They draft letters and all you have to do is sign-you can add your own comments.

Posted by: Lili at January 7, 2010 07:17 PM

Lindsay is not alone.
Like the prison system, the mental health system has become an industry. Now states use guardianship and mental incarceration as a cash cow.
Follow the money.

Posted by: anon at January 7, 2010 07:45 PM

None of this makes any sense. The only place she's been harmed has been in the psych hospital, so what do they do? They send her back to the only place she has been harmed in order to keep her safe. Yeah, makes sense to me.

It's unacceptable that they would place her in a facility with sex offenders. They did that to me, too. I have never committed a crime. I was petrified to go to sleep. I pleaded with the nurse to lock me in a room while I slept, because I was afraid someone would come in my room during the night and hurt me. Let's just say that worrying about being assaulted doesn't do wonders for one's mental health.

Unfortunately, as so often happens this becomes about who has control. The physician doesn't like her having access to an advocate. Why? Because it's not in the physician's best interests. He controls when she gets to go outside, when people can visit, and so on. It's a messed up system. Yet, again we see how different psych hospitals are from regular hospitals. Maybe, one day they'll decide we're human beings.

Posted by: Lisa at January 7, 2010 08:23 PM

"Lindsay is not alone."

Yes, and we have to fight for her to try to make others not suffer the same.
I will be polite, of course.
Have strength and faith Stephany.

Posted by: Ana at January 8, 2010 01:25 AM
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