sent home by ED in a state

Hi

I would really like the thoughts of the moderators on this as well to see what they think.

Last night I received a letter from the hospital I made a complaint to enrolling me into a DBT course that I didnt ask for, it says if I dont reply within a certian time I will be dropped from it. I remember when the mental health nurse the one I've complained about, when she was lecturing me about my DBT book etc she asked if I wanted to join a refresher. I said I cant I work and at the moment the way work is I cant take another day off so quite plainly I said NO.

I''m thinking 2 things this letter means:

1. Because of the investigation they are making it seem as though their duty of care was carried out to protect themselves
2. Its just another go stating your full of crap and need help basically

I'm thinking I should bring this to the attention of the investigators - do you think thats a good idea or am I reading too much into it?

Thanks

Thanks @Kurra

@Change123

Who do you mean when you say investigators? someone from the hospital?? or someone else not associated to the hospital?

Hi @BlueBay

Sorry didnt see this one before - SA Health Government depart was supposed to investigate.

Ok not a good ending I received a letter on Friday and basically she had twisted her words to look helpful.

She was apparently "trying to work to my strengths in my skills" ????? by treating me that way. Its obvious they would cover each others tracks and yes thats what the DBT form was for to show that they had followed me up.

I'm not going to let that upset me - they are not worth my stress, I just know never to present in an ED again no matter how I feel - I know I will only feel worse if i go there. Hopefully she might think twice before she gives another BPD person grief like that and I atleast got an apology.

@darrenhayes

No the lady wasnt trying distraction and she aint no lady! I have done DBT with her before and understand distraction as I do it to myself.

She had asked me what the point of coming in to ED was when I was feeling like i wanted to do something to my self or someonelse and had been told by mental health triage to come in. She told me that is was no point coming to the ED as they could not help me and that I would feel better later and I might as well go. Then she preceeded to tell me I shouldnt bother with meds as it doesnt help (help the symptoms) Anyway not going to go into the ins and outs as I can feel myself starting to feel aggitated. She told me there was no use handing around as doctors would be ages and in the state I was in I dont know how I even got home. he was wrong to send me hoem in that state and anyone else she as done that too!

But I will not let them get to me again!

Hi @Change123,

I'm glad you put in a formal complaint. It might really help improve the system. In my (uneducated) opinion, the woman you dealt with in ED was an idiot to say those things to you- such as "you know you will feel better later"

Eh, excuse me? How does she know you will feel better later? What if you feel worse later? Who is she to tell you what you do and don't feel?

I suppose she will twist her words around to make it seem like she was trying to be empathetic. But don't be discouraged, just stick to the facts and let the investigators decide what to do.

The thing is, even if she does get off with a bit of a warning, she will treat people more kindly in the future, because she will not want to be subject to another investigation, it's too humiliating.

@Sahara

Thanks,

I hope my complaint did something, I know what she meant by " you know you will feel better later" usually with BPD things blow up and then calm down but the point was this time I had never felt this bad before so your right they actually made me feel worse the way they treated me. I get the impression from @BlueBay she may be going through the same thing. It seems painfully abovious to me that unless you have BPD you dont understand. My partner thinks its a joke that I put a complaint stating all we do is clog up the system for more " deserving patients who are in real pain" and we should just grow up and deal with stuff like everyone else! BOY! this is what I'm up against at home. All he is worried about was that my name was on a record now and someone how he could be identified - so it was just himself. He always says I make him look bad and it all comes back to him. In the past yes when I was at my worst with BPD an not diagnosed.

Anyway I wont go on on this thread.

Thanks

I have been not sure whether to post this and whether it is too triggering. I've just had the worst experience in ED to date. On Sunday I self harmed in a potentially life threatening way and was taken by ambulance to the local hospital and received treatment but as I was coming around 14 hours later the nurse was using pressure points to inflict pain to wake me up. I have bursitis is my left shoulder and was not aware of what was happening other than being in pain. I was then forced to drink hot tea which burnt my lips to attempt to awaken me. I was not awake during any of this but just had the sensations of it all, no control at all. I was then turfed out of the bed and couldn't move so slept on the concrete of the hospital floor in the waiting room in a hospital gown and a pull up nappy for a few hours as I was still very affected and unable to stay awake or be aware of my surroundings. Eventually a nurse moved me onto a bed. I fell over twice during this part and hit the concrete unable to be steady on my feet. Eventually I was taken to the mental health short stay unit where I received excellent care and support and was able to leave hospital in a headspace to start again. Today I've been coming to terms and trying to piece together my experiences in ED. I'm really not sure if it was having BPD on my record or whether it is how they move all patients on. I'm so grateful I asked to go to the short stay unit to receive help as I probably would have come home and been very unsafe. The thing that is so evident was the treatment between the two wards. What is happening in our health system that makes it ok to abuse someone when they have no control?

I dont want any sympathy for this as I am not innocent in making a stupid choice to self harm that night. I guess I just wrote this to see if anyone else has had similar experiences. That by writing it here others will speak up too. Maybe our collective stories could help to change this.