Former Patients Highlight Abuses in US Inpatient Psychiatry, Call for Reforms

Research by Morgan Shields and Kelly Davis sheds light on the often harrowing experiences of people on inpatient psychiatry units.

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A recent study published in the Journal of Patient Experience shared the perspective of former patients on their experiences in inpatient psychiatry units and their suggestions for improving the quality of care.

The study, conducted by Morgan Shields and Kelly Davis, illuminates the often difficult experiences of psychiatric inpatients. Their research, which gathered feedback from 814 participants, highlights the pressing need for reforms to improve the quality of care in psychiatric facilities.

“There has been limited empirical research to describe the quality of inpatient psychiatric care in the United States despite policy efforts to expand access to this service. Empirical descriptions of care quality and the patient experience of inpatient psychiatry come primarily from countries outside of the United States,” the authors explain.
“However, journalistic investigations, lawsuits, and anecdotal testimony from the United States highlight the need for policymakers and payers to consider examining methods to better align inpatient psychiatric care with principles of patient-centeredness. In the current study, we elicited suggestions from former adult patients of inpatient psychiatry on ways to improve inpatient psychiatric care quality, filling a critical gap in the literature with relevant implications for evolving policies.”

The study, analyzing online survey responses from individuals hospitalized between 2016 and 2021, identifies ten critical themes for improving inpatient psychiatric care: personalized care, empathic connection, communication, whole health approach, humane care, physical safety, respecting patients’ rights and autonomy, structural environment, equitable treatment, and continuity of care. This research is crucial as it highlights the diverse and complex experiences of patients, offering valuable insights for policymakers and mental health professionals seeking to create a more supportive and effective care environment. The findings echo longstanding concerns within the critical psychology community about the dehumanizing aspects of psychiatric care and the need for systemic change.

Wheelchairs in the hospital ,close up view of empty wheelchair. Wheelchairs waiting for patient services with copy space on area.Although research on this topic has been scarce in the United States, lived experience advocates have been highlighting these issues and pushing for similar research for decades. Past research has demonstrated how hospitalization does not decrease the odds of fatal or non-fatal suicide attempts after inpatient treatment and involuntary hospitalization increases the risk of suicide, especially immediately after hospitalization. Involuntary hospitalization does not improve outcomes and leads to decreased trust in providers, deterring youth from seeking future mental health treatment. Some patients who have been hospitalized also consider themselves survivors due to their experiences of violence during psychiatric hospitalization or “incarceration.” Black and other minority youth are more likely to be forcefully hospitalized, where they experience increased violence.

To learn about previous patients’ experiences during psychiatric hospitalizations and receive suggestions about how to improve inpatient care, in 2021, the research team developed a survey that was promoted and administered online. Participants had to have been hospitalized in the U.S. sometime between 2016 and 2021 and be 18 or older. As part of the survey, participants could answer an open-ended question where they were asked, “What are some things the hospital/psychiatric facility could have done to improve your experience?” Eight hundred fourteen participants responded to the survey, and 510 responded to this open-ended question. 50.88% of participants were female, 40.56% were male, and 8.55% were non-binary, third gender, or other. In terms of race or ethnicity, 66.60% were White, 4.17% were Native American, 2.39% were Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 3.18% were Black, 3.18% were Asian, .99% were of another race, 4.93% were mixed race, and 15.31% identified as Hispanic/Latinx.

Most participants were between 18 and 34, with a few being 44 or older. 46.32% were involuntarily hospitalized, and most had been hospitalized 1 or 2 times. The researchers coded the open-ended responses of all 510 participants and used a constant comparative method to develop themes. These themes were (1) personalized care, (2) empathic connection, (3) communication, (4) whole health approach, (5) humane care, (6) physical safety, (7) respecting patients’ rights and autonomy, (8) structural environment, (9) equitable treatment, and (10) continuity of care and systems.

Personalized and Effective Care. The researchers combined these concepts as participants believed effective care had to be personalized. Many patients mentioned that they did not learn anything for a specific reason they had been hospitalized and felt that treatment was irrelevant. Moreover, administration, staff, and clinicians often disregarded their personal history and problems into account which led to misdiagnosis and being prescribed the wrong medication. A participant mentioned:

I am a lot further in my recovery than a lot of people in that unit and I already knew everything that they were sharing in group. I needed personalized and individual help, and I didn’t receive that. I left feeling not helped at all.”

Empathic Connection. Patients reported how administration, staff members, and clinicians lacked care, compassion, understanding, respect, or empathy. They also reported insensitive and detrimental statements and actions coming from them. A participant wrote:

The floor staff was often verbally and physically (in stance and demeanor) unkind, uncaring, and obviously exasperated with patients (not necessarily nurses).”

Another patient mentioned:

They don’t care about people at that facility.”

Communication. Participants also shared how there was a lack of communication between staff members and patients, including not being transparent about when they would be discharged and not answering patients’ questions for prolonged periods. Providers also did not communicate the side effects of medication. Patients also reported a lack of coordination between staff members, including a lack of communication between inpatient and outpatient treatment. A patient who was not told about the side effects of the treatment wrote:                    

“I was started on lithium, and while it has been helpful, it also caused thyroid problems that I was not made aware of as a possibility before starting the treatment. I wish I had been more informed of the risks of the medication or able to consider other options.”

Another participant shared how there was no communication about their time being hospitalized:

“I got no orientation, no change of clothes (they made me walk through the rain wearing socks), and no explanation of meal schedules, group sessions, or who to talk to ask for help. I was literally dropped off and forgotten.”

Whole Health/Person Approach. Patients said there was a need for a health promotion approach to treatment and a more holistic approach to healing since treatment focused on medication and skill building. They shared possible outdoor activities, healthier food, spiritual guidance, art, and music, among other activities. A participant in this study shared:

A wider array of recreational activities to help patients pass the time and also keep them happy….

Physical Safety. Participants identified the necessity of improving staff competency in crisis and conflict management. They also shared how they experienced physical, psychological, and sexual violence and threats of violence from staff members, clinicians, and other patients while they were hospitalized. Violence was more noteworthy for participants experiencing psychosis. Moreover, patients’ health needs were neglected and dismissed by staff members. A participant shared how a psychiatrist would threaten patients:

What made me feel even more unsafe, though, was that there was one specific doctor who threatened to sedate anyone who even raised their voice at him. People were being sedated left and right, even at times that I felt were inappropriate.

Another participant wrote about witnessing sexual advances from staff members:

There was also a nurse who made me feel particularly unsafe. He made some inappropriate comments about women in our ward and was the first to volunteer every time this one patient (who happened to work in adult entertainment) needed someone to watch her shave. He made moves at almost all the women in our ward…

Humane Care. Participants suggested treatment should be humane, as many reported being dehumanized during their hospitalization. The authors wrote how participants were “treated like prisoners, animals, and objects” as they experienced “serious restrictions to autonomy, a sterile and unwelcoming physical environment, and a rigid routine,” which led to being traumatized and impacting their health and help-seeking behaviors. A participant shared:

Treated me like an intelligent human being with real thoughts and feelings instead of a dog to be sedated and trained.”

Another how being dehumanized led them to desperation:

It was horrible and made me feel less than human. I will never ask for help in that way again, even at the very depths of desperation.”

Another participant shared how it would have been more helpful to process their suicidality rather than being stripped of their bodily autonomy:

If I’d simply been allowed to express and talk through suicidal feelings versus being put into safe rooms and stripped of clothing and my glasses and put into safety clothes, it would have been far more helpful.”

Respecting Patients’ Rights and Autonomy. Participants demanded that their rights and autonomy be respected while being hospitalized. Many reported not receiving information about their legal processes, being threatened to stay hospitalized for a more extended period, and being lied to about their rights. Many others reported physical, verbal, and sexual violence, were denied proper hygiene, and were restrained via physical or chemical means. A participant shared how asking or requesting to leave could lead to a longer stay in the hospital:

Well, when you’re voluntarily admitted to the facility and then are unable to leave or even request to leave without implication that you will be forced to stay longer and treated like a crazy person with no way to escape. Definitely won’t be returning.

Another participant was denied access to their medical records, which they have a right to access:

They could have not lied and said I wasn’t allowed access to my medical records when I asked.

Structural Environment. Participants said there were issues (sometimes severe) with cleanliness in the hospital; there was a lack of comfort in the space (including uncomfortable beds, no access to blankets, and saddening aesthetics), leading many to feel uncomfortable, feel worse, or feel entrapped. For example, a participant described their room:

I was in a concrete room with no windows other than the one in the door, which had the shades drawn. There was nothing in the room besides my bed.”

Equitable Treatment. Participants reported discrimination due to race, gender, disability, and socio-economic status. They recommended more understanding, education, and competencies regarding oppressed and marginalized groups. A participant shared:

“[They should] understand that physically disabled folks can’t check their medical issues and accommodation needs at the door because ‘this isn’t a medical unit.’ Taking a person’s wheelchair away, denying access to medications and supplements that someone was already taking for their medical problems, and refusing to make any disability accommodations as a blanket policy is always abusive, and these institutions are required to follow the ADA.”

Continuity of Care and Systems. Finally, participants also suggested improved continuity of care after inpatient treatment. Many reported scarce outpatient providers or resources and not having the proper support from discharge planners. There were increased problems in post-inpatient transition for those who were homeless, lived in a violent environment, or needed other support. A patient shared:

Understand that ‘danger’ doesn’t begin and end with suicidality, situations involving interpersonal violence (domestic violence, human trafficking, etc.) exist, and discharging a trafficking victim to a random hotel or the care of a person who is known to be affiliated with their trafficker should never happen.

This study provides significant empirical support for what people with lived experiences have been reporting and advocating for, including the forms of violence experienced within psychiatric hospitalizations and the necessary changes to attempt to prevent those forms of violence.

 

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Shields, M. C. & Davis, K. A. (2024). Inpatient Psychiatric Care in the United States: Former Patients’ Perspectives on Opportunities for Quality Improvement. Journal of Patient Experience, 11, https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735241257810 (Link)

 

26 COMMENTS

  1. Wow! – this article is associating with many mostly forgotten memories. I would assume, lots of readers have something to say.

    The key to my recovery (from psychiatric system trauma) – happened for me, 7 years ago. It was from an “adult life coach”. What did she do? She believed me. It was that simple.

    I returned the favor … outside a “soup kitchen” on Hawaii, a young woman was talking to us volunteers incessantly, enough to make the other volunteers move away. I asked her if she had a safe place to sleep? She complained that “no one would help her”. I looked her straight in the eye and told her – “she herself, knew best how to help herself, and that I beleived that she would figure it out”.

    Was that the right thing to do? I have no idea. But it’s that “locus of control” thing.

    Always, always “Trust Yourself” – it’s the key to self defense.

    Imagine, if you were locked up in mental hospital and you are reporting domestic violence (a bogus, police swatting – because of a called in hoax). As a result, they forcibly drug you with anti psychotics. I can only imagine this is because I mentioned the DA and trying to get the records of that police call. When that happens to you – you know for a fact, the whole shebang is a scam.

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  2. This research is nice, but it’s only Part 1 of what needs to be done.
    In Part 2, responders need to be asked to delve into the professional education programs of MH professionals (from undergraduate courses up). They should be asked to identify components of this training that facilitate the staff’s wrong and harmful behaviours and other adversities they experienced in their hospitalisation.

    We must break the wall between “consumer perspective” and “professional perspective” and give psychiatric survivors a real chance to reflect not just on their trauma, but also on what led to it, what enable it.

    Research that focuses on direct patient experience only, might tempt policy makers to change the clinical environment while neglecting its roots. Or they might decide to add this or that tiny component to the clinical education about “person centre approach” or “trauma informed care”, while ignoring the existence of trauma-generating and dehumanising concepts such as ‘schizophrenia’, ‘BPD’, ‘poor insight’ and many others.
    Trying to change the clinical practice while ignoring its rotten roots is likely to be futile.

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  3. I can tell horror stories of patient mistreatment that caused me to quit working at my local inpatient psych ward with no backup plan of how to support my young family. I can’t imagine being on the receiving end of the mistreatment that I witnessed.

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    • Thank you for speaking your truth, Karl. Your insight and experience is very important to be voiced.

      As one who dealt with a now FBI convicted doctor, who was having well insured patients, medically unnecessarily shipped to him, for profit. So he could have his psychiatric “snowing” partner-in-crime, “snow” patients, so he could commit unneeded tracheotomies on people, for profit.

      I totally agree, it truly is disgusting, how the greed of some doctors (or all doctors collectively) is destroying our society.

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  4. “While ECT appears to have sometimes been used at Lake Alice in a conventional sense, much of the time, the ECT machine was deployed for a purpose Dr Leeks termed ‘aversion therapy’ and the United Nations termed ‘torture’ (United Nations Committee Against Torture, 2020). This entailed giving electric shocks to children to ‘disincentivise’ unwanted behaviour. These shocks were administered without anaesthetic, without muscle relaxant, at high doses, at unconventional intervals, with aberrantly positioned electrodes, and for reasons that had nothing to do with mental illness.

    In breach of the law, consent was seldom sought from patients or their legal guardians.

    Let us first consider some of the indications for which shocks were administered. Lake Alice medical records state these included ‘passing wind’, being ‘anti-social’, being picky about food, ‘being in a world of his own’, ‘showing off in front of the girls in class’, ‘annoying others during work periods’, and ‘being argumentative’ (p. 168, Abuse in Care–Royal Commission of Inquiry, 2022).

    Next was the modality of administration. Muscle relaxants and anaesthetic were often eschewed. As well as the temples, Dr Leeks frequently applied electrodes to a child’s torso or limbs and the Commission heard about at least 15 young people having shocks delivered directly to their breasts, groin, or genitals causing excruciating pain, ‘like hot needles going into your testicles’ (p. 88, Abuse in Care–Royal Commission of Inquiry, 2022). Sometimes young people were required to administer shocks to their peers or were forced to watch while others were shocked. Survivors repeatedly told the Commission of urinating or defecating in anticipatory terror, of screaming in pain, and of hearing the screams of other children reverberate throughout the unit.”

    And this joint ran for 8 years and not a lot of ‘medical people’ making any noise…… The main psychiatrist had to come to Australia to work for the next 20 odd years, and only got caught for sexually abusing patients but other than that he seems to have corrected his conduct. Either that or Australian authorities are better at “editing” documents?

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10466991/

    “In the intervening decades, survivors have sought redress through legal action, negotiation, public calls for inquiries, and complaints to NZ Police. The entities called upon included the Ombudsman, the Medical Association, the Medical Council, the RANZCP, the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare, Cabinet, Crown Law, the Health and Disability Commissioner and the Accident Compensation Corporation. The Commission considered that none of the agencies contacted effectively investigated or held the perpetrators to account. From the outset there was sufficient evidence to justify criminal charges; as Solicitor-General Una Jagose later acknowledged, ‘the proof was right there in the file’ (p. 26, Abuse in Care–Royal Commission of Inquiry, 2022). The Commission’s report highlights failings in the police investigations in the 1970s and 2000s.”

    Oh and the evidence was there the whole time? And Jimmy Saville Award for Look the Other Way goes to?……… and to think there’s people doing exactly the same thing NOW…. and your calling for reform? Good luck with that. I have a list of the people who have looked and turned away….. and someday, just maybe someday, it will be published.

    It’s not like we would expect an ‘investigative journalist’ to do anything other than publish what the State wants them to because …… ‘not in the public interest’…… we need doctors like this guy to feel safe in their work environments, not burdened with complaints being pursued……the ‘silence’ is the problem enabling these abuses.

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  5. Hello Boans, thank you for your accurate report on Lake Alice. The struggle to stop the abuses began with a new teacher, who immediately wondered why her pupils were falling asleep in class or had significant difficulty being instructed in other ways. She asked and asked staff there about this. Finally, one afternoon at hometime (for her) an office person thrust a file at her and said “bring it back by tomorrow morning ”
    It was to begin the end of the Lake Alice “regime”
    She had her suspicions validated and was able to become a whistle-blower.
    It was illegal for her to be passed patient notes.
    Can that be remembered also with this story.
    Certainly the law let the then Lake Alice children be ruled by a malevolent doctor and whatever causes of that negative silence that ensued.
    If there was perhaps less risk in whistle-blowing maybe there would be a society where the laws matched with each member having value.
    All the organizations listed depended on the one person to set free the abused children, or to begin the process of their liberation.
    It just takes one person at times, so don’t disqualify yourself.
    The whole Lake Alice story has such an impact. It ought to be in the NZ school curriculum .

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    • Thankyou Donna for the inspiring information about the brave soul who did step forward. Where are the statues to these people who do have a positive impact on peoples lives? I’ve seen all the statues dedicated to the ‘feather their own nest clubs’ lol.

      Seriously though with regards whistleblowing, when the State is euthanizing people who do have the documented proof of human rights abuses, I find it easy to understand why people might not be prepared to come forward. And who decides what isn’t in the public interest? The criminals who gain from not being exposed?

      In my situation that was seen as a little excessive, and the process was rudely interrupted by someone who “doesn’t have the stomach for it” (like a real doctor), and my legal representatives provided material assistance to the State to conceal the arbitrary detention and acts of torture for them.

      There was a case where the High Court eventually ruled thus;

      “Generally speaking, it is of the utmost importance that assurances of anonymity of the kind that were given to EF [Gobbo] are honoured. If they were not, informers could not be protected and persons would be unwilling to provide information to the police which may assist in the prosecution of offenders. That is why police informer anonymity is ordinarily protected by public interest immunity. But where, as here, the agency of police informer has been so abused as to corrupt the criminal justice system, there arises a greater public interest in disclosure to which the public interest in informer anonymity must yield.

      EF’s actions in purporting to act as counsel for the Convicted Persons while covertly informing against them were fundamental and appalling breaches of EF’s obligations as counsel to her clients and of EF’s duties to the court. Likewise, Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging EF to do as she did and were involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer to discharge all duties imposed on them faithfully and according to law without favour or affection, malice or ill-will. As a result, the prosecution of each Convicted Person was corrupted in a manner which debased fundamental premises of the criminal justice system.

      — High Court of Australia”

      In my instance, The Minister and the Principle of the Law Centre (who had a duty to their client but was informing and assisting in obstructing justice and the Corruption watchdog) And there would be a lot of victims of this corruption who may no longer be with us 🙁

      So I do believe that in my instance where the Mental Health Law Centre has been identified as accepting “edited” documents (that is documents with the human rights abuses and crimes removed, and other slanderous documents inserted), and then drafting complaints and then forging the responses from the Chief Psychiatrist, it would appear that their conduct which is so corrupt as to abuse the criminal justice system (no charges have ever been successfully prosecuted the corruption is that extreme) IS in the public interest. Though our State politicians disagree with the High Court and continue to obstruct and pervert the course of justice.

      One problem being; who would dare publish such information when their families could be euthanised, the documents “edited” and these ‘human rights lawyers (defenders of our liberties) will actively engage in a process of concealing the abuses despite their duty to the Courts?

      Not only was I tortured, arbitraily detained, and then when I did get redacted documents which were enough to start an investigation by police (probable cause) they tried to get them back whilst others tried to snuff me for having them. Sure I understand why the State might not want my legal representatives to have such proofs (despite laws providing them the right, to protect human rights), but to have them conspire to conceal such acts? And now I am denied access to effective legal representation because ….. well because they don’t like the truth. Though at least for now it seems they have decided that murdering me is not the best option (though the targeted review of ED admissions done by the Chief Psychiatrist after he received a copy of the letter forged in his name might have exposed that I was not the first of a long line of ‘unintended negative outcomes’)

      I’m certain our politicians don’t want the community knowing they had the documented proof in their hands but sat back while they arranged to have the person complaining killed….. especially before the “joint enterprise” nature of the offending was severed with Euthanasia Laws. It would have left the Premier responsible for all those ‘outcomes’ which had been put through the ED.

      Sounds insane right? I mean I didn’t know much about the ‘industry’ before being snatched from my bed at the point of a gun (to cause an “acute stress reaction) and having been introduced to their date rape drugs by being ‘spiked’ with them to enhance the effects of the ASR. They being aware I might refuse to talk…. so we can justify torturing him. Interesting method of interrogating people right?

      I’ll be interested to see if there is any lawyer in this State with the courage to stand up to these thugs and organised criminals who have taken over the asylum, and who are using it as their own personal torture centre and slaughterhouse. Because so far the score is Crims 35 Boans 0…. and it’s hardly unexpected that Police will keep doubling down knowing people are being murdered to ensure the public interest garners no interest at all.

      What a fool am I to think that a journalist might be interested in taking a look at what I am alleging and have the proof of. It seems journalism has been cremated and all that’s left are the propaganda mouthpieces for the State.

      So, if you understand what I am suggesting about the ‘public interest’ and the publics right to know they can’t trust a legal representative when it comes to their rights (ie being euthanised and the documents being “edited” before they get to look) let me know….. coz at times I think I’m going mad…. and then realise I still have the proof despite the best efforts of police…. though they still have the threats they are issuing to witnesses of course, and a history to back it up.

      Sure is crazy Karl, and i’m sure our other politicians who weren’t authorising these sorts of abuses don’t wish to be associated with those who were. The N.Z. example would be their preferred method of having it fade to obscurity? And now, I just want my property returned and my passport to leave this vile place. I’m sure it was nice in Germany 1942, while lawyers were ensuring that those who were being abused had no recourse to the law, which is exactly the situation our politicians prefer here in Australia.

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        • I only have my personal experience and what I have heard from others to go on…… I just haven’t seemed to come across many people who have a lot of good to say about the ‘system’.

          There was one woman who I spoke to who stood and watched her 14 year old daughter wave her goodbye and walk into traffic who didn’t believe that the hospital concerned (the same one which “edited” mine) would “edit” the documents relating to her daughters treatment if there were any ‘discrepancies’. They had just walked out of the Adolescent Unit when she decided to end it.

          I guess her faith that the hospital would deal with her fairly is a positive….. I was trying to warn her that the lawyers she had retained would possibly receive “edited” legal narrative. This way the State is ensured that no one ever gets to make a complaint, and it saves tax payers money.

          The problem with such a mechanism was highlighted with Australian troops doing the dirty work in Afghanistan that no one else would. The killing of ten year old unarmed children and disabled prisoners being “edited” to a whole Taliban Militia…. and whatever the ‘brass’ wanted to be true, made to be so……. leads to people knowing that any abuse they wish to dish out from their positions of power will be concealed, and in fact they will be made into heroes. Roberts Smiths comments about blowing the brains of a ten year old boy out and saying it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen was NOT the image given to the public……. and once the medals had been awarded and the hands shaken, they were hardly going to be happy about the truth being published.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYt4CxFfQUU

          The prisoner executed (“Want me to drop this c&^%t?”) in the field laying on his back is holding up prayer beads. I note the use of ‘throw downs’ by both mental health AND these war criminals.

          Once the State sides with the ‘heroes’ of our mental health system, they can hardly have any negative stories about them published, and so they actively engage in ‘fuking destroying’ anyone who dares challenge that false narrative. And so my complaint about being arbitrarily detained and tortured resulted in someone trying to have me killed in the ED because the State values reputation over lives. And I understand why this might be a bitter pill for some to swallow….. especially when they think that what these people are doing is ‘medicine’.

          I also believe that the reason the documents showing the torture and arbitrary detention were finally released to me is because the people who made that happen actually believe that it IS in the public interest…… but the whole community is so afraid of the State that not a soul will provide me with the legal assistance I require to take the matters to court. Such tyranny tends to make the community compliant….. and they do regularly threaten peoples families. Threats of pack rape and mock executions are considered ‘coercive methods’ for our Police. I’ve even witnessed it being done to an 8 year old boy.

          But the weather is nice, and heaps of money from mining…. all that stuff we dig up and sell to China. So the economic refugees are a plenty, and it has had a big effect on what this place used to be….. people with the stomach for it can be paid off fairly cheaply.

          So maybe i’m just a whinger who thinks I matter, when in the scheme of things they would have run me through the ED and I could have been cremated. How narcissistic of me to think I have a right to a heartbeat…… and that I still lived in a community which would respond to such abuses by the State. They’ve already had a look at what was going on with this little cancerous ‘cell’ and I get the feeling they thought someone might have stepped up once I was given the documents….. all it’s done is confirm they can do whatever they wish and no one will say a thing. Or if they do they can be told “you can’t listen to them, they’re mental patients”, taken away and ‘treated’ for the illness that can be “edited” into existence.

          There have been consequences, but the Minister dying of a heart attack (the timing of that was unfortunate to say the least. We had just established I still had the documents and a good description of what happened in the ED…. and they were threatening to sue me….. for speaking the truth) will make holding anyone to account difficult. But I do believe there is plenty in the documents to bring action for negligence….. not telling me about the ‘spiking’ with date rape drugs an absolute disgrace, not having me put in an ambulance and instead a Police van because of the lack of a referral source, and to create a false image for his colleagues. Risking my life to enable his crimes?

          I like to play the odd song when I feel it fits. So here’s one for all the ‘good human rights advocates’

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnyB0a8G71Y

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          • boans that is some pretty scary, messed up $#!+. Definitely see the parallel between power abuses in the theater of war and in mental treatment though, and both may attract people who want to brutally abuse others and get away with it. We have had a couple infamous war criminals in our midst also who similarly have walked free. It can make your blood boil that some can be so heartless to others

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          • Yes, both are done in the name of the State, one on a perceived ‘external threat’ the other on a perceived ‘internal threat’. The justifications of the killings being that the State must protect itself…… which then becomes wide open to abuses.

            For example a politician perceives a threat to their existence (reputation) due to their enabling acts of torture, becomes justified in killing the complainant who may obtain support from overseas. Such internal threats can be easily dealt with using the Mental Health Act when every person in the State is considered an “Outpatient” and can be snatched from their beds and subjected to forced treatment based on fraudulent documents which the courts will never allow to be challenged (based on the letter I have from the Chief Psychiatrist this IS the situation in my State)

            If you spoke to a school psychologist when you were 6 years old, you are a “patient” for the rest of your life and can be detained when your 75 years old because a “home visit with police” will result in you being sectioned.

            The way I understood the law was that you actually needed to be being treated by a psychiatrist to be considered a “patient” under the law….. and the other protections afforded the community stopped such human rights abuses but …… who am I to speak? Police aren’t going to be aware that the “Outpatient” they are beating to a pulp isn’t actually an “Outpatient” yet? That can be sorted once they deliver (kidnap) the victim for the hospital.

            Which brings me to your other comment where you say;

            “I advise my patients to try to avoid the hospital if at all possible .. you never know whose hands you are going to fall into, they are as likely to harm you as help you, it is likely to be traumatic, you will be locked up in there until whoever is in charge decides you can go (and/or your insurance stops covering or they need a bed, etc etc)”

            Not possible when they come to your home and have police brutalise you to force you to speak so they can fabricate ‘evidence’ against you. Imagine a system where refusing to answer a question means your guilty? When asked about any drugs I might take in front of the Police, I said I would like to speak to a lawyer first…. I was denied that right…. and then on the statutory declaration it was documented that I had “refused to answer re substance abuse”….this from a guy who knew I had been ‘spiked’ with date rape drugs? Refusing to answer a question is evidence of nothing more than a refusal to answer. Of course using terms such as “substance abuse” makes me sound dangerous right? Abd why didn’t the fact i’d been ‘spiked’ with date rape drugs make the Form? Because he was conspiring to pervert the course of justice with the perpetrator over that one.

            I think telling patients to not attend is excellent advice. Take a look at the success rate of the ‘service’. Is it any wonder it is moving into ‘new fields’ and being used as a torture centre for the State? When Police are doing referrals of victims of crimes to ensure they do not have to proceed with serious crimes? Of course they did have to threaten witnesses to ensure that this “never happened”. Shame that, once again I have the documented proof.

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        • What bothers me to this day is that if what I am alleging is true (I know it is, others need to not look to maintain their delusion) then the Mental Health Law Centre would have hundreds of victims who have been subjected to criminal conduct, but have then conspired with the State to ensure that the victims had no recourse to the law.

          If they have been acting as a Venus Fly Trap to capture anyone who has been tortured, kidnapped, mistreated, or even killed, and have ensured that documents are “edited” to suit the narrative preferred by the State……. and no one is prepared to look or do anything about it?

          I was made an “Outpatient” of a hospital before the Community Nurse even left the office. He called Police and requested ‘assistance’ with a Home Visit with his “Outpatient”…. he wished to force me into an interrogation so he could forge documents and create the appearance he had a “Referral Source” in the Police.

          And I have a letter from a Superintendent of Police who has been provided with proof of this who claims “insufficient evidence”. She must have had to gouge her own eyes out to come to that predetermined outcome.

          Imagine the amount of potential victims when lawyers and police are ensuring acts of torture and arbitrary detentions are not being acted upon? That documents showing such offending are being” edited” to create the appearance that no one saw a thing?

          And you can’t blame the public for not speaking when they too can be snatched from their homes and killed in an E.D. for making a complaint. I guess the power just goes to their heads once elected and they see such methods as necessary to maintain reputation. I guess if they keep the numbers of unintended negative outcomes under the tolerable threshold, then the corruption watchdog isn’t going to make a lot of noise either.

          And the shame of those who have remained silent…. though i’m sure they can justify that with it being “edited” to look like ‘care’.

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  6. As someone who has been inpatient on a psych ward and will NEVER go back, no matter how bad it gets, I can personally attest to some of these abuses and mistreatments. When I refused the strip search they produced two security guards and made sure it happened. I didn’t have my glasses and couldn’t read the paperwork they put in front of me. I’m not signing anything I can’t read. I’ve already signed my life away once, lol. They got angry when I didn’t blindly sign this paperwork and started treating me badly. The floor was a coed floor with people able to roam at will. At on point I was sitting in my room and a man tried coming in my room. He only stopped when he saw me staring at him. It made my instincts start screaming that this place was not safe. I started sleeping under my desk because it was the only place I felt semi-safe. One nurse took a dislike to that and one night woke me up at 2 a.m. to start a verbal argument over this. Luckily I’m someone who will stand up for myself. I could not get back to sleep after this and went to the nurses statio to report for the hundredth time that they had cut me off ALL my meds cold turkey when I got there (despite me telling every shift and doctor Icame into contact with what Iwas supposed to be on and that Ihad been cut off all my meds). The nurse who started the verbal argument with me came out and asked if she could help me. I told her no, she’d helped me enough but, I wanted to speak to the charge nurse. She looked at the nurse’s aid, said she couldn’t help me and walked off. The aid finally got the charge nurse for me. Another time my daughter got a call that I was refusing to take my medication. I was asleep. They never tried to wake me up. My daughter knew refusing to take medication didn’t sound like me and told them as much. When I got out of this “hospital” (I use that term loosely because that place should be shut down. It’s a hellhole) I filed a complaint and spoke with the director of the behavioral health unit. It ended up in an argument because he didn’t want to believe they were doing anything wrong. It’s easy to dismiss those of us that go to they psych ward for a myriad of reasons. But, we’re real people with real feelings, real lives and real problems that need to be addressed with REAL treatment options that are fair and humane. We do not deserve to be dismissed because we’re seen as “crazy” as is done too often.

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    • :It’s easy to dismiss those of us that go to they psych ward for a myriad of reasons.”

      When asked about a report that showed nearly 50% of women who had been in the locked ward in the past year reported being sexually assaulted, The Minister for Mental Health said ….. and I quote the Hansards….. “You can’t listen to them, they’re mental patients”

      I don’t believe that people realise what they lose once they are slandered with a mental health label and are being ‘cared’ for Rebecca.

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    • I advise my patients to try to avoid the hospital if at all possible .. you never know whose hands you are going to fall into, they are as likely to harm you as help you, it is likely to be traumatic, you will be locked up in there until whoever is in charge decides you can go (and/or your insurance stops covering or they need a bed, etc etc)

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      • The problem with State sanctioned torture is that they can not under any circumstances have it confirmed that this is what they are doing. Approaching organisations that deal with torture victims is to approach people receiving funding from the people authorising the torture (the State). And the NGO funding depends on them NOT providing you with any assistance.

        If I were from North Korea I’ve no doubt I would be receiving all sorts of assistance and being held up for press conferences to show what a nasty bunch of pricks they are…. but ….. instead they “edit” legal narrative and call torture what it is not…… “aversion therapy” (the State) Torture (the U.N.)….. “inherent in or incidental to lawful sanction” being the loophole, and the lawful sanction can be applied post hoc with their “editing” and ensuring that legal representatives are not “over zealous” in requesting documents. I doubt very much the public is interested in how easily citizens can be, and are being, tortured under the guise of ‘healthcare’

        I’d be happy to receive ‘therapy’ from someone like Steve McCrea from this site….. his words seem to come from his heart, and yet show volumes of logic…. a very rare individual indeed.

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  7. Shame the forums have gone.

    After going through my documents with a Registered Nurse an important point came to light.

    A call made to the Mental Health Emergency Response Line (MHERL) resulted in information which had been prepared the night before between ‘partner’ and Private Clinic psychologist being documented. Couldn’t have been much of an ’emergency’ given the fact my ‘partner’ had returned home from the meeting (at 8pm) and ‘spiked’ my coffee with her benzos (twice), and then calling the MHERL in the morning at 9am. Problem being that the psychologist knew she had no power to have me detained lawfully, and wanted the hospital to call her at her day job so she could release my medical records from the Private Clinic and create the appearance of lawfulness. This also separated her from the Private Clinic which would get a bit of a reputation if they were seen to be doing ‘remotes’.

    So the information is documented on the Triage Sheet, and then the Community Nurse copies the information he wished to ask me about onto a Form titled “Outpatient Case Notes”. Large black text on the right side of the Form. There is a note regarding a telephone call to Police requesting assistance with a “Home Visit”.

    This begs the question, When and how did I become an “Outpatient” of this hospital? Because the Triage Sheet is quite clear that I wasn’t. So between that phone call from my ‘partner’ being documented and the Community Nurse calling Police for assistance my status has changed to “Outpatient”. This seems a rather flimsy process to make a person into an “Outpatient” of a mental institution? My ‘partner’ calls “in a distressed state” (damsel) and my status changes to “Outpatient”?

    He wants it to be the fact and therefore it IS? Not like it could do any damage right? To him at least. When your hanging with a ‘gang of thugs’, you don’t worry about consequences. They’ve got families that can be threatened.

    Now the Community Nurse knew I had been ‘spiked’ with benzos, and that a request for an “acute stress reaction” was documented by the Triage person (though he did not copy that information onto his “Outpatient Case Notes”). He also knew he had no “lawful sanction” to be using Police in a manner to cause such an “acute stress reaction”, and should have been aware that what he was doing constituted an act of torture (lest the State be shown to be negligent in their training of officers involved in the custody of citizens. See Article 10 of the Convention against the use of Torture).

    I think the Community Nurse copied the information he was given by Triage onto the “Outpatient Case Notes” in order the deceive Police into the false belief that I was his “Outpatient”. Waft that document under their nose, with the smell of donuts on it and they will not ask too many questions about his bizarre interrogation of me.

    Once I had been ‘verballed’, and the statutory declaration had been forged, he could then ask them to act as his “referral source”…… something I note the Police Officer concerned refused to do. Probably aware that they would just arrange to ‘snow’ or kill me should there be any problems. But not sticking her neck out for some filthy verballer pretending to be a Nurse.

    Just following orders? “No superior authority” where acts of torture are concerned. “No emergency provisions” either. But the Australian government never had any intention of standing by the agreement they ratified, it’s window dressing to enable the exploitation of a trusting public. And now that they have lost the trust of the public, they feel there is a need to be able to arbitrarily detain and torture them……. and the Mental Health Act doesn’t actually allow such vile conduct, but the “editing” of legal narratives (and the assistance of reprehensible lawyers) post hoc means they can conceal such human rights abuses.

    Obviously the euthansia thing is in its infancy, but no doubt can be industrialised quite rapidly. I wonder how many “outpatients” have been executed by police after they have been ‘gaslighted’ by the likes of the Operation Manager and her psychiatrist ‘assistant’? Wind em up, and the police will do the rest…. especially when they have the authority to ‘spike’ them and call it their “Regular Medications”. Not like the body is going to correct their ‘error’.

    And to think that Police would provide matierial assistance to the Community Nurse who is putting them in a position where their lives are at risk, along with the people they may have to shoot and kill. But ‘spiking’ them and planting a knife and drugs on them is the only way to create the appearance of an ’emergency’. Fire in the Theatre? Funny old world isn’t it?

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    • A further point made by an ex Fed.

      Police threaten to arrest me for having the documents, after first trying to refer me to mental health services for a needle full of ‘shut up’ (witnesses now say “it never happened”).

      Am I a whistleblower? And if so what am I blowing the whistle on? A State sanctioned torture program being run in a hospital? This is simply not the case, though I have been subjected to some of the viciousness that whistleblowers are….. the “we’ll fuking destroy you” conversation etc. And in fact one has to wonder if some of these ‘whistleblowers’ are being subjected to the ‘unintended negative outcoming’ program being run in the ED. Doctor “just following orders”.

      My matters has it’s genesis in the Private Clinic when my wife and the psychologist conspired to use public officers to force me to talk about problems with my wifes family……. it isn’t actually torture if I were a ‘patient’? The psychologist could claim the ‘treatment’ was “inherent in or incidental to lawful sanction”….. but I wasn’t her ‘patient’ or anybody elses….. hence the need to commit the offenses with ‘spiking’ with date rape drugs (to deprive of liberty, and enable torture) and plant the items once it was known police would attend as a result of the lie from the Community Nurse.

      This makes me a victim of crimes, NOT a whistleblower. It does expose how the State is enabling acts of torture, and that attending a Private Clinic is more than dangerous to your health….. you can be snatched from your bed and taken into custody because the clinic psychologist wishes to unlawfully release your medical records. The psych couldn’t call the State run hospital and release one of the three reports prepared for the Court, regarding my workplace injury (and I have no doubt which one she released, the most slanderous one done as a ‘hatchet job’ to keep the insurance claim down).

      So my ‘partner’ then calls MHERL and plays damsel (“Wife called in a distressed state”) and provides all the information discussed at the planning meeting the night before. She directs the MHERL person to the clinic psychologist, makes mention of the family conflict, mentions weapons and drugs, and claims it’s an illness and that I have told her mother and father (who live next door) that we are separating, but she knows nothing about this….

      Now consider how she told them about something she knew nothing about? In fact, she was told three nights before and came running into the bedroom from the kitchen with a large carving knife and attempted to plunge it into my heart as I lay on a couch. I raised my foot and deflected the blow, the knife making a large cut in the ‘shoe’ I was wearing. Obviously the Community Nurse asked me about this ‘separation’ which she knew nothing about, and I showed him, his two colleagues, and the two police the slice in the ‘shoe’ and explained that this was a result of me telling her I was leaving….. they all looked to her and she confirmed this was the case (“Yes, I did”). But, it was me they were there to lock up, and the truth wasn’t getting in the way of a plan. So they were aware of TWO assaults on my person, the knife assault, and the ‘spiking’. Whereas, I didn’t become a wife beater until the Community Nurse realised he didn’t have a “risk” required under the Criteria of the MHA… so he made me one on his stat. dec…… “wife fearful for her safety” and then later “wife fears being assaulted when we leave” …. seems fair given she has just destroyed any chance of me working again…. so a new man was arranged to move in once I could be removed minus my wallet. 13 years later I’m still trying to get a divorce because I can’t be allowed to have a lawyer who will not engage in appalling and reprehensible conduct (I know, that’s all of them I hear you say).

      My wife was disrupted while some people watched as the Private Clinic psychologist got all panicked about me going to police with redacted documents showing the ‘spiking’ with date rape drugs, …. and had they looked any further they might have identified other criminal offending. Luckily a window of opportunity opened up (Police didn’t have a copy of the Criminal Code) and it looked like they might be able to kill me in the E.D. and the Coroner would fall for the old ‘unintended negative outcome’ three card Monte, where did the morphine come from? But it didn’t happen because my wife’s Professor friend just happened to be in the next cubicle as they were going to ‘cocktail’ me, and he (and his friend) wanted a word with the doctor who was about to ‘restrain’ and inject me.

      The hospital in the meantime was delaying providing the “edited” documents to my ‘legal representatives’. This should have been done immediately, this was now three months down the track…. so my wife then had police remove me from our home, and they came chasing me because I had left with a briefcase (and the clothes I stood in)….. my wife in a police car chasing me around the city (Police ‘restrain’ me, while she retrieves the documents)…… unfortunately they didn’t manage to catch up with me.

      What timing though, the “edited” documents were released to the Law Centre the very next day, and police were doing things like ‘mock executions’ on me to interfere with my mental health. And it worked. I guess they had to assume that I didn’t manage to take the important documents, that is the ones showing the ‘spiking’…. and after all, they did manage to keep the information regarding the call to police claiming I was an “outpatient” from public view.

      So those documents had already been flagged with police to ensure they didn’t take them, and to have me brain damaged by a referral should I turn up with them. That isn’t the way it played out though….. I had spoken to way too many people fpr Police to be able to run with that without worrying about who else had seen the documents. mainly because I had returned to the ‘legal representatives’ and continued with the complaint they had been drafting (minus any documents)… and they said they could move forward with the “edited” documents. Now I knew I still had the documents exposing the ‘spiking’ but when they said they had received the “edited” ones, I assumed that editing meant the removal of unnecessary documents, not criminal fraud. So I didn’t tell them I still had the ‘redacted’ documents showing the ‘spiking’ but not the procurement of police to kidnap.

      It could be deduced though from my statement and the documents I still had. I didn’t imagine the police were there with the Community Nurse that day, and the Member of Parliament figured it our with the redacted docs so…… his “You should have been told about the drugging and placed in an ambulance ….. oh God, I have to work with Police” comment.

      Had the ‘legal representatives’ been informed I still had those documents, I feel certain they would have informed the hospital of the problem, and ensured they didn’t look at them (in the same manner police have acted). They wanted the “edited” version of reality to be true, and that would make the State happy, and their funding would be increased for not being ‘over zealous’ regarding arbitrary detentions and acts of torture.

      So the legal representatives drafted and claimed to have sent the complaint to the Chief Psychiatrist on my behalf. A response was received, and they then sent me that with a cover letter claiming they did not have the time or resources to read it. Which was lucky because the Chief Psychiatrist rewrote the law to remove the protections afforded the community by the MH Act and Criminal Code, claimed that despite being provided with the letters (3) requesting the unredacted documents (which they had a right to) wit big bold letters saying “THIS IS A REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS UNDER s160 AND 161 OF THE M.H.A….” that he formed the opinion that the documents were requested under the FOI Act… gee I wouldn’t want someone that negligent being my doctor. Not that he would consider arbitrary detention and torture a serious matter.

      The fact is the ‘legal representatives’ forged that letter of response. They then handed it to me and threw me under a bus for the State. I did approach them about the letter explaining that I didn’t believe the Chief Psychiatrist could rewrite the law, and the ‘junior’ had to pretend she needed her copy of the MHA to speak to the Principle of the Law Centre about me figuring it all out. They still weren’t aware I had the redacted documents showing the ‘spiking’ though…. which exposed acts of uttering on the part of the author of the response… which would be the Chief Psychiatrist…. but nobody was going to look at him committing criminal offenses right? I mean Police don’t have a copy of the Criminal Code and he has the power to rewrite the laws to make it not a crime (suspect on reasonable grounds, becomes …..) But it did mean Police were a little concerned about “who else has seen the documents?” to need to steal my laptop and find out who else I had been communicating with… not like the people who had been subjecting me to the viciousness they had could simply come and ask me. Ad well, they were trying so hard NOT to look, they could hardly look and then unlook (as the Council of Official Visitors did regarding the letter of response from the C.P. …. they ‘unread’ it and returned my email…. gaslighters). Still with that many offences having occurred they needed to shut this all down very quickly and had to act ‘on the fly’. No time to try and arrange another successful killing in the ED for the convenience of the Minister and her friends at the Law Centre.

      So whistleblower I’m not. And most of these offenses are crimes against the whole community and the administration of justice. Police being used to obstruct and pervert the course of justice for organised criminals. Which I guess you could claim is not in the public interest….if your an organised criminal. Police would actually perform their sworn duty to uphold the law, not take and document orders from such criminals.

      All very messy and I just want to be allowed to have my share of the property, and I will leave this vile place. 13 years seems a long time to be allowed to get a divorce from an domestic abuser. They can go on arbitrarily detaining (every citizen is an Outpatient and therefore not protected), torturing, and killing and call it medicine if they like…… Dr Selwyn Leeks called putting ECT electrodes to the testicles of his ‘patients’ “aversion therapy”, and the UN called it “torture”. In my State they would have protected Dr Leeks from any prosecution with the claim they didn’t have a copy of the Criminal Code, so we can see which side they’re on. “You can’t listen to them, they’re mental patients” The Minister for M.H. when asked about the nearly 50% of women saying they had been sexually assaulted in our ‘hospitals’……maybe in 50 years they’ll take a look and say “the evidence was there all along”?

      Happy to take questions 🙂

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