UHS Hospitals & PAD

[Poptart]

Hi, all! This is a warning about any UHS hospital. If you are in the United States you may have been in one of these hell holes.( I have been both an employee and patient at these facilities.) They are responsible for 20% of the country's mental health services.





They are often illegally and economically run.





If you are going to enter treatment or try to CTB, please consider having a psychiatric advance directive and know which hospital you want to go to. You may want to do extra research and make sure the hospital is not affiliated with UHS.





Here are some examples of UHS abuse:

PATIENT ABUSE | UHS Behind Closed Doors

uhsbehindcloseddoors.org

Here is what I wrote to The Joint Commission and a good example of a UHS run hospital:





Not tapering medication correctly


Unhygienic rooms


Roaches in cafeteria


Q15 checks not done


No decent therapy groups


Never was told which therapist was mine


Not given information on medication at discharge


Not given back all of my belongings at discharge


Sexually harassed by other patient with staff doing nothing





While a patient at St. Simons By the Sea, I witnessed several unprofessional and dangerous behaviors by staff. They are as followed:





Medication

1. Upon arriving at St. Simons, I was taking Effexor. Effexor is known to have terrible withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to serious complications
2. if not tapered off correctly. The first doctor I met with did not mention these withdrawal symptoms and took me off the medication immediately. I began feeling withdrawal symptoms within two days that included feeling electrical jolts through my body. My complaints to nursing staff fell on deaf ears. Finally, after meeting with a second doctor I was informed of Effexor withdrawal and offered my medication immediately.

b) I mentioned this because during my stay I witnessed multiple people having seizures. I believe these seizures may have been caused by the doctors not tapering off the patient's medication properly.





c) Furthermore, after being placed on a new medication, I asked repeatedly for more information. I wanted the drug sheet so I could be informed on potentially dangerous interactions as well as potential side effects. I was not given any information as the nursing staff ignored my request. I was promised I would receive the information upon discharge. This was a lie. I was given nothing about the medication I was taking at any point in my stay including discharge.





Staff Apathy





The employees there failed to create a safe environment due to being overworked and understaffed.





a) They did not complete their Q15 checks every fifteen minutes. There were several times I was left unattended for an hour or more. After meeting with my doctor, I was placed on five minute checks. These checks also were ignored.





b) At one point during my stay another patient tried to cut her wrist with broken plastic. The staff ignored her and left her alone in her room. This patient was actively trying to harm herself and should have been placed on eye sight immediately.





c) I was repeatedly sexually harassed by another patient. The staff would watch complacently as the other patient touched others and made inappropriate comments to female patients. At one point the patient was looking for my room and screaming my name. The staff did nothing.





Unhygienic conditions

1. The rooms were not properly cleaned upon patient discharge. I had to sleep in a room full of dirty linen and towels from a patient that had left the day before.
2. There were visible roaches in the cafeteria

Therapy

1. Therapy groups were a complete waste of time. The therapists often just forced us to play bingo. The goals group followed no therapy model. The schedules are a fraud.

b) I was told I would receive a therapist but was never given one. Instead, I had to flag one down just so that I could get more information on outpatient care. There was no organization at all.





Misc

1. I was not given back all of my belongings at discharge. There was so little organization they couldn't tell whose belongings belonged to which patient.
2. The patient rooms are locked during the day. There is no respite for those that are overly stimulated. The patient is forced to be around 20+ other patients for twelve hours a day. This was overwhelming for me, especially during my withdrawal symptoms. I asked if I could sit in an isolation room instead and was ignored by staff. There were also geriatric patients with doctors orders allowing them to be in their rooms that were forced to be up all day. They often had to rest their ailing and aging bodies on the uncomfortable chairs for hours.
3. There are no social workers. The patients are expected to make their follow up appointments themselves even though there is no internet access and very limited telephone use. Some patients are still waiting 3+ weeks on follow up care. They can often be seen crying on the phone and begging the nurses for their health insurance information so they can sort out follow up appointments.

Ultimately, St. Simons is a disorganized, unprofessional, unclean, and dangerous facility. I urge anyone and everyone to stay away. This institution needs to be swiftly investigated.





____________





While I was an employee, I witnessed horrible instances of child abuse. Additionally, the staff were so sparse no one was safe. But that's a story for another day.





TL;DR: know what hospitals are near you and who runs them. Consider getting a PAD.

 

[noaccount]

Yes, draw up an advanced directive - and ideally, a trusted pro-choice ally as medical-proxy/power-of-attorney in case your own decision-making is being challenged or disrespected!