Well, I can’t read anyone’s but she was convinced that he was going to commit her right then and there. I used to work in the medical field, too, so you have my sympathy on that.
Uh, no need - I really enjoy helping people with their health. But if you’re glad to be out, that’s good.
She was in her early 40’s and had been around. She had also been an actress, a singer, a medical transcriptionist, a bartender, a Playboy bunny, an alcoholic who could drink any man under the table she said–I never saw that because when I met her she had been clean and sober and in AA for five years) and probably a few other things she never bothered to mention.
However, as far as I know, she was not clairvoyant. That was not an innocuous sentence. It was threatening.
We knew each other for about three years before she helped me get started in her business and we had a completely different focus on that as well as completely different types of clients so there was no conflict there. We even shared our messengers that we hired together and coordinated from our different midtown offices.
It was not a log in the sense that you must be thinking. There were no predated pages. It was just a plain notebook with plain lined paper on it so there was nothing for the guards to notice.
Let me get this straight - they held her for a month without billing insurance because… they’re assholes? And they made her fight her release in court but didn’t even whimper to the insurance company and insist that “of course she’s going to protest, she’s crazy!” Some psych ward staff may be assholes, that I could believe, but they’re not stupid assholes. Inpatient stays are expensive.
Why exactly were you having to smuggle out pages of her diary? She wasn’t in prison, she was even, by your admission, being allowed daily visitors. Smuggle from whom? The staff? Why were they supposed to care?
Doesn’t make sense.
In what way was it threatening? Did he twist his waxed mustache and laugh maniacally? Did an ominous shadow cast a pall over the proceedings? Did he have a pair of handcuffs in his fist while glancing over at a straightjacket hanging in the closet?
I would avoid all the bureaucrats and contact my local NAMI chapter and ask them who would be best to talk to. They likely know who are the useful agencies and who are not in that State.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Your_Local_NAMI&Template=/CustomSource/AffiliateFinder.cfm
Would this be the same NAMI that receives considerably more than half its budget from pharmaceutical companies?
Yes but as they have the money they have the resources and may as well be used. They should know of the consumer advocacy systems in each area and how to contact them. I was not suggesting joining them or giving them money.
Yes, psych hospital assholes are apparently assholes. I didn’t talk to her insurance company myself. She did that and she assured me that the insane asylum never put in a claim for her incarceration. I did not ask her to take a polygraph on that.
What state are we talking about, here? What numbers have you tried?
I agree, checking with NAMI is a good idea for asking for contacts. I mean, whatever else they’re good for, they might have correct phone numbers.
Maybe she lost her phone privileges for some (likely very good) reason?
She was in a place that was as you describe, and was allowed to have visitors? I’m skeptical myself. :dubious:
I don’t mean to derail the thread any further, but even if a medical professional said that to me kindly I’d be getting out of there immediately. I’d be scared as heck that he meant being held, even for a mere few hours. It’d turn me into even more of a nervous wreck. Nothing like the threat of being institutionalized to scare the pants off me.
Zsofia: is there anyway you can fake craziness, thus getting yourself locked up there also? Seems like a situation best investigated from the inside.
Like, maybe calling people who don’t know her all that well and saying she’s being held against her will…:smack:
I missed the part where she’s pregnant. In my work on psych units I have seen women have to temporarily go off their Meds and become floridly psychotic, only to do a complete 180 to sanity when they can restart them.
Sounds like someone’s been watching a bit too much American Horror Story.
Well, she was being held against her will. That’s a true statement. Playing little passive resistance games with the staff and refusing to admit there was anything wrong with her probably helped keep her there.
Okay, hold up with the Beagles shit. Let’s get back to the phone thing - should I actually be concerned about that?
She was definitely sick before. Either that or she lost weight, shaved her head, wore scarves and wigs for a few months, and was out for ages just because.
I hadn’t thought about it, but yeah, you’re right, that’s kind of shitty about Personnel to give him my name. But then that would NOT be the shittiest HR issue we’ve had. Or that I’ve had, personally. Didn’t even register. I just want to make sure she’s okay and getting the care she needs.
The whole thing was just incredibly upsetting - I couldn’t even process what she was saying, and then I realized it was “(Zsofia), I’m so glad I got you! I’m being held against my will in (town!)” and I thought, oh shit, this is it, this is the unforgiving minute, this is life or death and she’s in a bunker somewhere… took quite a bit of, er, the Reference Interview to really understand what she was telling me.
ETA - kayaker - brilliant plan, but it’s several states away. 
ETAA - she SAID she’s pregnant. I don’t know how old she is but I rather thought she was, say, 45ish? But my older coworkers think she’s younger. I think they’re just getting to the point where anything under 50= young - in addition to the cancer treatment she has that thin crowfoot eye skin, plus little things she’s mentioned - I just think she’s at least 40 and probably older, which with the heavy medicine lately seems unlikely she’d be pregnant. Although that could totally explain the issue.