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Comments: I am so sorry for all of your losses! This is a terrible place to be. My husband also died while an inpatient at the Menninger Clinic in 2000 in Topeka. He had been an inpatient there several time before and the last time, he had been admitted in crisis during the Thanksgiving holiday and no therapists were available to counsel him, so he waited it out til Dec. 9 and during an ice storm left the clinic (to hang himself in the woods), but the clinic called me 3 hours later to see if I'd heard from him (I am in another state) and they'd wondered if he'd gone bowling with a group or to the mall. Bowling?! He'd called me that morning with desperation in his voice about why he had still not seen a counselor. He did not sign out to go anywhere. The moment he went missing, they "discharged" him, to avoid any responsibility and I was the one left to call the sheriff and search for two weeks. I was too discouraged by attorneys in that area to file suit, as they were afraid of the clinic's power and community support. Let me know if or how I can ever be of help to you.
Comments: I lost my husband by suicide 8 years ago. He was an inpatient at Providence St. Vincent's Hospital In Portland, Oregon. He had been in the hospital for 14 days, during which he was given 13 medications, with a four day period in the middle when he was taken off of everything to "wipe the slate clean". He suffered horribly physically and emotionally in the hospital. What he wanted the most, and kept asking for, was a consistent person to talk to. The staff changed so often, and had a team approach that seemed to me to prevent this kind of connection. This was verified when I visited him- they didn't know where he was, wondered if he was going to be discharged then, and asked friends with me if they were patients! Despite his continual statements he was feeling suicidal and obvious deterioration, my husband was given a pass to leave the hospital. At the end of the designated time, on the way back to the ward, he ran to the top of the hospital parking structure and jumped to his death. I am a mental health professional myself, and a colleague who had worked in the ward my husband was in reported several patients had died by jumping off the parking structure when he worked there. The psychiatric ward has huge windows facing and just above the roof of the parking structure, which I believe leads to patients planning their suicides. There is no suicide prevention guard rail on the top floor of the parking structure. At the time of his death, our children were 16,13, and 9. He had been a great Dad until his sudden deep depression, spurred by the deaths of his father and close friend around the time of 911. I think he could have recovered had he not gone into the hospital. Thank you for providing a place for this to be heard. [View Entry]
Comments: I also read with such sadness the story of your brother Matt and I am so sorry for the utter sense of futility and despair he must have felt - and it saddens me further to know that he was in a place trying to get help and get better and they failed to provide him with the monitoring he needed before he got to the point where he no longer needed it. My mother was an inpatient at the Meadows in 1994. My sisters and I came for "family week:". Although some sessions proved to be valuable, I was often struck with the inane nature and utter silliness of some the sessions they herded us around to attend. Really just trying to fill time rather than deal with any substantive issues. I also suspected that while the family members were there, they tried to recruit us as patients also (like cross-selling a product). I was very offended - I thought it was very inappropriate to try to sign up new patients while I was there to try to assist in my mother's healing. Your brother was a very handsome guy (depression is no respecter of persons) and I am so very sorry for this tragedy. You are honoring his memory with this site. The tragedy of his death doesn't diminish the essence of his life. I wish you peace and happy memories of your brother. |
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