Carrie Seidman: Our mental health system's revolving door
The Herald-TribuneAug 23, 2018
That's how I met Ron and
Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at 20 after years of anxiety, substance abuse and personal altercations, Sam has been through inpatient and outpatient treatments, a Christian rehab program and countless interventions. To still the voices in his head, he has turned to alcohol, drugs and over-the-counter meds; to deflect the violence they urge toward others, he's cut himself with a beer bottle, run in front of a car, and poured Drano in his eye, poking it with a guitar string to rid himself of the camera he believed was implanted there.
As of this week, Sam has been Baker Acted five times in the past 90 days. (The Baker Act is a
Each time, the Tuerks have provided Sam's extensive mental health history and letters pleading for him to be held involuntarily for a longer period. Each time, Sam -- who is 25 and still covered by his parents' private insurance -- has denied the delusions he shares with his parents and mouthed the rote words he knows will get him released.
The cruelty for parents in this situation is that hope continues beyond all reason. On
Two days later, a different doctor discharged him after he refused medication.
Three weeks later, Sam was Baker Acted again, after wrapping a copper wire attached to an electrical conductor around his head, hoping to "fry the snakes and demons" residing there. While waiting in Coastal's lobby to see her son,
The next morning, he was discharged.
Coastal's CEO,
"I would disagree with that statement that we're discharging people before they're ready," he said. "The people we discharge from the CSU are stabilized and they are given a follow-up appointment." Pressed for more, he said he had "no further comment on the situation."
Four days after his discharge, Sam was admitted to the hospital emergency room after guzzling an entire bottle of DXM, a cough syrup and sedative. After being stabilized medically, he was sent to Bayside on another Baker Act, where, as of this writing, he is still being held.
"Unfortunately, it comes up against the patients' rights," she said. "In order to detain someone against their will in a locked facility, we have to really prove they are actively at risk to hurt themselves of someone else. Certainly we take into consideration the parents' input. But we are really bound by what the patient is showing in the here and now."
Cassidy said it's "unfortunate" that
"We just don't have anything down here to keep them," she said.
It's ironic, Cassidy added, that someone with mental illness who is homeless and has committed a crime is more likely to get the help they need through a court diversion program offering housing and treatment than someone like Sam, who has a clean record, strong family support and private insurance.
"I just wish we could stop it," she said. "If you're rowing a boat and you're going toward a destination, at least you're going somewhere. If you're rowing and you're just spinning in circles ... that's the definition of insanity. The biggest frustration is there is nothing available for people like this and there seems to be no one in this profession who cares enough to put together something to fill in this gap."
The Tuerks' questions are the same ones I asked eight years ago when my son was released after a Baker Act from Coastal, unstable and delusional, and disappeared to I-still-don't-know-where for 10 days. Once I found him, I ended up paying out-of-pocket to put him in a depressing, lock-down assisted living facility because there was no better option.
Sometimes
"Here's my kid, who has the gift of mercy, who loves people so much, and he's afraid of his own self," she said. "It just seems like there should be something so I can get him back. Isn't there someone who can make such a place? I'll quit my job, I'll go work there tomorrow. But pretty soon it's going to be too late. And my son is going to be collateral damage."
That's what the Tuerks fear most, of course -- the day the door stops revolving.
"At some point, people will die,"
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