Article about "troubled" kids in ERs.

[CrazyinVA]

Reading this articles (and the comments) brought forth a slew of emotions, not the least of which is sadness and frustration over the never-ending battle against the stigma of mental illness and society's eagerness to blame the parents. So many of us here have had to take our kids to the ER when they're out control and a clear danger to themselves or us. We most always take them there at the urging of a doctor. Are there really that many cases of parents taking "normal" kids to the ER just because they won't behave?! This article would have us believe that.... am I missing something?!

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/201...in-er-psychiatric-illness-or-just-unruly?lite

 

[slsh]

I think the gist of the article is about the horrendous lack of services and resources for parents, though I do have to take exception to Dr. Smith (psychiatrist) who seems to think a lot of the problem is parents having problems placing limits - would love to know how long the wait is to get in to see her for a psychiatric evaluation and how promptly she returns calls. And she thinks ERs are traumatic for kids? What about the trauma to the kids (and innocent bystanders) when they're engaged in out of control behavior? She doesn't impress me.

Does remind me of a delightful day we spent in ER when thank you was probably 7 or 8. Boo had had a dr. appointment. As we were getting ready to head home, I had loaded baby Diva in the van and turned around to get Boo out of wheelchair into carseat. thank you locked the car doors. Diva's inside screaming, Boo is outside laughing (he always enjoyed thank you's hijinks), and I'm trying desperately to get into van, which simply couldn't be done because I'd no sooner unlock a door than thank you would lock it again. Long story short, hospital security came and somehow managed to get thank you out of van and drove him over to ER (we were already at a hospital). thank you was his usual self in waiting area, animal noises, crawling under chairs, loud, obnoxious, completely out of control. Smarty pants security guard muttered something about parents not being able to control their kids. Joke was on him, because when thank you bit the nurse who was trying to put the ID bracelet on him, they finally figured out he needed to be secluded. Guess which smarty pants security guard had the pleasure of trying to contain thank you in a holding room that had a broken door??? I just smiled sweetly at him and let *him* try to "control" thank you.

But I do agree that that ER visit, and so many others, really were not the optimal solution to the problem. It's just that there are no other options. Community based crisis management teams would have been far more appropriate (assuming trained staff), but that just doesn't exist here.

 

[CrazyinVA]

Agree, the article definitely touches on the lack of outpatient services, and they also say that it's better to be safe than sorry when making the decision to take a kid to the ER. But, the title of the article itself is prejudicial, in my opinion -- as are some of the statements like Dr. Smith's. I think those overshadow the "good" points made in it. I guess that's what bothered me the most.

 

[AnnieO]

All of those interviewed felt that the lack of outpatient resources was a key factor in the increase in ER mental health visits. The most at-risk and economically disadvantaged patients make up a large amount of the visits.

This says it all, doesn't it? LACK OF RESOURCES.

Fact of the matter is - if your kid is "unruly" like our difficult children in a rage, usually the police won't do anything. If there is a chance the kid is on drugs, nothing. I had one cop say that a juvenile "just about has to murder someone for them to have us take them in". We had a violent child arrested, cuffed, released back to our custody and then the next day sent to psychiatric hospital because she said she had tried to commit suicide. So - if they released her back to us - raging - and she had succeeded...