tessaturtle
New Member
So much incompetence I don't even know where to begin! I get a call from some psychiatrist (haven't met her at any of the visits or "team" meetings) at the psychiatric hospital this morning and she says she has difficult child's hospital sw in the room with her - asks if I mind being conferenced in - go ahead I say. She starts by saying who she is and that Dr. (can't pronounce his name and have never seen it spelled - bet he is difficult child's psychiatrist while at the psychiatric hospital) isn't there today. She explains that she met with the team (which appears to only be the sw and the psychiatrist, who wasn't there)again today regarding difficult child because she was "concerned" when she heard about the plan that was agreed on yesterday. THe plan that was agreed on yesterday (see other thread for more details) ended with-them agreeing to keep him while he re-starts attending school to monitor how he is after his school day (original psychiatrist's suggestion).
All of a sudden, according to this new psychiatrist, the plan is not workable since today was a snow day, and then MONDAY is a holiday. That would mean he "sits here with nothing to do for 5 days". She says transportation can take awhile to set up, so she didn't think he would even start school until late next week. This was ALL discussed at the "team" meeting 24 hours ago! In fact, we told them the school district themselves provide the transport and had told us they could immediately restart as soon as they get the word! The SW at the "team" meeting said they would have their educational liason call to start - that was at noon on Wednesday that we made that plan. I was assuming they were professionals and that they realize how important education is (these kids have a hard of time already - difficult child is falling way behind), so I had no thoughts that they wouldn't make the call that day - especially since we all agreed he would start FRIDAY. I explain all this (and remind sw) to this new psychiatrist on the phone - they had a VERY lame excuse of there wasn't time after the meeting before school got out (?!) to make the call on Wednesday. Complete incompetence and laziness.
So, I bring up the fact that difficult child finally had an incident in the psychiatric hospital last night. He became so angry at a peer because he wouldn't move when difficult child wanted him to, difficult child kicked the door next to the peer so hard that his ankle promptly swelled 2x its size! husband was there for a visit right after and got to see the ankle. I then point out that at "team" meeting, they said they were not seeing the behaviors that school and us see - but now what about this incident? They start going on about how he is not really injured, he was only playing it up while his dad was there and they are not seeing him being hurt at all. I interrupt and point out, while I am concerned for his ankle, my point was that him losing control to that extreme is exactly what we are talking about. They did not have any good response to that except to say that he could go on adhd medications again but that can be done outside the hospital.
I finally asked them bottom line, are you telling me you are discharging him or not (they also went on and on about insurance concerns and offered to keep him "if we want" but if insurance turns them down, then they are sending us a bill). psychiatrist says "well, the roads are not that good today (we have a big snowstorm right now) so we will keep him until tomorrow if that helps you out." Wow, how generous~
I asked to get off the phone so I could call husband as I wanted him to make the decision as he is the insurance holder - the sw gets all upset, "he encouraged us to call you if we needed anything!" I explained, as nice as I could, that was for if you guys wanted to ask any questions about home life, school life, difficult child's history, etc. - I told her I am NOT going to make this decision on behalf of husband when he is the one who would be on the hook financially!! Anyway, I called husband and told him - he was just as ticked off as I was. He called them immediately and told them that we can have the bus pick him up Friday morning, no problem - they told husband that he was NOT ALLOWED to set that up himself - THEY had to do it - so then when he pressed them on why not, no valid answer was given and they could not even say if this mysterious (we have never met this person or talked to) educational liason was even in the loop or even had plans to call the school!!! When husband pressed them also on why they were not making him do his school work so that he wouldn't fall behind and also so they could see his behavior - they said "that is not our responsibility here"!! Needless to say husband had enough, they have made obvious through inaction and veiled threats what their position is, so husband said fine, discharge him at 3pm tomorrow (Friday).
I am beside myself with the utter lack of professionalism, the incompetence, and the lack of action on their part. This hospital was NOT like this last time he was there in 2008. It seems now their focus is on pumping them up with all the medications they can and then spitting them out back into the community with a one size fits all model of community care.
Wish us luck - this was clearly a vacation for difficult child, so he did not learn anything and did not learn any new skills - he himself said "yeah they have groups, but we don't get to talk about our actual issues, so they are not helping me out." We are considering keeping him with us this weekend (it is supposed to be biomom's weekend) since it is much calmer and structured here.
On the good side, since we HAVE to change his counseling services back to his original place, they have since added a whole new service array that includes anger management groups and SOCIAL SKILLS!!! (everyone has pointed this out as being on of the basis for a lot of difficult child's behaviors)!
All of a sudden, according to this new psychiatrist, the plan is not workable since today was a snow day, and then MONDAY is a holiday. That would mean he "sits here with nothing to do for 5 days". She says transportation can take awhile to set up, so she didn't think he would even start school until late next week. This was ALL discussed at the "team" meeting 24 hours ago! In fact, we told them the school district themselves provide the transport and had told us they could immediately restart as soon as they get the word! The SW at the "team" meeting said they would have their educational liason call to start - that was at noon on Wednesday that we made that plan. I was assuming they were professionals and that they realize how important education is (these kids have a hard of time already - difficult child is falling way behind), so I had no thoughts that they wouldn't make the call that day - especially since we all agreed he would start FRIDAY. I explain all this (and remind sw) to this new psychiatrist on the phone - they had a VERY lame excuse of there wasn't time after the meeting before school got out (?!) to make the call on Wednesday. Complete incompetence and laziness.
So, I bring up the fact that difficult child finally had an incident in the psychiatric hospital last night. He became so angry at a peer because he wouldn't move when difficult child wanted him to, difficult child kicked the door next to the peer so hard that his ankle promptly swelled 2x its size! husband was there for a visit right after and got to see the ankle. I then point out that at "team" meeting, they said they were not seeing the behaviors that school and us see - but now what about this incident? They start going on about how he is not really injured, he was only playing it up while his dad was there and they are not seeing him being hurt at all. I interrupt and point out, while I am concerned for his ankle, my point was that him losing control to that extreme is exactly what we are talking about. They did not have any good response to that except to say that he could go on adhd medications again but that can be done outside the hospital.
I finally asked them bottom line, are you telling me you are discharging him or not (they also went on and on about insurance concerns and offered to keep him "if we want" but if insurance turns them down, then they are sending us a bill). psychiatrist says "well, the roads are not that good today (we have a big snowstorm right now) so we will keep him until tomorrow if that helps you out." Wow, how generous~
I asked to get off the phone so I could call husband as I wanted him to make the decision as he is the insurance holder - the sw gets all upset, "he encouraged us to call you if we needed anything!" I explained, as nice as I could, that was for if you guys wanted to ask any questions about home life, school life, difficult child's history, etc. - I told her I am NOT going to make this decision on behalf of husband when he is the one who would be on the hook financially!! Anyway, I called husband and told him - he was just as ticked off as I was. He called them immediately and told them that we can have the bus pick him up Friday morning, no problem - they told husband that he was NOT ALLOWED to set that up himself - THEY had to do it - so then when he pressed them on why not, no valid answer was given and they could not even say if this mysterious (we have never met this person or talked to) educational liason was even in the loop or even had plans to call the school!!! When husband pressed them also on why they were not making him do his school work so that he wouldn't fall behind and also so they could see his behavior - they said "that is not our responsibility here"!! Needless to say husband had enough, they have made obvious through inaction and veiled threats what their position is, so husband said fine, discharge him at 3pm tomorrow (Friday).
I am beside myself with the utter lack of professionalism, the incompetence, and the lack of action on their part. This hospital was NOT like this last time he was there in 2008. It seems now their focus is on pumping them up with all the medications they can and then spitting them out back into the community with a one size fits all model of community care.
Wish us luck - this was clearly a vacation for difficult child, so he did not learn anything and did not learn any new skills - he himself said "yeah they have groups, but we don't get to talk about our actual issues, so they are not helping me out." We are considering keeping him with us this weekend (it is supposed to be biomom's weekend) since it is much calmer and structured here.
On the good side, since we HAVE to change his counseling services back to his original place, they have since added a whole new service array that includes anger management groups and SOCIAL SKILLS!!! (everyone has pointed this out as being on of the basis for a lot of difficult child's behaviors)!
just so sorry.
