I am ready to spit nails. difficult child 2 was released today on 1 hour's notice. I was apparently the ONLY person not surprised by this.
I was not surprised because I had finally spoken to the inpatient psychiatrist the night before and made it clear I did not agree with her about anything. Surprise, surprise, suddenly the insurance is denying his stay as of right now - even after the doctor spoke to them. More like because the doctor spoke to them.
difficult child 2 was taken on a hold Thursday, admitted Friday. I saw this doctor for about 5 minutes on Friday and we had a very, very brief conversation about his medications. She told me that she wanted to add (note ADD) an SSRI and wanted to know if he had ever been on one. Yes, I told her he had been on Zoloft and it activated him - manic-like symptoms. But it was when he didn't have a mood stabilizer on board and maybe if he had one now an SSRI would be OK.
That is the last time I talked to her until last night. I left her a message on Saturday to call me after our son told us she had put him on Zoloft and was also dropping his Geodon. He said she told him all he needed was therapy - not medications. GRRRRRRRRR.
I was trying really hard not to get all worked up in case our son was distorting reality again.
Unfortunately, he was accurately reporting his conversation with this jerk. I do not use that word lightly either.
She didn't return my call Satuday, Sunday or Monday despite the fact that staff told me she had gotten my message and had been in to see my son all three days.
Monday afternoon I called and spoke to the medications nurse. She told me that my son was up to 50 mg Zoloft and that he was scheduled to be completely off the Geodon as of that night. With NO OTHER medications.
I blew a gasket. I informed the nurse that I had NOT consented to that treatment plan and did NOT agree with it. I told her that Dr. T needed to call me immediately so that she could explain her thinking to me. The nurse said she's in a meeting and I can give her the message after 1:30. Fine I said.
This idiot doctor finally called me at 6 pm.
She proceeds to inform me that my son does not have a mood disorder, that he is on toxic medications for no reason, that the only problem is conflict with ME and that is causing him to be depressed. She further informed me that he couldn't possibly be bipolar because she was trained and educated in this area and she knew what I did not - that people who are bipolar absolutely do not cycle "that fast" (as in a matter of a few days or even within a single day).
Therefore, he was not bipolar and there must be some other explanation for his cycling behavior.
After I recovered my power of speech and sat on my first impulse to tell her exactly what I was thinking, I tried to discuss these things like an adult. Apparently from her perspective the only adult involved in the conversation was her because she talked down to me like I could barely read and write with my knuckles hanging so low.
She had the balls to tell me that she was acting in my son's best interests and clearly implied by her tone that I was NOT acting in his best interests. I informed her that my personal experience of bipolar disorder included cycling in a matter of a few days, sometimes even hours, although perhaps that was because I had gone undiagnosed for years and my rapid cycling was a result of being on antidepressants like Zoloft for years. She informed me that it was not possible to cycle that fast and there must be some other explanation.
That's when I finally gave up making nice and icily informed her that I did not agree with her and that I had not given my consent to her withdrawing his Geodon or to her giving him Zoloft in the absence of a mood stabilizer.
She icily informed me that that was fine. He would stay at 40 mg Geodon for tonight.
And we hung up.
So no, I was not surprised when the psychiatric hospital called us 30 minutes before we left for the family meeting at 3 pm to say that he would be discharged at the end of the meeting.
What I am now trying to decide is whether and how to complain about this person. In a matter of 3 days, she has single-handedly screwed up the progress we have made in the past year in getting our son's buy in to taking his medications. He came home tonight and informed us he doesn't need to be on any medications and he will no longer listen to or follow the advice of his outpatient psychiatrist.
I stopped at the desk on our way out and asked about the complaint process for a doctor. I was informed that this jerk is now the HEAD doctor there and that any complaints would go to her, unless she was the person we were wanting to complain about. In that case it would go to the head of nursing. Right. The head of nursing is going to sanction the Medical Director.
The front desk person finally called admin and the admin secretary came out and gave me 3 names/numbers to call. One is risk management, one is head of nursing and one is some admin position.
I plan to call the risk management person and ask about their complain process when the doctor involved is at the top of the hospital hierarchy. Risk management is the only one outside this chain of command and they are the ones who care about the hospital being sued so that seems the best place to start.
I did not want to do this because I don't want to screw things up for us at this psychiatric hospital. It has been one of the best adolescent units in the area. But it isn't anymore if this is the caliber of physician they are going to hire to run the place.
Anyone got any advice, suggestions or experience good or bad to share?
I was not surprised because I had finally spoken to the inpatient psychiatrist the night before and made it clear I did not agree with her about anything. Surprise, surprise, suddenly the insurance is denying his stay as of right now - even after the doctor spoke to them. More like because the doctor spoke to them.
difficult child 2 was taken on a hold Thursday, admitted Friday. I saw this doctor for about 5 minutes on Friday and we had a very, very brief conversation about his medications. She told me that she wanted to add (note ADD) an SSRI and wanted to know if he had ever been on one. Yes, I told her he had been on Zoloft and it activated him - manic-like symptoms. But it was when he didn't have a mood stabilizer on board and maybe if he had one now an SSRI would be OK.
That is the last time I talked to her until last night. I left her a message on Saturday to call me after our son told us she had put him on Zoloft and was also dropping his Geodon. He said she told him all he needed was therapy - not medications. GRRRRRRRRR.
I was trying really hard not to get all worked up in case our son was distorting reality again.
Unfortunately, he was accurately reporting his conversation with this jerk. I do not use that word lightly either.
She didn't return my call Satuday, Sunday or Monday despite the fact that staff told me she had gotten my message and had been in to see my son all three days.
Monday afternoon I called and spoke to the medications nurse. She told me that my son was up to 50 mg Zoloft and that he was scheduled to be completely off the Geodon as of that night. With NO OTHER medications.
I blew a gasket. I informed the nurse that I had NOT consented to that treatment plan and did NOT agree with it. I told her that Dr. T needed to call me immediately so that she could explain her thinking to me. The nurse said she's in a meeting and I can give her the message after 1:30. Fine I said.
This idiot doctor finally called me at 6 pm.
She proceeds to inform me that my son does not have a mood disorder, that he is on toxic medications for no reason, that the only problem is conflict with ME and that is causing him to be depressed. She further informed me that he couldn't possibly be bipolar because she was trained and educated in this area and she knew what I did not - that people who are bipolar absolutely do not cycle "that fast" (as in a matter of a few days or even within a single day).
Therefore, he was not bipolar and there must be some other explanation for his cycling behavior.
After I recovered my power of speech and sat on my first impulse to tell her exactly what I was thinking, I tried to discuss these things like an adult. Apparently from her perspective the only adult involved in the conversation was her because she talked down to me like I could barely read and write with my knuckles hanging so low.
She had the balls to tell me that she was acting in my son's best interests and clearly implied by her tone that I was NOT acting in his best interests. I informed her that my personal experience of bipolar disorder included cycling in a matter of a few days, sometimes even hours, although perhaps that was because I had gone undiagnosed for years and my rapid cycling was a result of being on antidepressants like Zoloft for years. She informed me that it was not possible to cycle that fast and there must be some other explanation.
That's when I finally gave up making nice and icily informed her that I did not agree with her and that I had not given my consent to her withdrawing his Geodon or to her giving him Zoloft in the absence of a mood stabilizer.
She icily informed me that that was fine. He would stay at 40 mg Geodon for tonight.
And we hung up.
So no, I was not surprised when the psychiatric hospital called us 30 minutes before we left for the family meeting at 3 pm to say that he would be discharged at the end of the meeting.
What I am now trying to decide is whether and how to complain about this person. In a matter of 3 days, she has single-handedly screwed up the progress we have made in the past year in getting our son's buy in to taking his medications. He came home tonight and informed us he doesn't need to be on any medications and he will no longer listen to or follow the advice of his outpatient psychiatrist.
I stopped at the desk on our way out and asked about the complaint process for a doctor. I was informed that this jerk is now the HEAD doctor there and that any complaints would go to her, unless she was the person we were wanting to complain about. In that case it would go to the head of nursing. Right. The head of nursing is going to sanction the Medical Director.
The front desk person finally called admin and the admin secretary came out and gave me 3 names/numbers to call. One is risk management, one is head of nursing and one is some admin position.
I plan to call the risk management person and ask about their complain process when the doctor involved is at the top of the hospital hierarchy. Risk management is the only one outside this chain of command and they are the ones who care about the hospital being sued so that seems the best place to start.
I did not want to do this because I don't want to screw things up for us at this psychiatric hospital. It has been one of the best adolescent units in the area. But it isn't anymore if this is the caliber of physician they are going to hire to run the place.
Anyone got any advice, suggestions or experience good or bad to share?
