Comments on: Deinstitutionalization: I know I should jump this, but I can’t

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:11:43 +0000

I hate to sound naive but I’m not sure the Kaiser Foundation is the same as the Kaiser Permanante Insurance Company or any other insurance company.

By: KansasSunflower

KansasSunflower — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:15:10 +0000

Kaiser will do anything to save a buck. I don’t buy it for an instant – how they twist things to their perspective.

My father tried to commit suicide 2 weeks ago, was in ICU for over a week. His doctors cannot say if he will go back to “normal” neurologically – perhaps time will fix the damage, or maybe not as far as speech and memory. He can barely hobble around, and do you know what Kaiser’s answer was/is?

Send home a suicidal patient instead of sending him to the psych ward/institution to find a drug “cocktail” that works.
Prescribe him powerful Trazadone and Haldol, and wait OVER A WEEK to see a psychiatrist!

In the meantime, he has no hope, and we are all slowly realizing he may do this again, and soon. This was no “cry for help” he attempted.

Kaiser should be ashamed of themselves.

Find the right expert, give them the topic and what you want them to decide, and with enough money, you’ll find someone who can be bought.

I’m not a “SickO” advocate – in fact, my fiance works for the largest health insurance company in the country. But even HE admits that Kaiser has a very poor (the worst) reputation in the business.

By: Judi

Judi — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:55:09 +0000

My 23 yr old grandson,dx now with sz. had one P hosp stay.. and has been offered the option of living in a homeless shelter or staying with my sister and I as he has been for the last 6 months taking his meds and going to therapy X2 per wk. He must continue to maintain his job. This was suggested by his therapist …I just broke down in the session and could not even talk …this is what,, a scare tactic …how can that be of help. My sister agrees with the therapist…I think he is being set up for a relapes by caring but unknowing folks…this all happened because of his refusing a different{better} job where he would have to ride a bike to wk and hm..He has this entitlement thing where he just seems to expect everyone to bend over backwards for him …..no matter what..Sister rsfuses to tke him back and for to work ,,,he says he is not MI so she says let him prove it…AM I being over protective….

By: Sally

Sally — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:50:33 +0000

I hope Susan is correct. One thing about this whole who is mentally ill and how do we/they help, is this, most of us on all sides really want to do the right thing. It’s such a complicated issue that it seems like we have to step beyond left and right and truly inovate. I know a woman who I fear became homeless a couple of weeks ago, I think partly because of psych meds, though partly because of the poor job market and lack of affordable housing. My opinion of her mental health counselor is that he was misdirected and yet genuinely compassionate and trying to help. She was living in her car, one of her dogs died from the heat, and I don’t know where she is, cell phone cut off. So Wednesday I start volunteering at a homeless shelter. It’s hard to know what to do.