A woman was admitted to the hospital at 2am after calling police and telling them that she had overdosed on "some medications." Upon first examination, she was fine, but she wouldn't tell physicians or nurses at the hospital what she had taken, and they were concerned there might have been some acetaminophen, which can cause liver failure, so they wanted to hold her until they could perform some test. Apparently this woman was a "frequent flyer" - probably homeless, a history of self-harm behavior. This particular instance, someone missed the "self-harming" part, and this patient was left alone and unrestrained at some point for 5-10 minutes. In that time she managed to swallow several razor blades and needles (all sterile, luckily), a fact which she gladly informed hospital staff of a few hours later. Cue GI surgery, the service my friend was on, and a whole heck of a mess. Notably during the surgery, one of the surgical nurses who was palpating the small intestine for any missed blockage / debris after the surgery, but before closing, ended up cutting her hand through the patient's small intestine, when she closed her hand on an unaccounted for razor blade. Not a pleasant experience for anyone. Patient survived and was "fine", but apparently wasn't even committed, just placed on a hold. Public funding for mental health is really low so there isn't really a place for people like this if they are destitute / homeless and are generally lucid, but with some problematic behaviors.
YOU ARE READING
Mental
Non-FictionWarning this story is based on true stories. Every person that the main character encounters has their own story based on true stories submitted to me anonymously by people who work in the psych field or who have been in a psych ward themselves. The...
