Mercy San Juan Hospital reviews and complaints

To whom it may concern,

On 10/17/2011 I took my girlfriend to your hospital I thought she might had had a small heart attack, She said her head felt weird and she stated she felt like one of those people that just stare off in the distance. I thought your hospital was reputable but now I now it's not. After making sure she got checked in and her vitals were all normal I left and had to go back to the office to close up and then went home took care of the kids and then went back up to the hospital around 7 p.m.
I entered the ER and to my astonishment she was in room 10 with a security guard at her door when I asked what this was about she said your social worker had determined that she was under a little stress and instead of sending her home for 2 or 3 days to wait for an available appointment to see someone she took it upon herself to involuntarily hold her and send her off for a Mental Evaluation. She also told her upon arrival she would be evaluated by a Psychologist and/or a Psychiatrist and let them make a determination as she was not properly educated to do so and kept on telling her lies. I was infuriated unfortunately by the time I would have had a partner down there to represent her and get this overturned she would have already been gone.
She arrived at Sierra Vista Hospital at 3:16 AM. She did not talk to ANY DOCTORS and was given some test and turned up positive for the drugs THAT WAS ADMINISTERED IN YOUR ER! So they started to detox her and she told them what was giving to her at the ER and didn't care at all what she said. Next morning she kept on them "Wheres the Doctors"? They'll be in around 11am. She finally saw the Psychiatrist around 11:30 am, He asked do you know why your here and she said " Her head didn't feel right and the social worker said this was the fastest way to seek a evaluation". After talking to her for 5 minutes he said she could go home. NEEDLESS TO SAY YOUR SOCIAL WORKER NOT ONLY LIED TO HER BUT FALSELY HELD HER! SHE PUT HER ON A 72 HOUR HOLD ALSO KNOWN AS 5150.

In order to hold someone the law states:

1-Danger to self: The person must be an immediate threat to themselves, usually by being suicidal. Someone who is severely depressed and wishes to die would fall under this category (though they generally have to have expressed a plan to commit suicide and not just a wish to die).

2- Danger to others: The person must be an immediate threat to someone else's safety.

3- Gravely disabled:

1. Adult (patients over 18 years of age): The person's mental condition prevents him/her from being able to provide for food, clothing, and/or shelter, and there is no indication that anyone is willing or able to assist him/her in procuring these needs. This does not necessarily mean homeless, as a homeless person who is able to seek housing (even in a temporary shelter) when weather demands it would not fall under this category. Also, the mere lack of resources to provide food, clothing, or shelter is not dispositive; the inability must be caused by the psychiatric condition.

She is afraid of dieing and NEVER SAID SHE WANTED TO NOR WAS SHE A THREAT TO ANYONE NOR GRAVELY DISABLED!

This was negligence on your Social Worker it shows her incompetence and abuse of powers, Depending what her records show I'm betting she made false statement's also.

Here are the codes:

5150. When any person, as a result of mental disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, designated members of a mobile crisis team provided by Section 5651.7, or other professional person designated by the county may, upon probable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into custody and place him or her in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Mental Health as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. Such facility shall require an application in writing stating the circumstances under which the person’s condition was called to the attention of the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person, and stating that the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person has probable cause to believe that the person is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled. If the probable cause is based on the statement of a person other than the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person, such person shall be liable in a civil action for intentionally giving a statement which he or she knows to be false.
5150.05. (a) When determining if probable cause exists to take a person into custody, or cause a person to be taken into custody, pursuant to Section 5150, any person who is authorized to take that person, or cause that person to be taken, into custody pursuant to that section shall consider available relevant information about the historical course of the person’s mental disorder if the authorized person determines that the information has a reasonable bearing on the determination as to whether the person is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or is gravely disabled as a result of the mental disorder.
(b) For purposes of this section, “information about the historical course of the person’s mental disorder� includes evidence presented by the person who has provided or is providing mental health or related support services to the person subject to a determination described in subdivision (a), evidence presented by one or more members of the family of that person, and evidence presented by the person subject to a determination described in subdivision (a) or anyone designated by that person. (c) If the probable cause in subdivision (a) is based on the statement of a person other than the one authorized to take the person into custody pursuant to Section 5150, a member of the attending staff, or a professional person, the person making the statement shall be liable in a civil action for intentionally giving any statement that he or she knows to be false. (d) This section shall not be applied to limit the application of Section 5328.
5150.1. No peace officer seeking to transport, or having transported, a person to a designated facility for assessment under Section 5150, shall be instructed by mental health personnel to take the person to, or keep the person at, a jail solely because of the unavailability of an acute bed, nor shall the peace officer be forbidden to transport the person directly to the designated facility. No mental health employee from any county, state, city, or any private agency providing Short-Doyle psychiatric emergency services shall interfere with a peace officer performing duties under Section 5150 by preventing the peace officer from entering a designated facility with the person to be assessed, nor shall any employee of such an agency require the peace officer to remove the person without assessment as a condition of allowing the peace officer to depart. “Peace officer� for the purposes of this section also means a jailer seeking to transport or transporting a person in custody to a designated facility for assessment consistent with Section 4011.6 or 4011.8 of the Penal Code and Section 5150.
5150.2. In each county whenever a peace officer has transported a person to a designated facility for assessment under Section 5150, that officer shall be detained no longer than the time necessary to complete documentation of the factual basis of the detention under Section 5150 and a safe and orderly transfer of physical custody of the person. The documentation shall include detailed information regarding the factual circumstances and observations constituting probable cause for the peace officer to believe that the individual required psychiatric evaluation under the standards of Section 5105. Each county shall establish disposition procedures and guidelines with local law enforcement agencies as necessary to relate to persons not admitted for evaluation and treatment and who decline alternative mental health services and to relate to the safe and orderly transfer of physical custody of persons under Section 5150, including those who have a criminal detention pending.
5150.3. Whenever any person presented for evaluation at a facility designated under Section 5150 is found to be in need of mental health services, but is not admitted to the facility, all available alternative services provided for pursuant to Section 5151 shall be offered as determined by the county mental health director.
5150.4. “Assessment� for the purposes of this article, means the determination of whether a person shall be evaluated and treated pursuant to Section 5150.
Welfare and Institutions Code Section §5250
5250. If a person is detained for 72 hours under the provisions of Article 1 (commencing with Section 5150), or under court order for evaluation pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 5200) or Article 3 (commencing with Section 5225) and has received an evaluation, he or she may be certified for not more than 14 days of intensive treatment related to the mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, under the following conditions:
·(a) The professional staff of the agency or facility providing evaluation services has analyzed the person’s condition and has found the person is, as a result of mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled.
·(b) The facility providing intensive treatment is designated by the county to provide intensive treatment, and agrees to admit the person. No facility shall be designated to provide intensive treatment unless it complies with the certification review hearing required by this article. The procedures shall be described in the county Short-Doyle plan as required by Section 5651.3.
·(c) The person has been advised of the need for, but has not been willing or able to accept, treatment on a voluntary basis.
·(d) (1) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (h) of Section 5008, a person is not “gravely disabled� if that person can survive safely without involuntary detention with the help of responsible family, friends, or others who are both willing and able to help provide for the person’s basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter. (2) However, unless they specifically indicate in writing their willingness and ability to help, family, friends, or others shall not be considered willing or able to provide this help. (3) The purpose of this subdivision is to avoid the necessity for, and the harmful effects of, requiring family, friends, and others to publicly state, and requiring the certification review officer to publicly find, that no one is willing or able to assist the mentally disordered person in providing for the person’s basic needs for food, clothing, or shelter
My girlfriend and I will look forward to speaking with you on 10/20/2011 in the afternoon at MSJ to obtain copies and go over the reckless, negligent and incompetence of your staff.