Mental health malpractice should exist

There are no checks and balances on mental health practitioners and that's a crime. Every other profession has checks and balances.
Most Drs I've seen last 40 years couldn't even diagnose correctly and that's malpractice. Not to mention the abuse and ignorance these people portray.
My last Dr lied about all meds. He gave me naltrexone and said "It's not really a medication". I complained about that and other things and got banned from all practices in MD and DE. I contacted lawyers and none would take a malpractice case.
I realize lawyers would have a hard time proving cases but they could use psychiatrists to help them win cases.

It takes a lot to win a malpractice against an MD even when someone has bad side effects to a med because they honestly have no clue how your body will react to medications. Personally I do my own research & I now don't take medications because I know my own side effects & I know what chances I am NOT willing to take. That is on me, not the MD'S. What works for one person may not work for another. MD's can't know everything even if they come across that way & we as patients should know that & not blindly trust anyone. It is tough to figure it all out when we need help.

For years they thought my depression wasn't treatable....go figure, no one even thought it was the SITUATION I was living in. I finally left & my depression went away. It was situational & no one would have ever considered that possibility until maybe by the end of my being in that situation.

I agree. I had an awful stay in a psych hospital where the techs were poorly trained. H said they were not taking care of my hygiene or feeding me; my weight went down to 90 lb. Because of the laws in Texas, you need a medical power of attorney notarized, a marriage bond does you zip. H couldn't get me out of that facility for 10 days, they weren't telling him about any treatment I was getting (if any, it's doubtful). H only got me out because they brought me to an ER for a CT scan and an ER nurse contacted him. I had bruises all over my body went H got me home. He took pictures, and I looked like an abused Holocaust victim. Afterwards, I had to go to a psych hospital I'd been to before (farther from our home) and it took nearly a month for them to get me sorted out.

Still, even with pictures no lawyer will take the case. Worse, I had severe mania and psychosis with dementia and pretty much my most vivid memories from the hospitalization are very disturbing hallucinations, so anything I say could just be challenged as I am making it up such as I'm sure I was scared and trying to hide from those workers in the first hospital; I know one of them yelled at me, "Shut up! You're driving me crazy!" I felt a lot of pain, given all the bruises and the fact I had severe sacroiliac pain even after getting out of the second hospital seems like it definitely could be real enough.

It was so, so traumatizing. I am working on trying to process this in therapy, but oh, my God it's an uphill battle.

The public mental health industry has this relationship with government. It's "we're taking care of your dirty laundry here, so unless you want to do it yourself.....". I've seen the confidentiality thing work as a curtain behind which incompetent people commit acts of neglect. It's real convenient to say we can't talk about the issue due to concerns about patient confidentiality, as if consumers of public mental health services have anything to be ashamed of. It's condescending and it's BS. Our local mental health association used to have an open bar for providers prior to their annual meeting. Needless to say, the consumers weren't invited. Our local community services board was required by law to provide for emergency services. They gave the hospital $10k per year to assume that obligation. This is what you got for $10k. They called the sheriff's office and you got a ride to the state hospital.

Maybe mental health care providers need to wear body cams....to protect themselves & the patients & so if there are questions, the videos can be seen & what happened can my known by those involved if questions come up

Yeah, I was just hospitalized and starved for 36 hours for punishment for a fight/flight reaction after hours of being terrified of the night shift who then called me a dumbass, then the next week they told me all my mental health issues were caused by malnutrition. Love the dissonance there.

I don’t have the money or support to go after anyone legally, so I do my best to find the humor and not take anything personally and try to keep the controls I have and focus on that.

Well yes good food is brain food. Will it preform miracles? No.
It is very important to eat well balanced meals, even if its once a day. Snacks with sugars are not good for many parts of the body.

Not entirely true. All fruits are loaded with sugars. A cup of grapes has over 15g of sugar! Even vegetables have sugars. Sugars are important. Our entire nervous system (including brain) operates on primarily glucose (a sugar that if our levels fall too low we can die very quickly from). Red blood cells need glucose. It’s a good source of energy because the energy within sugar molecules is much more available than within the much larger harder to breakdown proteins for example.

The problem is the refined added sugar in excess.

But my point was it was funny that one week they withheld meals for 36 hours and the next they said my problem was not eating

To @Blueberrybook.
Inpatient psych facilities are not places of solace and comfort. It's closer to being put in jail. If you trust your husband, then definitely draw up a "Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare." You need to specify, in writing, that you want your husband given all your medical information anytime you are hospitalized . . . and NOT just if you are completely incapacitated. You can download forms from the Internet or get them from a hospital. Don't assume having an attorney draw up the form is better. They tend to just print something out on a standardized form that will not anticipate what circumstances can arise. I don't want a living will that says my P.O.A. can get my medical info, only after I go into a coma or develop advanced dementia. Every sick person needs an advocate who has all the facts and medical opinions. Your advocate should have ready access to that before you ever get completely incapacitated.

Staff in healthcare facilities are very influenced by knowing a family member of a patient is looking over their shoulder.

I agree. They get away with a lot. In order to have a successful lawsuit, you have to establish that significant harm was done to you, as a result of the bad care. Misdiagnosis is not automatically considered malpractice. Doctors are allowed to guess wrong, as long as they've done a reasonable job of trying to guess right. Diagnosing is not an exact science. In your case, what you went through sounds awful. It shouldn't be so easy for these places to get away with poor care, but they do. You could write up a complaint to the administration of the facility where you got the poor care. I believe they have to respond to such a complaint. You might get some sort of apology, which might be a little bit gratifying. Of course, they won't admit any fault. They'll just say, "We regret that you were dissatisfied."

Yes, this past month H & I drew up both a medical & durable power of attornies by printing the forms off the state Health & Human Services website, then got it notarized in the presence of 2 people (not family). Which to my understanding should be valid in the state of Texas. We now have to do the same with our daughter, who turned 18 just yesterday. The PCP pointed out she could need help with something like getting an orthopedic specialist for a broken bone that an 18 year old is not usually equipped to handle on their own, so we're getting my daughter's medical & durable powers of attorney taken care of as well.

It's not exactly an advocate but better than nothing which was relying on the spousal bonds of marriage.

That is the kind of advocacy I meant - a family member who is equipped with the paperwork that the doctors and hospitals must recognize. Hospitals have "patient advocates," but those persons are paid by the hospitals. They are working mainly for the protection of the hospital that pays them. Someone who loves you is the best advocate, if they have half a brain and know their rights. What you're doing for yourselves and your daughter is a great start.