Alaskan Youth Dies in Tx RTC

[Whooter]

So worse case they were eleven minutes late.

Uh, worst case is that the child is dead.  Because they were eleven minutes late, in violation of their own policy; in violation of the promise made to this child and his mother when they promised to care for him according to their policy.  

Dead kids don't faze polemicist ideologues like Whooter.  He's in it for the money.

We dont know if the time lapse is related to the death.  The child may have hung himself 3 minutes after the previous inspection.  The late check-ins are an indication of a problem but not necessarily related to the cause.  Its important to keep these two separate when trying to determine root cause.

What we do know is that the staff were checking in on the kids within 26 minutes or less against a requirement of every 15 minutes maximum.  This may be an isolated case or it may be the norm.  It sounds like a staffing issue along with a need to upgrade some of their processes.



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[Ursus]

"In Texas, workers documented making routine 15-minute checks on a suicidal patient, but surveillance video showed a 26-minute gap. In the meantime, the patient had asphyxiated himself, wrapping strips of a pillowcase around his neck."

So worse case they were eleven minutes late.  It seems they need to put a better process in place because this is "at least" the second time this has happened.  Night watchmen in security areas have to use a keycard to indicate they have checked each area on time and each night.  If they put card readers at each room then the staff could swip the card reader after checking in on the patient and if they exceed the time limit, by say 10 minute, then an alert would sound indicating they missed the 15 minute check.

Geeezz. I don't think installing a card swiper for every room can even begin to address the problem. It would appear to be a lot more ... systemic. If Psychiatric Solutions Inc.'s business paradigm is to decrease staffing in order to increase profits, card swipers can't ensure that patients are getting the appropriate care if there simply isn't enough personnel in place to provide that care, let alone qualified and appropriately trained personnel!

There's also another downside to having a shorthanded staff lineup, and that has to do with staff morale. Just how conscientious and professional can the care be, if staff are undertrained, stressed out, and probably even pissed off, be it due to too intense a load of difficult patients and/or an unsympathetic employer?

[Whooter]

"In Texas, workers documented making routine 15-minute checks on a suicidal patient, but surveillance video showed a 26-minute gap. In the meantime, the patient had asphyxiated himself, wrapping strips of a pillowcase around his neck."

So worse case they were eleven minutes late.  It seems they need to put a better process in place because this is "at least" the second time this has happened.  Night watchmen in security areas have to use a keycard to indicate they have checked each area on time and each night.  If they put card readers at each room then the staff could swip the card reader after checking in on the patient and if they exceed the time limit, by say 10 minute, then an alert would sound indicating they missed the 15 minute check.

Geeezz. I don't think installing a card swiper for every room can even begin to address the problem. It would appear to be a lot more ... systemic. If Psychiatric Solutions Inc.'s business paradigm is to decrease staffing in order to increase profits, card swipers can't ensure that patients are getting the appropriate care if there simply isn't enough personnel in place to provide that care, let alone qualified and appropriately trained personnel!

There's also another downside to having a shorthanded staff lineup, and that has to do with staff morale. Just how conscientious and professional can the care be, if staff are undertrained, stressed out, and probably even pissed off, be it due to too intense a load of difficult patients and/or an unsympathetic employer?

I agree 100%, if morale is low the card swipe's will not help.  I was just addressing the issue of insuring that the 15 minute time line was met.  That seemed to be the issue presented in the earlier thread.

The present economy probably doesnt help with getting them to hire more staff.



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[wdtony]

Yet quickly, Richard’s parents felt something wasn’t right. Every time they called, Richard was asleep or “out on activities.” They played endless games of phone tag with facility therapists who, when they connected, told the DeMaars that Richard was improving. But on April 9, 2006, the DeMaars received a call telling them Richard had committed suicide.

This poor kid was sent all the way to Texas and his parents were disallowed from talking to him by phone.

Yet another example of how the brainwashing starts in these places. Separate the kid from the outside world including communication with parents. Then the staff commence with the psychological torment.

I guess Richard wasn't really improving.

The child was suicidal prior to being sent to Texas.  He wasnt improving in Alaska.  I read this write up 2 times and there was no indication that this child was tortured or abused at all.  Where does this conclusion come from?  Where was the brain washing taking place?  I didnt see this either.  Are you saying the brainwashing took place "on the premises" or was he taken off site for this?  I believe it is a regulated facility and if there were signs of early onset of brainwashing I am sure this would have been reported.

It fascinates me that so many people here think there is this covert brainwashing going on under every bodies noses but no one can see it.  I have never seen any facility written up for this during inspections and you would think there would be some ex-employees who would come forward and speak out about where this brainwashing is taking place if it is truly happening.

If the child suddenly improved overnight and walked around smiling then maybe I would buy into the whole brainwashing theory and he would be alive today if it were true.  I just dont see any bases at all for concluding this.



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Cutting off communication with family is a well known cult technique used in the brainwashing process.

Why did Richard Commit suicide? We just don't know exactly. But I think it is safe to say the program didn't help him or allow communication with his parents. Why couldn't Richard call his parents back when he wasn't asleep or out on activities? What were these time consuming activities? If he had been able to contact the outside world we might have an answer as to what was actually happening in this facility.

If you don't believe brainwashing is real, perhaps you should read up on the subject. It is very real.

[Whooter]

Yet quickly, Richard’s parents felt something wasn’t right. Every time they called, Richard was asleep or “out on activities.” They played endless games of phone tag with facility therapists who, when they connected, told the DeMaars that Richard was improving. But on April 9, 2006, the DeMaars received a call telling them Richard had committed suicide.

This poor kid was sent all the way to Texas and his parents were disallowed from talking to him by phone.

Yet another example of how the brainwashing starts in these places. Separate the kid from the outside world including communication with parents. Then the staff commence with the psychological torment.

I guess Richard wasn't really improving.

The child was suicidal prior to being sent to Texas.  He wasnt improving in Alaska.  I read this write up 2 times and there was no indication that this child was tortured or abused at all.  Where does this conclusion come from?  Where was the brain washing taking place?  I didnt see this either.  Are you saying the brainwashing took place "on the premises" or was he taken off site for this?  I believe it is a regulated facility and if there were signs of early onset of brainwashing I am sure this would have been reported.

It fascinates me that so many people here think there is this covert brainwashing going on under every bodies noses but no one can see it.  I have never seen any facility written up for this during inspections and you would think there would be some ex-employees who would come forward and speak out about where this brainwashing is taking place if it is truly happening.

If the child suddenly improved overnight and walked around smiling then maybe I would buy into the whole brainwashing theory and he would be alive today if it were true.  I just dont see any bases at all for concluding this.



...

Cutting off communication with family is a well known cult technique used in the brainwashing process.

Why did Richard Commit suicide? We just don't know exactly. But I think it is safe to say the program didn't help him or allow communication with his parents. Why couldn't Richard call his parents back when he wasn't asleep or out on activities? What were these time consuming activities? If he had been able to contact the outside world we might have an answer as to what was actually happening in this facility.

If you don't believe brainwashing is real, perhaps you should read up on the subject. It is very real.

No one mentioned he couldn’t contact the outside world.  It said that his parents tried to call and their son was asleep or on activities.  They played phone tag which means the facility tried to call them but they were not available at those times.  But that doesn’t mean that the parents household was a cult.

I admit that it seems strange that the parents had difficulty getting through.  But these huge leaps to classifying a place as a cult using mind control techniques and torture because of it just shows how loose the definition is here.  



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[Ursus]

No one mentioned he couldn’t contact the outside world. It said that his parents tried to call and their son was asleep or on activities. They played phone tag which means the facility tried to call them but they were not available at those times. But that doesn’t mean that the parents household was a cult.

LOLs. Blatant attempt at obfuscation. You're really slipping today, Hoots... :roflmao:

Or was that perchance ... a Freudian slip?

[Whooter]

No one mentioned he couldn’t contact the outside world. It said that his parents tried to call and their son was asleep or on activities. They played phone tag which means the facility tried to call them but they were not available at those times. But that doesn’t mean that the parents household was a cult.

LOLs. Blatant attempt at obfuscation. You're really slipping today, Hoots... :roflmao:

Or was that perchance ... a Freudian slip?

Ha,Ha,Ha  kind of gets the point across though doesnt it?  By the definition here on fornits (of cult) the department of Motor vehicle (here in Massachusetts) would definitely be classified as a cult because we cant get through to anyone there since the budget cuts!!!  lol.



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[Pile of Dead Kids]

I was debating whether or not to toss Richard on the Pile. Actual psychiatric facilities are outside my purview.

But taking a kid from out of state, telling a whole lot of lies about the kind of care he was getting (standard program business), failing to let his parents contact him (more standard program business), failing to provide supervision, and practically encouraging an obviously suicidal kid to go ahead and and do it?

Yeah, this place isn't an actual psychiatric facility. It's a program. So this one's going on the list.

Gotta catch 'em all!

[Ursus]

"In Texas, workers documented making routine 15-minute checks on a suicidal patient, but surveillance video showed a 26-minute gap. In the meantime, the patient had asphyxiated himself, wrapping strips of a pillowcase around his neck."

So worse case they were eleven minutes late.  It seems they need to put a better process in place because this is "at least" the second time this has happened.  Night watchmen in security areas have to use a keycard to indicate they have checked each area on time and each night.  If they put card readers at each room then the staff could swip the card reader after checking in on the patient and if they exceed the time limit, by say 10 minute, then an alert would sound indicating they missed the 15 minute check.

Here's another account from the same article, about yet another suicide attempt in a Texas facility, to give some more perspective on how Psychiatric Solutions Inc. stretches those "15 minute checks":

"Steven Nickel woke up just after 2 a.m. lying on the floor of his shower. The water was running, flooding into his room at Cypress Creek, a PSI hospital in Houston.

He had tried to kill himself, cutting his left wrist with a razor, federal inspection records show. Workers were supposed to check on him every 15 minutes that night in May 2007, yet he had been slumped over the drain, unconscious, for about five hours."[/list]

[Whooter]

I was debating whether or not to toss Richard on the Pile. Actual psychiatric facilities are outside my purview.

But taking a kid from out of state, telling a whole lot of lies about the kind of care he was getting (standard program business), failing to let his parents contact him (more standard program business), failing to provide supervision, and practically encouraging an obviously suicidal kid to go ahead and and do it?

Yeah, this place isn't an actual psychiatric facility. It's a program. So this one's going on the list.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Dam, Pile hasn't had an addition in months, been drying up lately.... I was going to predict this addition to the pile but was too late.....

Ya gotta love this place.  Pile you ran that logic down beautifully, they had him in their sights right from the beginning and knew he was an easy kill....the convincing portion that tipped the scales was where the facility actually encouraged him to kill himself (beautifully said), but you need to toss in words like Cult and that he was brainwashed into killing himself to get people here really riled up to keep the anti=program flame going (forget about the part where he tried to kill himself several times before he went there).... throw him on that dam disrespectful pile!! lol  Add him to your footer immediately, contact Oscar and lets add that facility to the list of brainwashing facilities!!

..... it makes you wonder how many kids were actually killed by programs when you read this.

I remember when Oscar added a "program death" of a kid who was just riding by a program in his car and died in a car accident.  I dont remember how he justified it, but it sounded pretty convincing......it was the biggest stretch, but this one is close behind.



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[Ursus]

I was debating whether or not to toss Richard on the Pile. Actual psychiatric facilities are outside my purview.

But taking a kid from out of state, telling a whole lot of lies about the kind of care he was getting (standard program business), failing to let his parents contact him (more standard program business), failing to provide supervision, and practically encouraging an obviously suicidal kid to go ahead and and do it?

Yeah, this place isn't an actual psychiatric facility. It's a program. So this one's going on the list.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Dam, I was going to predict this addition to the pile but was too late.....

Ya gotta love this place.  Pile you ran that logic down beautifully, they had him in their sights right from the beginning and knew he was an easy kill....the convincing portion that tipped the scales was where the facility actually encouraged him to kill himself (beautifully said), but you need to toss in words like Cult and that he was brainwashed into killing himself to get people here really riled up to keep the anti=program flame going (forget about the part where he tried to kill himself several times before he went there).... throw him on that dam disrespectful pile!! lol  Add him to your footer immediately, contact Oscar and lets add that facility to the list of brainwashing facilities!!

..... it makes you wonder how many kids were actually killed by programs when you read this.

I remember when Oscar added a "program death" of a kid who was just riding by a program in his car and died in a car accident.  I dont remember how he justified it, but it sounded pretty convincing......it was the biggest stretch, but this one is close behind.

It was, in all likelihood, a preventable death. If it was in all certainty a preventable death, I guess we'll never know.

But... he was sent there because he was suicidal. They knew this; they were treating him for this; they had him on 15' checks as per their own SOP.

And yet, they did not follow their own SOP. Even if that was the only thing they did wrong, they are, at the very least, negligent.

Moreover, the facility appeared to, if anything, thwart communication between this kid and his family. I tell ya, it isn't much of stretch to imagine him feeling completely abandoned there, in a culturally foreign environment, far from Alaska. It might even have made him more suicidal.

[wdtony]

No one mentioned he couldn’t contact the outside world. It said that his parents tried to call and their son was asleep or on activities. They played phone tag which means the facility tried to call them but they were not available at those times. But that doesn’t mean that the parents household was a cult.

LOLs. Blatant attempt at obfuscation. You're really slipping today, Hoots... :roflmao:

Or was that perchance ... a Freudian slip?

It may seem a huge leap to opine that this PSI organization brainwashes kids. But the cult/brainwashing industry has been growing for decades. I have actually studied programs for kids and found a select few that do not implement brainwashing techniques. But these are exceptions to the majority that have failed a simple litmus test. One factor to consider is communication allowance in the beginning of a stay at any facility/program. Any legitimate program will allow private, limited daily communication.

The risks of severing communication from family far outweigh any benefit. There simply is no good reason to do this. On the contrary, brainwashing hinges largely on eliminating communication outside of a certain group.

[Whooter]

It was, in all likelihood, a preventable death. If it was in all certainty a preventable death, I guess we'll never know.

But... he was sent there because he was suicidal. They knew this; they were treating him for this; they had him on 15' checks as per their own SOP.

And yet, they did not follow their own SOP. Even if that was the only thing they did wrong, they are, at the very least, negligent.

Moreover, the facility appeared to, if anything, thwart communication between this kid and his family. I tell ya, it isn't much of stretch to imagine him feeling completely abandoned there, in a culturally foreign environment, far from Alaska. It might even have made him more suicidal.

I agree with this.  I don’t understand what would drive someone to send a suicidal child to Texas from Alaska.  What is it that they can do in Texas that cant be done in Alaska?  The child was probably scared with everyone being foreign with southern accents and no contact with people who were familiar to him.  Maybe this place specialized in treatment for kids with depression who didn’t respond to the mainstream therapies.

I guess I would need to understand why he was sent there.  Was it for a 6 month evaluation?  To try a new therapy?  Was he told he would be going back to Alaska after treatment?  But to think he was dumped there because of cost with little hope to return would be tragic and I could see how that would  drive him to be more suicidal.

All of this is very feasible because the industry is cost driven and even more so because we are in a recession.

I know most people here on fornits believe it but I just don’t buy into the whole secret rooms where they brainwash the kids and try to get them to join a cult and torture them which results in them killing themselves or having years of PTSD.  I just cant believe these facilities do that in the shadows of our health care system and get away with it without anyone ever knowing for over 40 years.

I think the kid was left there, was scared, never got a proper evaluation and realized he was worse off than he was in Alaska.  The 15 minute checks probably had nothing to do with it.  The child probably didn’t feel safe and knew he wouldn’t get better at this place and had no idea if he would ever get home again.  It only takes a few minutes to hang yourself.

Its sad that this had to happen and that he didn’t get the help he needed.



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[Nihilanthic]

You're so shockingly full of it whooter, you really are.

But I love you anyway. You hurt so many people.  :cheers: