Scheduling
I scheduled someone yesterday.the guy came in after an overdose. although he was willing to stay in hospital, i was told by his girlfriend that he threatened to end either one of their lives if she carries out her threat of leaving him. He'd also breached the AVO she has against him that night. I wasn't sure if i should schedule him so i consulted someone, cos scheduling someone sounded like a big thing. they said it was a grey area but said they wouldn't cos a "threat to kill" is only a potential act, which anyone could or could not end up doing. Although, initially i saw his logic, before i left for work, decided to schedule him to be safe. i couldn't wait for him to carry out what he's threatened to do, cos it'd be too late. Besides, although he'd never been formally diagnosed to have a mental illness, after speaking with him, i thought that he had disordered thought content, cognitive state and insight. But i wasn't entirely sure at the beginning, cos not having touched psych for 2 years i really wasn't very sharp in that area. What's normal, and what's not??? But, when an hour later, he told me that he could feel and see his skin drying up as we spoke and kept asking for more water, i decided that he was well and truely mentally ill. Hope i made the right call...
Oh, forgot to mention, i also got a call from the police earlier telling us to let them know if he's to be discharged cos they might need to arrest him.
scheduling = basically, we think someone's mentally ill or disordered and are at threat to themselves or others, so if they try to leave our institution, the police, under the Mental Health Act, have the right to keep them in.
I had this great sense of power as i signed that paper.
posted by zhinger @ 12:54 am
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