On November 25, 2022, things are no longer going well. You already felt fragile for some time, but there, terror and helplessness invade you in the face of the war in Ukraine which could be nuclearized. Your speech becomes confused, you have compulsive gestures, you can no longer concentrate on anything.
Bravely, you show up at the emergency room. We must seek help, we are told everywhere. Once there, the staff isolate you kindly in a closed corner. The wait being long, you want to go out for a walk. Locked ! “You can’t go out,” you are told.
Stunned, you realize that you have been locked up. Like anyone else, your anxiety is skyrocketing.
Then you are handed a document to sign. Alarmed, you can’t concentrate to read it well. You want some time to explain to you what’s going on. “You sign now or we keep you forcibly for 72 hours”, you are told.
Shock !
Terrorized, you sign… and are forcibly interned for 6 days, 144 hours, in psychiatry. Obliged to take “tranquilizers, just a sleeping pill”. You demand to know what it is, to know the side effects. No answer, so you decline. Too bad, we forcefully inject it into you.
You want to go home, but you are told that you have no right to leave. Panicked, you try to contact organizations for the defense of mental health rights.
1er December, you receive a message informing you that according to law P-38, the hospital has no right to keep you against your will, if you do not present an immediate danger to yourself or to others (suicidal danger or homicidal within 48 hours).
1er December evening, we then agree to grant you “a right to leave”, on the condition of returning the day after. By the way, if the person is so dangerous as to justify his internment, what is the logic of giving him a right of exit1 ?
On December 2, you hasten to find out more about your rights and this P-38 law that no one knows about2.
Amazement! You note that in full violation of several articles of this law, not only were you not informed of anything, but you were also hospitalized without valid reason and your free and informed consent was ignored, both for the hospitalization than for treatment.
Worse, you were lied to about your rights, about the treatment you were given (the medication is an antipsychotic and not a sleeping pill or tranquillizer) and it was under threat that your signature was obtained for preventive confinement which should not exceed 72 hours.
I’ll spare you the rest, because the soap opera continues.
Given the rapid deterioration of her condition, yes, my client had to go to the emergency room. For help, not to be imprisoned without her knowledge and to be abused by many lies and violations of her rights! I understand that traumatic events perpetrated by patients put us on edge. This is why Bill P-38 is preventive. If the person “presents a serious and immediate danger to himself or to others”, safety prevails.
Unfortunately, I have heard this kind of story too often. But partial psychic disorganization is not synonymous with mortal danger. This abusive and dehumanizing way in which hospital services treat people who come to their emergency voluntarily to receive help is extremely counter-productive and damaging to their mental health.
In addition, a patient who has already had the right to this kind of treatment has every chance of not wanting to go to the emergency room again if necessary and that is where the real danger lies.
If you weren’t already crazy before it happened to you, there’s plenty to become!