Alan Chambers was 43 when he successfully hung himself behind closed doors last year at Texas West Oaks Hospital. He’d been brought there after he cut his wrists at his wife’s office, then ran home where he ate every pill in his garage apartment and assembled a pipe gun just as he was interrupted by EMTs. Although he was supposedly under suicide watch, he’d been allowed to stay in his West Oaks room unsupervised after he had a fight with his parents.
Renee was 17 when she was brought to West Oaks from another facility that deemed her too out of control for it to handle. She tried to hang herself with a shoelace and although that one was confiscated, she was allowed to keep the other one in her room.
But it’s not just horrifying anecdotes that justify looking closely at this facility’s operation. It’s also the fact that since March 2007, Texas has fined it $155,000 in total for violations of state regulations regarding the care of mentally ill patients. It was cited for everything from “failure to assure humane treatment of its patients that assures protection from harm” to “failure to monitor patients” to “failure to provide a sanitary environment.”
At the same time, critics – including former employees – say the facility is understaffed, undertrained and overstressed. In this week’s feature “Mental Anguish,” be prepared for some hard times stories and an apparent lack of common sense. – Margaret Downing
Um, am I the only one wondering why in the hell poor Amanda's parents still have cats in the house? Why would you continue to endanger animals in this way? ...Not to mention the added "stuff" this poor girl will have to work through in therapy because she has killed animals.
Posted at: May 8, 2008 11:41 AM