A male employee of the crisis unit just coughed.

December 21, 2014

It was right after I had walked past the office.

When I was at the Arbour HRI Hospital in October, and had just applied again to be a Department of a Mental Health client, he was assigned to be my temporary worker.

He visited me in the hospital.  Coincidentally, he visited me the day after  I had had the bad medication reaction and was still feeling a lot of effects from it.  I had first met him at this crisis unit, months before, because he works here.

Several times during our conversation at the Arbour hospital, he said "You're very interesting to me, Lena," and "I have always thought you were an interesting person."  I tried to keep the conversation friendly and professional.  I then asked him please to deliver a letter that I had written about my situation at the hospital to the judge of the commitment hearing.  I felt that it was important that the judge get an articulate and obviously not crazy description of what was happening to me in the hospital.  The worker refused to do it.  I asked him several times, telling him that it was important that the judge heard my side of the story.  He said he'd ask (horrible coughing by a male patient outside my window while I write this) his supervisor, who is also the supervisor of this unit.  I'm sure that when he did talk to her about it, he let her know that he didn't want to deliver the letter.  She called me and said it was something my lawyer should deal with.

I was fortunate that there were some staff at the hospital who helped me by faxing the letter to the courthouse, and by photocopying it for me.  It was a long letter; I had a lot of things to write about, incidents to describe, including the way I was treated when I had the reaction to medication.  I also gave a copy of the letter to (horrible coughing outside my window) my lawyer and asked her to send a copy of it to the hospital's attorney.

I did a lot of preparation for being taken to court, and I did not get committed.  The doctor wanted to discharge me as soon as the hearing was over.

What might have happened, though, if I'd had no alternative to that DMH worker, to get my letter to the judge?

I told the unit supervisor about the things that the worker had said when he met with me.  I told her that I thought I should have a female worker, and I got one.

Nobody's stopping the harassment of me, though.  I'm being viciously treated about that, and it would not surprise me if I were asked to leave.

Copyright L. Kochman, December 21, 2014 @ 10:30 a.m.