Boy committed despite having no mental health problems
Quote:
Karen Lende was left shocked, frustrated and angry when her son Jai Ferris, 14, was taken from the special needs unit at Spotswood College to Taranaki Base Hospital under the Mental Health Act.
When he came home three weeks later Jai didn't want to leave the house.
"Jai is pretty scared and little bit traumatised. Full of anxiety."
She didn't want him to be admitted but didn't have any say in the matter, she said.
Lende said a mental health worker had sent Jai to the hospital, but Taranaki DHB child psychiatrist Yariv Doran said he didn't know who had invoked the act.
But by the time a patient gets to the hospital they have been assessed by at least four people, Doran said.
"If anyone along the way thinks it's not justifiable it will stop, so if any client reaches our doorstep it means he or she has been seen by a few people before us and they are of the same agreement - this person needs to be assessed."
It had to be a massive crisis for the Mental Health Act to be invoked and an independent auditor assessed all patients admitted under the act on a daily basis, he said.
Lende said she had been trying to get help for Jai for more than three years.
"I guess this is what happens when you don't have help."
The day had started badly with Jai refusing to get into the van to go to school, she said.
"He just didn't want to comply with anything. I have been struggling quite a bit and the teacher who picked him up suggested I call the police."
In the past she had been advised to ring the police, so she could start a paper trail that might help her get some assistance, she said.
"So, the cops came and got him out of the house and into the school van."
Jai then sat in the corner of his classroom quite shaken up, she said. She thought he would have calmed down, but her son was taken to Te Puna Waiora, the mental health ward at Taranaki Base Hospital.
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“Self Acceptance is a process not a performance”
“You are autistic enough. And you always have been”
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
14 May 2017, 1:19 am
