Do I have a case for lawsuit?

[broken1477]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

My 9-year-old daughter has epilepsy. She had an increased dosage to one of her medications. 2 days later, her behavior became very aggressive, violent, and scary. At the advice of her Neurologist, we had her admitted to the hospital on Wednesday for testing and a psychological evaluation and treatment. No physical causes could be found. On Friday, a psychologist evaluated her for a period of approx. 5 minutes. Upon concluding, she told us that she needed to be committed. We expressed our concerns to her making such a life-impacting decision based on such a short evaluation, and stated that my wife and I needed to discuss if we felt this was the right course of treatment. She then replied that if we were not willing to immediately admit her, she would initiate proceedings to make it involuntary. All of this was discussed in front of my daughter in the hospital room. At no point did my wife or I leave a seated position, or raise our voices, but the hospital room was flooded with security guards. We consulted a Mental Health Officer in the room, who also performed an evaluation on her. According to him, my daughter did not meet the criteria for an emergency detention. He also stated that we were free to leave the hospital at any time. Upon his exit, a caseworker from Child Protective Services entered the room stating that she had been alerted to allegations that we were refusing treatment for our daughter. We spoke to her for quite a while, restating over and over that we brought her to the hospital for treatment, not to deny her care. At that point, and only that point, the Child Protective Services caseworker got one of the attending physicians to sit down and explain our daughter's issues in detail. He suggested that we start her on a new medication that would need to be monitored for the first 3-5 days she was on it. We were agreeable, and were told that it needed to be done in a psychiatric facility. Again, we were agreeable. No beds could be found in an adequate facility. We filed a formal complaint with the hospital patient representative. My daughter was given the new medication, and has since returned to normal. A psychologist reevaluated her today, and has determined that she does not need to go to the psychiatric facility, simply to seek outpatient follow-up care. My daughter was traumatized by the prospect of being forcibly removed from her family, especially since these discussions were conducted in front of her. I now have Child Protective Services in my life, also. We have many more details, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop there. Do I have a potential case for improper conduct against the hospital/doctor?

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

My 9-year-old daughter has epilepsy. She had an increased dosage to one of her medications. 2 days later, her behavior became very aggressive, violent, and scary. At the advice of her Neurologist, we had her admitted to the hospital on Wednesday for testing and a psychological evaluation and treatment. No physical causes could be found. On Friday, a psychologist evaluated her for a period of approx. 5 minutes. Upon concluding, she told us that she needed to be committed. We expressed our concerns to her making such a life-impacting decision based on such a short evaluation, and stated that my wife and I needed to discuss if we felt this was the right course of treatment. She then replied that if we were not willing to immediately admit her, she would initiate proceedings to make it involuntary. All of this was discussed in front of my daughter in the hospital room. At no point did my wife or I leave a seated position, or raise our voices, but the hospital room was flooded with security guards. We consulted a Mental Health Officer in the room, who also performed an evaluation on her. According to him, my daughter did not meet the criteria for an emergency detention. He also stated that we were free to leave the hospital at any time. Upon his exit, a caseworker from Child Protective Services entered the room stating that she had been alerted to allegations that we were refusing treatment for our daughter. We spoke to her for quite a while, restating over and over that we brought her to the hospital for treatment, not to deny her care. At that point, and only that point, the Child Protective Services caseworker got one of the attending physicians to sit down and explain our daughter's issues in detail. He suggested that we start her on a new medication that would need to be monitored for the first 3-5 days she was on it. We were agreeable, and were told that it needed to be done in a psychiatric facility. Again, we were agreeable. No beds could be found in an adequate facility. We filed a formal complaint with the hospital patient representative. My daughter was given the new medication, and has since returned to normal. A psychologist reevaluated her today, and has determined that she does not need to go to the psychiatric facility, simply to seek outpatient follow-up care. My daughter was traumatized by the prospect of being forcibly removed from her family, especially since these discussions were conducted in front of her. I now have Child Protective Services in my life, also. We have many more details, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop there. Do I have a potential case for improper conduct against the hospital/doctor?

What provable harm occurred?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

My 9-year-old daughter has epilepsy. She had an increased dosage to one of her medications. 2 days later, her behavior became very aggressive, violent, and scary. At the advice of her Neurologist, we had her admitted to the hospital on Wednesday for testing and a psychological evaluation and treatment. No physical causes could be found. On Friday, a psychologist evaluated her for a period of approx. 5 minutes. Upon concluding, she told us that she needed to be committed. We expressed our concerns to her making such a life-impacting decision based on such a short evaluation, and stated that my wife and I needed to discuss if we felt this was the right course of treatment. She then replied that if we were not willing to immediately admit her, she would initiate proceedings to make it involuntary. All of this was discussed in front of my daughter in the hospital room. At no point did my wife or I leave a seated position, or raise our voices, but the hospital room was flooded with security guards. We consulted a Mental Health Officer in the room, who also performed an evaluation on her. According to him, my daughter did not meet the criteria for an emergency detention.

Two professionals evaluated her for about the same amount of time, in the same hospital? Why does one trump the other? If anything, I could see the committal-preferring professional being given a bit more credence if only for one reason - with children and psych issues, they tend to err on the side of caution whenever feasible.

He also stated that we were free to leave the hospital at any time. Upon his exit, a caseworker from Child Protective Services entered the room stating that she had been alerted to allegations that we were refusing treatment for our daughter. We spoke to her for quite a while, restating over and over that we brought her to the hospital for treatment, not to deny her care. At that point, and only that point, the Child Protective Services caseworker got one of the attending physicians to sit down and explain our daughter's issues in detail. He suggested that we start her on a new medication that would need to be monitored for the first 3-5 days she was on it. We were agreeable, and were told that it needed to be done in a psychiatric facility. Again, we were agreeable. No beds could be found in an adequate facility. We filed a formal complaint with the hospital patient representative. My daughter was given the new medication, and has since returned to normal. A psychologist reevaluated her today, and has determined that she does not need to go to the psychiatric facility, simply to seek outpatient follow-up care. My daughter was traumatized by the prospect of being forcibly removed from her family, especially since these discussions were conducted in front of her. I now have Child Protective Services in my life, also. We have many more details, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop there. Do I have a potential case for improper conduct against the hospital/doctor?

What is your desired result?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

My 9-year-old daughter has epilepsy. She had an increased dosage to one of her medications. 2 days later, her behavior became very aggressive, violent, and scary. At the advice of her Neurologist, we had her admitted to the hospital on Wednesday for testing and a psychological evaluation and treatment. No physical causes could be found. On Friday, a psychologist evaluated her for a period of approx. 5 minutes. Upon concluding, she told us that she needed to be committed. We expressed our concerns to her making such a life-impacting decision based on such a short evaluation, and stated that my wife and I needed to discuss if we felt this was the right course of treatment. She then replied that if we were not willing to immediately admit her, she would initiate proceedings to make it involuntary. All of this was discussed in front of my daughter in the hospital room. At no point did my wife or I leave a seated position, or raise our voices, but the hospital room was flooded with security guards. We consulted a Mental Health Officer in the room, who also performed an evaluation on her. According to him, my daughter did not meet the criteria for an emergency detention. He also stated that we were free to leave the hospital at any time. Upon his exit, a caseworker from Child Protective Services entered the room stating that she had been alerted to allegations that we were refusing treatment for our daughter. We spoke to her for quite a while, restating over and over that we brought her to the hospital for treatment, not to deny her care. At that point, and only that point, the Child Protective Services caseworker got one of the attending physicians to sit down and explain our daughter's issues in detail. He suggested that we start her on a new medication that would need to be monitored for the first 3-5 days she was on it. We were agreeable, and were told that it needed to be done in a psychiatric facility. Again, we were agreeable. No beds could be found in an adequate facility. We filed a formal complaint with the hospital patient representative. My daughter was given the new medication, and has since returned to normal. A psychologist reevaluated her today, and has determined that she does not need to go to the psychiatric facility, simply to seek outpatient follow-up care. My daughter was traumatized by the prospect of being forcibly removed from her family, especially since these discussion were conducted in front of her. I now have Child Protective Services in my life, also. We have many more details, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop there. Do I have a potential case for improper conduct against the hospital/doctor?

Well, to some extent I disagree with the other people who responded. I think that the first doctor way over-reacted to the situation by filling the hospital room with security and then bringing in CPS. The first doctor should have brought in the attending physician to both talk to you and to also evaluate the child. I also think that the first doctor handled it in such a way to cause maximum trauma to your child...and that was a HUGE no no. I am actually pretty impressed with the CPS caseworker. I think that she handled it way better than the first doctor did.

You have made a complaint and believe me, those complaints are taken seriously even if you do not ever find out the outcome. The first doctor is going to face repercussions for handling it so badly.

However, I do not think that you have grounds to file a lawsuit...and I don't think that CPS is going to remain in your lives for long, at all. However, if you have the option to use a different hospital in the future, I would suggest that you do so. If you have to use the same hospital in the future, that you discuss your concerns with your daughter's psychologist and make sure that she keeps in the loop if your daughter needs the hospital again. (that is probably a good idea anyway)