Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but unfortunately not new to this disorder. My mother was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder about 6 years ago and it has been an uphill rollercoaster battle. Her first two hospitialization were successful as she was able to get stablized and live a significantly normal and productive life once she started taking risperdol steadily.
Every summer though, despite her taking her meds she still has an episode. She’s always been able to bounce back, but for whatever reason this year it has not been the case. Her relapse started in April and while keeping in as much close contact as we could with her doctor and changing her dosage and meds a few times, it still didn’t work.
We decided to make the hard decision to get a mental health warrant here in Texas to take her to the hospital to get help, and that was the last we heard from her. Everytime we try to call JPS they give us the same BS about HIPPA and not being able to tell us where she is or where she was taken after they intitally evaluated her. Me and my dad are pretty much distraught because we know with the state of mind she was in she wasn’t capable of telling them yes or no to consenting to her information to being released. And now we’ve been calling people everywhere trying to get information and no one is saying anything! All the mental hospitals around keep saying she has to call first, but her delusions make her afraid of the phone so I doubt until she’s in a stable condition she’ll be able to, which frightens me because with this corona virus going on we can’t even see her in person.
Has anyone else on here dealt with this, and if so what if any work around would be helpful? I told my dad we need to get either POA or guardianship, but I don’t know if that’s possible while she’s in the hospital.
yes In austin Texas . How old is she and can she sign a document. The notery will have the paper work and will meet you in the hospital.
You get a documents and take it to the hospital with the notory will meet you there and they can be call 24 hrs a day to help you. I will look up his name and number if you need more help. He was very helpful. Message me if you need me to look this up for you.
I hope she isn’t in Austin lakes.
Rock springs in George town Texas saved my son.
I’m in Fort Worth Texas. So you can get a medical power of attorney even with the person still in the hospital? Because we were told something different.
I don’t know how you could have your mom sign something when you don’t know where she is - that’s the problem, yes? JPS is the hospital in Fort Worth you believe she was taken to when they seized her with the health warrant?
@oldladyblue, if i recall correctly, she faxed (?) several hospitals giving them information about her daughter and finally someone responded.
My experience has been that the doctors and hospitals really hold the line with HIPAA.
BUT, they can always read input from you - they just won’t always reply. Giving them information without expecting a response is the usual work around.
The problem was trying to figure anything out to bypass the HIPAA law. Knowing where she was at was part of the original problem. I actually got an update on that today so we at least know where she is thanks to her actual Pdoc. Me and my dad had to call her and leave messages like crazy.
I’m gonna look into the POA thing. We have the paperwork, and if we can take it to her I’m definitely gonna do that.
UPDATE so literally two days ago the hospital that had her released her without letting us know anything. We were expecting her to be gone for at least 45 days so we weren’t expecting her out anytime soon. Luckily my dad was at home to greet her when she got there. It was literal tears of joy since we were imaginging the worst not being able to see or hear or know about her during her time there. Although it was strange we weren’t apart of the discharge hearing, but was invited for the hearing to be able to administer her medications a few weeks earlier either way I am extremely happy she made it back safe and she’s doing much better. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions, now that she’s out we will be working on getting her POA this week so we will hopefully never have to go through this scary ordeal again.
either way I am extremely happy she made it back safe and she’s doing much better. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions, now that she’s out we will be working on getting her POA this week so we will hopefully never have to go through this scary ordeal again.