Hi There, I wondered If you could help me please, My Nephew Has schizophrenia, He keeps turning to Drugs and Drink and keeps not taking his medication. When He misses his meds, he gets violent and threatens you, he creeped out my 15 year old daughter last xmas by cornering her in her bedroom, but she managed to get past him, but he did the same thing to another girl, he tried to make a pass at her… his latest drama is hes been arrested for attacking a man in broad daylight, and the man had to go to hospital… He was sectioned this week for assessment… Since then he has been sending threatening messages to my family members, threatening to kill them, he messaged me and my daughter mentioning Fire and throwing Acid in our faces. And last week he said me and my daughter are going to burn in hell… He has had a fascination with fire since being a little boy, he burnt my daughter’s doll head off once and just laughed… My question is this please, Should I take his threats seriously or just forget about them and move on. My sister - his mother said what do I expect, hes In a mental hospital, and obvsioulsy not thinking right and that I was making a drama about it, and being too sensitive… Am I being Sensitive or should I follow my gut instinct which is he could attack us both, or my other family members for that matter.
Hi Topcat. It sounds like your nephew is very ill. With all that history, He’s been hospitalized before right? If not, then this hospitalization is well overdue.
Every single threat of violence that has happened and is still happening needs to be shared with the hospital treatment team as soon as possible. Write a clear list of when and what happened. It should go in his permanent file. Keep a copy for yourself.
This is the kind of information that will keep him hospitalized for a longer period. This is the kind of information that will get forced medication approved.
If your nephew is an adult and he didn’t sign a communication waiver, HIPAA laws can keep doctors from sharing your nephew’s treatment information with you. But, the laws can’t prevent you from sharing your own information with the treatment team. So get as much detailed information to the team as possible, as soon as possible.
If they let your nephew out before he is fully well and compliant with meds, then yes, you absolutely should take his threats seriously. When your nephew is psychotic, he’s a “danger to others”.
Telling the hospital that my son would not be able to come home to us unless he was on monthly injectable medication was a game changer. It worked, and he’s been on injectables for the last 6 months.
I’m so sorry this has happened to you all.