Sometimes I wonder if all the good done by deinstitutionalization isn't vanishing in a cloud of mistreatment once again. Remember the woman who died on the floor of the ER at a Brooklyn psych hospital? Now a New York Daily News article reveals that's just one incident of many that make that hospital a "snake pit."
Despite several probes after the negligent death of a woman in its emergency room, Kings County Hospital's psychiatric ward remains a hellhole for its vulnerable patients. The psych ward - known as G Building - has been the scene of a half-dozen violent attacks since August, including the rape of a female patient by another patient in a day room, the Daily News has learned. The most recent incident occurred Thanksgiving weekend when a patient tried to strangle another patient, a source said.
"There's been a real spike in violence over a sustained period," the source said.
A lawyer for the city revealed the attacks in a letter to Brooklyn Federal Magistrate Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, who is presiding over a suit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the state Mental Hygiene Legal Service against the hospital.
Lawyer Emily Sweet wanted to fax the letter to the judge under seal, but Matsumoto ordered the shocking disclosures be made public.
"We regret to inform the court that there have been several reported recent instances of alleged patient-on-patient violence as well as inappropriate sexual contact among patients," Sweet's letter begins.
The letter refers only to the Thanksgiving incident as being confirmed, but the source said a suspect in the rape has been arrested.
In a tragic twist, the rape victim was being treated at the hospital for depression related to having been raped earlier.
Can you imagine anything worse? As a rape survivor, I simply cannot imagine being the victim of such a violation in the wake of the first violation and coming through that mentally intact. That woman's life could be ruined. There were times, even many years after I was raped, when I was in situations where I felt vulnerable to violation. Just having that feeling was enough to trigger flashbacks and depression, if not outright breaks from reality.
Daily News writer John Marzulli writes, "The feds are expected to release soon a 'findings letter,' a precursor to government legal action. The letter will outline violations at the hospital." That's going to be one hell of a letter.
Brooklyn psych ward a snake pit
Thanks to Joe for the tip.
Sometimes I wonder if all the good done by deinstitutionalization isn't vanishing in a cloud of mistreatment once again. Remember the woman who died on the floor of the ER at a Brooklyn psych hospital? Now a New York Daily News article reveals that's just one incident of many that make that hospital a "snake pit."
Can you imagine anything worse? As a rape survivor, I simply cannot imagine being the victim of such a violation in the wake of the first violation and coming through that mentally intact. That woman's life could be ruined. There were times, even many years after I was raped, when I was in situations where I felt vulnerable to violation. Just having that feeling was enough to trigger flashbacks and depression, if not outright breaks from reality.
Daily News writer John Marzulli writes, "The feds are expected to release soon a 'findings letter,' a precursor to government legal action. The letter will outline violations at the hospital." That's going to be one hell of a letter.
Brooklyn psych ward a snake pit
Thanks to Joe for the tip.