Yesterday, I took Logan to his appointment at our local mhmr. Why do we go to an mhmr? Because, every door we've knocked on to try and get Logan psychiatric care has been closed in our faces. If you want psychiatric help for a child, you either need to be a private pay patient (which can cost thousands of dollars), or go through months of waiting lists. We went to several different places that either told us they could not help us or that we needed to take Logan to the ER if he had an episode. So, when the mhmr said they had a pediatric psychiatrist that would see Logan, I was thrilled.
This is how the first meeting went: An elderly gentlemen came in to the office and sat down. Spread out on his desk and open for all the world to see was another patient's case file, which referred to that patient as an "incompetent person". The man had a thick file folder, which belonged to my son. He asked me to "fill him in" because he hadn't read through the file at all. (We'd been waiting to see this man for about three months. He had plenty of time to familiarize himself with my son's case), So, I filled him in. While we were in there, my son rocked back and forth, making lots of noise, asking constantly to go home, hitting himself on the head because he was anxious and frustrated. When my older son took Logan out of the room, the doctor looked up from skimming over my son's file and said, "Thank you." Not once did he look at my son, try to speak with him, reassure him, or anything of that nature.
Meanwhile, my two year old daughter was yelling because she was tired of being in her stroller and didn't understand why she couldn't run around and get into everything. The good doctor looked at her, and told me "That's not normal." "It's not?" I asked. "No, all that yelling and noise, that's not normal, is it?"
He went on to inform me that I could put my son in a home if he became too hard to handle. He said he could not help us beyond providing medication management for Logan. The session was over.
The second time we went to see this crackpot (because Logan does need medication, that is a fact), we were led into a large conference room with a tv. We were told he would be visiting with us via Telemed. In other words, it would be a video conference call. Unfortunately, the clinic could not bring him up on the screen and the internet was down. This was after they took Logan's vital signs at the same time they were taking another lady's. (HIPAA violation number 2).
Disgusted with the entire procedure, I informed the nurse (or whatever she was), that we were not told this would be a telemed appointment, and that we would be leaving. I later found out from the mhmr rights officer that they have had numerous complaints regarding the telemed system.
I was also informed by the rights officer that Pecan Valley MH/MR does not have an autism division, and that the "director wants to start one, but the funding just isn't there".
Now, let me tell you what is absolutely, completely WRONG with this entire scenario. You have a pediatric psychiatrist who has admitted openly that he "cannot help". By his very words and actions, he has displayed an uncaring attitude towards his patient, my son. You have staff that fail to inform patients that they will not be seeing a doctor in person, they will be communicating via a tv screen, which, in my humble opinion, is a completely ineffective method for treating autistic individuals. You have medical staff taking the vital signs (weight, blood pressure) of two patients at the same time. (Hey, maybe the lady next to us didn't want to do that in the company of strangers!) You have an mhmr in the state of Texas who is supposed to provide services to an autistic individual under the general revenue fund, saying that they can't because there are no funds.
The system is so completely broken it's a nightmare. I sat there while those people fiddled with the tv screen, watching my son lay his head down on his arm, and just got angry. Why should he have to put up with this because no one knows what they're doing or they're unwilling to help? He deserves better. All people with mental health issues do!
I can only say that this is the beginning of a long fight. If I can make a difference for one person, even if that person is just my kid, then it's a start.
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