Discharged Prematurely ~ What?

July 21, 2011 9:51 Journal Entry:
"JW called. I'm going to go to Searcy and give him a ride."

The day after I had gotten a wisdom tooth pulled and JW had reported that all was going well he called and said they were discharging him and he needed a ride. I agreed to come and get him, but I was fit to be tied as I actually put my foot to the task to go and get him. What had gone wrong? Why were they discharging him so quickly?

I was not a happy camper on my journey to fetch JW. I pulled out of my driveway at 11:08am. I decided that before I would take JW away from this facility that was supposed to supply the help he was seriously seeking that I would talk to someone on staff about JW's case first. I wasn't at all convinced that I would give him a ride.

I arrived at the Psych Hospital at 14:17. I told them who I was and who I had come for and that I wanted to talk to someone on staff about his case before I agreed to take him away. They were very polite and said I would need to talk to a social worker. They then directed me to a waiting room to wait. I expected to see a social worker.

While I was waiting to see a social worker they showed up with JW and said, "Here he is. Bye." I asked what about the social worker? They said you agreed to come and get him and he is discharged, we're done, so bye!"

I put my foot down and told them that I was not committed to putting him in my car and leaving with him. I may just leave him in their parking lot.

With that they got a supervisor. The supervisor wasn't any help either. They now said I couldn't talk to a social worker. They were done with him and he was discharged. They claimed he declined detox. I asked JW if that was so, he said no.

I did get them to print out a list of other programs that they claimed had more "resources". With that JW and I exited the building. We found a shady spot and called a couple of places on the list.

The first place was Christian based and had a place for smokers to indulge their tobacco habit. It cost $900.00 a month. I told them I couldn't afford that. I might could handle $250.00 a month. He said, that is not necessary the people in the program are able to work the $900.00 off. Then JW reminded me that he couldn't work. So, I tried another number...

The next place told me that it was also Christian, but it was tobacco free. They also said that they would take him regardless of ability to work, but that he had to go to another place to be evaluated. This was a Thursday. To be evaluated we would have to be at the evaluation facility at 7:30am Monday morning. This presented a small problem since we were now close to the facility, but if I took JW back to my home we would be a 3 hour drive away.

Flexibility is an essential trait for helicopter pilots, so I made a decision to take JW back to my house. We would see how things would go and take it all one day at a time.

My initial speculation on why the facility JW had just been discharged from was that they did a "wallet biopsy" and found he was indigent so they wanted nothing to do with him. "Wallet biopsy" is a term used unofficially among EMS workers to indicate why some patients are accepted and others are not. After having more contact with dealing with JW I adjusted my speculation to the fact that the facility might have realized what a tough case JW is and decided they were not up to the task. Another reason they told me that other facilities have better resources. Oh Well... so much for hoping he would at least be cared for long enough for the no contact order preventing him from returning to his home to expire.

We arrived back at my house at 18:33pm in enough time for my wife to go and volunteer at the Christian Clinic.

What a day!