Lea H.
Yelp
My brother went to the hospital seeking help, and he left in worse condition than when he arrived. What we experienced was not just negligence - it was complete disregard for human life.
We arrived at the emergency room at 6:30 PM, desperate to get my brother the care he needed. My sister and I stayed with him until 4 AM, clinging to the hope that the doctors would do their jobs and help him. Instead, we watched helplessly as the hospital staff toyed with his fate, constantly changing their decision on whether to put him on a 5150 psychiatric hold. The nurses barely checked on him - maybe once every 3 to 4 hours. None of them introduced themselves. When they did appear, they stayed for just two minutes before vanishing again.
Nurse Jane was the worst. When my brother, already distressed and vulnerable, simply asked for his test results, she coldly refused and told him to wait for the doctor. Not once did she check on his well-being. Not once did she ask if he needed anything. And when he needed to use the restroom, instead of helping him properly, they made him urinate in a bottle. He lost his balance and sprained his ankle under their supervision. Imagine that - someone coming to the hospital for help and leaving with a swollen, injured foot because the very people meant to care for him could not be bothered.
And then, the worst part: he waited until 11 AM to see a psychiatrist, only to be met with a doctor on a VIDEO CALL. My brother was in the middle of a manic episode - panicked, disoriented, and desperate for help - and the hospital's solution was to have a remote doctor dismiss his condition through a screen. This doctor disagreed with Dr. Supat's decision to keep my brother under a 5150 hold and told us that there was 'no reason' to keep him. He offered no solutions, no treatment plan, and no medication. Just a cold, detached statement that my brother should seek help elsewhere.
By the time we left, my brother was not only still in a full-blown manic state, but now physically injured and unable to walk. The nurses never gave him an ice pack for his swollen foot. He asked for Advil multiple times, and they ignored him. When we were finally leaving, the last nurse almost refused to give him a wheelchair and expected him to hop out of the hospital in the rain with a swollen foot.
He never even got a proper room. Instead, we had to endure the cold, judgmental stares of a female security guard who looked at him with nothing but disgust. When he finally asked for food, she rolled her eyes and snapped, 'I already offered it to you earlier, and you said no,' refusing to even stand up. The male security guards were kind, but this woman? She made it painfully clear she did not want to be there.
We spent hours convincing my brother to seek help. We told him that the hospital was the safest place for him, that the doctors would take care of him. But instead, they ignored him. They let him suffer. They sent him home in worse condition than when he arrived.
Now, he is screaming. He is banging on doors. He is trapped in his mind, spiraling deeper, and the very people who were supposed to help him - the doctors, the nurses, the so-called mental health professionals - turned their backs on him.
No medication. No resources. Nothing.
This hospital did not just fail my brother. They failed an entire family desperate for help.
