is being sectioned the right thing to do

dondon

Registered User
Nov 1, 2006
6
0
canada
I live in Canada and my dad who has been diagnosed with alzheimers yesterday as some of you will have read my dad tried to commit suicide and now his doctor has visited with him and told my mother they need him to b sectioned if he will not go voluntarily he will be forced i understand why this has to b done but am very worried of the affect it will have on him he has already suggested today that he wants to attempt his life again i feel so guilty for not flying home but my mum ssures me if she really needs me home she will ask am i doing the right thing staying in canada with my husband and kids and will sectioning my dad have any reasl affect i dont think it will i think it will hinder more than help i am so unsure of how to deal with this situation as he was only diagnosed a year ago but has deteriorated so fast i seriously thought it would take longer .
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
Hi dondon

it is a difficult one to answer, so I'll just give my personal opinion.... which is that being sectioned is the right thing to do if it is the only thing left to do

that is, it should be used as a last resort.

I considered it once for my wife and asked the doctor what he thought. He advised me to do everything I could other than having her sectioned - "it is not very nice", he said.

I followed his advice, which worked in our case.
 

dondon

Registered User
Nov 1, 2006
6
0
canada
thanks for that bruce

it is the last resort as my mum cant go home she is staying with my brother as my dad has developed a serious paranoid state towards my mum and thje drs have told her to stay away from him as it it most likely he will cause her harm and he wont allow anyone else in the house not even my brother its a dreadfull situation to b in but as we have all been told it has to be im hoping it might pull him round to some normality but my gut tells me he really has lost the will to live and fight this terrible illness
 

Helena

Registered User
May 24, 2006
715
0
I am in pretty much the same situation

My Mother is not fit to live alone by any manner of means yet if asked she will INSIST on going home

So sectioning may well be the only way forward
 

Áine

Registered User
Feb 22, 2006
994
0
sort of north east ish
Hi dondon

Like Brucie says, sectioning isn't nice ........ but it doesn't have to be awful either. The people signing the section should, at least in theory, take full account of the whole situation and believe that there is no other viable option. What it could offer is a chance to do a more detailed assessment on dad and explore treatment options. If dad, once in hospital, indicates that he is willing to stay voluntarily, he will probably be taken off the section. Having said that, when I was a social worker, many moons ago, the fact that you'd been admitted on section rather than as a voluntary patient, meant that you had certain rights to aftercare that people who were admitted voluntarily didn't have. So there are some advantages to it.

It must be so hard being the other side of the ocean from him when things like this are happening, and feel torn between parents and husband/kids. I found it hard enough just being hte other side of the city.