Hello all,
First post here (aside from introducing myself a few months ago).
My lovely dad (73) has moved dementia, he was diagnosed in 2020. Things have sadly deteriorated and long story short he is being detained under section 3, in a psychiatric unit. He has been there approximately 6 weeks, and in that time he has totally deteriorated.
He went from being himself to now in a zombie like state. Before being in hospital he had good speech, could converse with people, recognised his family, could enjoy activities like throwing a ball, watch tv, and he also had good mobility and could walk unaided.
His ‘treatment’ in the psych hospital has been to stop all his previous meds, including lorazepam prn, and put him on a twice daily dose of diazepam which has increased each week. He has become unrecognisable. My lovely dad has gone and he is like a shell of his former self. He can now barely recognise his family, he does not smile, and has no interest in anything. He can barely talk and just mumbles a few incoherent words every now and then. He is also very unsteady on his feet and requires 2 people supporting him to walk, and he can only walk a few steps at a time without becoming unsteady. He had been aggressive to staff on the unit, and could be unpredictable, and I feel the staff find him more manageable in his current state. Although he can still be aggressive so I don’t think the problems have been solved, and in my mind he is now far worse off than when he arrived there. They have sacrificed his personality and emotions to make him complaint and docile, all he does is sit in a chair and stare at the floor.
It has been horrifying to see him change in such a short period of time. We have had several informal meetings and phone calls with his doctor, who does not take our concerns on board and carries on with his treatment plan which is to increase the diazepam more. We feel totally helpless, and are desperate for them to dramatically reduce his diazepam dose and ideally stop it all together, as we just cannot bear to see him like this, and know it must be the drugs as it has all happened since being there.
We have a meeting tomorrow with this doctors supervisor (a consultant, who apparantly oversees his work as he is still a psychiatrist in training). We have not met this consultant before, but I am keen to put forward my point of view and for him to agree to lower the dose. We have been told as he is under a section 3 we have no legal say in his treatment for his dementia. My questions are:
Has anyone been in a similar situation where by you disagree with the treatment plan of a loved one on a section 3?
Does anyone know legally what our rights are and how we can challenge their medical decision if it comes to that?
Any advice greatly appreciated, I’m so desperate to get a bit of my dad back, and I really don’t believe this current treatment is in his best interests.
Thanks in advance
First post here (aside from introducing myself a few months ago).
My lovely dad (73) has moved dementia, he was diagnosed in 2020. Things have sadly deteriorated and long story short he is being detained under section 3, in a psychiatric unit. He has been there approximately 6 weeks, and in that time he has totally deteriorated.
He went from being himself to now in a zombie like state. Before being in hospital he had good speech, could converse with people, recognised his family, could enjoy activities like throwing a ball, watch tv, and he also had good mobility and could walk unaided.
His ‘treatment’ in the psych hospital has been to stop all his previous meds, including lorazepam prn, and put him on a twice daily dose of diazepam which has increased each week. He has become unrecognisable. My lovely dad has gone and he is like a shell of his former self. He can now barely recognise his family, he does not smile, and has no interest in anything. He can barely talk and just mumbles a few incoherent words every now and then. He is also very unsteady on his feet and requires 2 people supporting him to walk, and he can only walk a few steps at a time without becoming unsteady. He had been aggressive to staff on the unit, and could be unpredictable, and I feel the staff find him more manageable in his current state. Although he can still be aggressive so I don’t think the problems have been solved, and in my mind he is now far worse off than when he arrived there. They have sacrificed his personality and emotions to make him complaint and docile, all he does is sit in a chair and stare at the floor.
It has been horrifying to see him change in such a short period of time. We have had several informal meetings and phone calls with his doctor, who does not take our concerns on board and carries on with his treatment plan which is to increase the diazepam more. We feel totally helpless, and are desperate for them to dramatically reduce his diazepam dose and ideally stop it all together, as we just cannot bear to see him like this, and know it must be the drugs as it has all happened since being there.
We have a meeting tomorrow with this doctors supervisor (a consultant, who apparantly oversees his work as he is still a psychiatrist in training). We have not met this consultant before, but I am keen to put forward my point of view and for him to agree to lower the dose. We have been told as he is under a section 3 we have no legal say in his treatment for his dementia. My questions are:
Has anyone been in a similar situation where by you disagree with the treatment plan of a loved one on a section 3?
Does anyone know legally what our rights are and how we can challenge their medical decision if it comes to that?
Any advice greatly appreciated, I’m so desperate to get a bit of my dad back, and I really don’t believe this current treatment is in his best interests.
Thanks in advance
