I don't even know if this is the proper subreddit to post this, but it deals with the issue of getting a person mental health services when the person is not cognizant of their own problems and refusing to be evaluated.
My aunt has been living with what I believe is undiagnosed schizophrenia for many many years now. She has never worked, and instead depended on her husband to work several jobs to get by. She has detached herself and her family from the rest of society. She has had very strong religious preoccupations, believing God spoke to her directly, claiming to have received strange visions and dreams concerning all of our lives, etc. In the past couple of years it got worse. She started to believe that her husband had been smearing feces all over the house, and made him replace several appliances, including the refrigerator a couple of times, because she believed he had smeared feces on them. At one point she would not eat the food she prepared, because she believed someone had been entering her home and putting his hand in all of the food when she wasn't looking. The worst incident, which might be useful information: she doesn't believe in the use of medicine (somewhat related to her religious preoccupations) and withheld medications from her father (my grandfather) when he was ill and caused him to pass away prematurely. I could go on, but I believe this paints a generalized picture.
The problem is, her siblings have been trying to get her help for years now. She, of course, has no awareness of her need for help and refuses. Her husband is afraid to be without her, and never gave us his consent either. He is afraid that if she gets mental help, she will be committed for her entire life. Her son withdrew from society in his 20s, and I have not seen my cousin in over 10 years.
This past week, we learned that my uncle had been ill. Long story short, he had been having abdominal pain for a month that turned out to be BPH. He ignored it as best as he could, but it got to the point where he was unable to pass urine for 5 days, developed acute kidney failure, and was lying in bed almost completely unresponsive and peeing blood. At this point, my aunt refused to take him to a hospital, claiming that he had cheated on her and his illness was a result of his actions. Instead of helping him, she stood over his bed and kept yelling at him to confess to what he had done.
Luckily, my mom caught wind of what was happening and rushed over to house and took him to a hospital. Had another day passed, he would have most likely died.
My aunt does not visit her husband in the hospital, and is begging her son (who was made proxy for the time being) to bring his father home. The hospital has been made aware of the situation, and he is recuperating for now.
The issue is that my aunt is furious that we brought her husband to the hospital and does not want to care with him or deal with the issue of ongoing dialysis. I don't know what is going on in her mind, whether she wants him to live or die.. I think her disease has progressed so far I don't blame her for her actions or what she is saying.
This incident has been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to say. Is there anyway to get my aunt help against her will? Does this incident with her husband count as an act of aggression or violence against her husband? As far as I know, she has never shown herself to be a danger to herself. We are desperate for help at this point.
Submitted April 13, 2016 at 07:49AM by Banana_Havok http://ift.tt/1S5kXCg legaladvice
No comments:
Post a Comment