The other day I was about to discharge a psych patient who had been signed out to me from the night before. The psychiatrist had evaluated a woman with a long history of cocaine and ETOH abuse who had come in seeking psych admission. It was evident to the doctor that the patient was just “wanting a place to stay” because she did not like staying with her sister any more. She denied suicidal ideation and had never had a history of self injury. Thus, he told me I could discharge her. Great. No prob.
Five minutes later all hell broke loose. The woman absolutely refused to leave and threw everything around in her room. She screamed curses at us and spat on the floor. She capped off this tantrum with a loud proclamation – “God Dammit, I am gonna KILL MYSELF if you don’t admit me!!!! To me, this was obvious bull shit and I was ready to call the police to escort her out, but alas, my spineless psychiatric Doctor had no such balls. He broke down after 10 minutes and admitted her for hotel room accommodations at taxpayer expense because of her threats. Of course I found out that two days later, after the long weekend, she signed herself out of the hospital, evidently convincing the psychiatrist on call that day that she was not suicidal after all. What a surprise.
