“*sigh* A lot's gone on today, and I shouldn't be making another post today, 'cause I need to ration. So, I probably won't make another phone post until at least Thursday evening, if not Friday.
So. Here's what's been going on.
Well, I found out that the complaint forms are utterly useless, and the quote-unquote "civil rights patients' advocate" person is also bullshit. I quizzed the patients advocate (we had a meeting about patients' rights), and the patients' advocate was very very much giving the pro-hospital line to everyone. And I already became suspicious and I was questioning things and talking about meds and what people should consider, and talking about tardive dyskinesia to people, and she was very upset, saying, you know, like, "You should leave that kind of thing up to a doctor, to tell them" and I was like "But the doctors don't tell them about that kind of side effect", and that "you may get NMF and die", even thought it's a rare side effect, I think people should be informed BEFORE they are forced to take these drugs, that there's so many nasty side effects, like diabetes, and withdrawals from things like Paxil, that are almost as bad as withdrawing from heroin. It's insane, the stuff they don't inform patients. So, I talk to patients about it, and apparently, I'm not supposed to do that.

Well, anyway, me and {name}, the patient advocate, had a little talk, and I found out that... yeah, she keeps telling everybody she's licensed through DMH, so she's impartial. But she's NOT impartial. Yeah, she's got a license through the DMH, but she reports to the hospital. She WORKS for the hospital. Her PAYCHECK comes from the hospital. She meets with the staff, before meeting with us, to get on the same page. She's a member of the staff. She pretends like she's our advocate, but she's not. She's just to here to try to give us someone to grieve to, that it won't really go anywhere.

And furthermore, they have the complaint forms. The other night, I was explained to, that we should fill out the complaint forms, and that something will happen when we fill them out. Well, the fact of the matter is that the complaint forms... if you fill out a complaint form, it gets sent to the nurse manager, Miriam. And, she has fourteen days to either... to process the complaint and figure out what to do about it. Now, especially since she's PART of the complaints, often, this really doesn't work out too well. After fourteen days, she gives her verdict, and you get the complaint form back.

Now, you ARE allowed to appeal this, though. However, the appeal goes to... guess who?! The nurse manager, again! Miriam! The same person the complaint went to in the first place. So, this isn't really an appeal, this is just sending it back to the same person. She has another fourteen days, to make another decision, to decide if her first decision was wrong, and that she actually did something wrong, and then she gives it back to you.
After that, you are allowed another appeal. Now, the other appeal is given to Karen Cook, the "patient advocate", quote-unquote, who works for Cambridge Hospital, and is invested in the Cambridge Hospital system, and SHE decides whether to send it on to DMH. If she doesn't, that's the end of the line. And, at this point, it's been two months anyways, because she's got thirty days to do that.

So, the complaint forms, they give you, that they tell you, "Oh, don't tell us what we're doing is wrong, you must fill out the complaint forms." That's not true. They don't do anything. It's utterly pointless. It's to try to make you think that you're able to complain about what's going on, but you're not.

OK. Well, that's the part that I'm angry about. And I've been informing patients, and they don't like it, about the various side effects of their meds, and several doctors have told me to stop it, and I'll tell them, "Show me where I'm wrong." And they can't, because I'm right. They just don't want the patients to know it.

[Partial transcription ends here. This post continues in the comments.]”