Complaint Review: Georgia Regional Hospita Augusta GRHA

I was admitted to Georgia Regional Hospital Augusta GRHA)into Ash Unit, which is a Mental Institution, for the first time in December 1977. Subsequent admissions (about 20) took place until 1999. It came to my attention around 1997 that GRHA, after requesting my medical records, had falsified my medical records.

When I initially requested my medical records from GRHA, I was told that vol. 1 could not be found. About a week or more later, I was told it had been found. After reviewing the medical records I'd been given, I noticed some discrepancies or outright alteration/falsification of them.

The medical records I obtained, stated that my very first admission to GRHA was in 1981, which is not true. After much prayer, brainstorming and flash backs, I remember that I was at Mercer University in Macon, GA (left Mercer in 1980). Also, the records stated, during my very first admission, I was housed in Oak Unit, which is untrue.

My very first admission was to Ash Unit (GRHA) as an alcohol and drug user, even though I had had a Nervous Breakdown or first bout with Mental Illness, which has been a lifelong struggle. I believe the reason I was admitted to Ash Unit, even though I was suffering from a Mental Illness is because I confided that I had used marijuana and alcohol. The second admission to GRHA was in 1981 to Oak Unit, this time as a psychiatric patient.

During my first admission to Ash Unit in December 1977, I knocked a metal door off it's top hinge and bolted lock and left it hanging on the bottom hinge, which wasn't annotated in my medical records. Did this happen because of the strong anti-psychotic(?) medication GRHA administered to me? At the time of the accident I was having auditory hallucinations.

I'm grateful to God for a young African American Nurse that was on duty that night. She was very alert and came to my aid within seconds of my hitting the door, which stunned me for a few moments. It was my intentions to keep running to the next outer door, which was wood.

Also, during subsequent admissions to GRHA, while on the Adult Admissions Unit (AAU), or North Unit, I was put in seclusion and literally bound with "fetter-like" leather and metal, chain-like devices on several admissions, this isn't mentioned in my medical records. Was the annotation of it an oversight like the negligence in annotating my medical records to reflect the accident (knocking off the top hinge and lock of a metal door) in December 1977 that occurred in Ash Unit?

Should a patient who is in a Mental Institution be physically forced to take antipsychotic medications by injection, even if he/she does not exhibit dangerous behavior that might lead to him/her hurting himself/herself or others? While admitted to GRHA, this is exactly happened to me more than once during different admissions. On one such incident, a female Nurse at GRHA, North or AAU, injected antipsychotic(?) medication into my exposed buttocks, while a male HST laid on the bed with me and held me down, as another worker helped.

Several prior and/or present employees of GRHA have been notified to help me put the "puzzle peices" together - verify what I have remembered. When talking to an employee (employed for over 25 years at GRHA) about my first admission having been in 1977 and not 1981, she said, "I know you were here or had been here before then". But, she said there was no records to reflect or verify it.

A previous Caseworker or Counselor at GRHA was notified about my problem, falsified medical records from GRHA. When this person requested my medical records, the individual was told vol. 1 was missing. This was after I had obtained a copy of my medical records.

I've consulted with friends and relatives who knew me and my condition and admission to GRHA in December 1977. They have concurred that my admission was at that time, which has encouraged me to get to the bottom of this delimma. Can all of us be wrong?

A family friend had a nervous breakdown in 1975 and remembers mine was too long afterwards. A relative was in High School, 12th grade at the time of my first admission, December 1977, she graduated June 1978. Also, my sister's second child was born August 6, 1977, whom my sister brought wrapped in a blanket to see me in December 1977 while I was admitted to GRHA, Ash Unit.

When I recently realized the "metal door incident" previously mentioned that happeed in 1977 was not documented in my medical records, I asked my Mom had she been told about it by the staff after it happened. She said, "Yes". But, she wasn't told about subsequent admissions to GRHA when I was put in seclusion and bound to the bed as described in this report.

Isn't neglecting to document my medical records to reflect the aforementioned accident, neglect of documenting my medical records to reflect that I had been put in seclusion and bound as described previously and altering my medical records to state that my first admission was in 1981, which is inaccurate, instead of Decembe 1977, which is accurate, a type of falsification of medical records? Also, wasn't the ill treatment, which I call "inhumane", treated like a "wild animal" or "common criminal" by being bound by both arms and legs with "fetter-like", leather and chain-like devices to the bed, while admitted to AAU or North Unit in GRHA on several subsequent admissions to GRHA abuse and mistreatment?

Because of my desire to get the bottom of why my medical records was altered by GRHA, to let others become aware of the "inhumane" treatment patients/clients in Mental Institutions sometimes endure from trusted Professional Mental Health Care Providers, and to get Justice, if there is such, I write this rip-off report concerning GRHA as a bad business that have abused and mistreated some mental patients and is guilty of having falsfied my medical records.

It is my sincere prayer that no one else will ever be treated like I was when admitted into a Mental Institution, especially GRHA. May others, employees and patients, who know of abuse, mistreatment and fasified records come forward. GOD BLESS!!!

Brenda
Augusta, Georgia
U.S.A.