PICTOU, N.S.
A Pictou County woman is thankful for the support she’s received at the detox unit in Pictou, but says she will never go back because of conflicts she experienced with other clients being treated in the unit.
These encounters, which occurred over three separate stays, made her feel unsafe, she said.
The woman has requested her name be withheld and will be referred to as Jane Doe in this article.
The most serious incident happened in December. Doe said she had been admitted at the Pictou detox around Dec. 18 and was receiving treatment for an alcohol addiction. She was also suffering from depression during this time. During her stay there was another patient who did not get along with her. She was told the other patient was disturbed if Doe cried in the room next to her.
“In the meantime, the nurses who were all very kind, were helping me develop a plan to remove myself from my abusive family members till they decided to respect me, if ever,” Doe said.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the first days, she says, she gave up on a suicide plan and was feeling much better for empowering herself. She then decided to call some family members.
“I tried to call my family to tell them Merry Christmas, but I wouldn’t be continuing a relationship with them unless their attitude changed. Every one of them hung up on me. I was very upset and crying.”
Doe says she asked permission to go outside to cry but was denied because staff were concerned she’d harm herself, so she was forced to deal with her emotions inside the facility. She had a broken rib at the time and lay on a couch with a heating pad practicing breathing exercises.
She says the other patient, who she didn’t get along with, was sitting on a chair that spins around.
“She spun around like a tornado and started yelling at me. She demanded that I, ‘talk to her and tell her my problems and to do it NOW.’”
Doe pretended to be asleep.
“She then came over and grabbed my shoulder, not violently, but as if you were waking someone up. It felt like a 12-inch knife shot up my ribs. She continued to yell and I had to get up too fast to get away from her and hurt my ribs worse. It’s worth noting that I’m 5’ 5” and a 100 pounds and she’s very close to 300 pounds and six feet tall.”
Doe said she tried to go to the office but it was locked.
She didn’t feel safe, so she packed up her suitcase.
“The nurse practitioner came out. She never said a word but shoved an AMA (discharge against medical advice) form in my face and ordered me to sign it. I’ve seen nurses spend three hours trying to talk someone into staying in to get better. I was basically shown the door.”
Doe says she told staff she didn’t want to leave, but didn’t feel safe, so she signed it.
“The usual protocol when someone is upset is to talk to them, help them calm down and offer them an Ativan for panic attacks or some deep breathing. They did none of these things. They just ignored me.”
She said some staff did try to talk to her after she had signed the form and said they were worried about her.
Before leaving she says she remembered that she left her toothbrush and toothpaste on the sink.
“When I went back to get it, that client, came out screaming at me saying I was going to harm myself and I didn’t know what It was doing to her and everyone else. The men were up on the far end, there was no one else but her and I. She chased me up the hall with my ribs killing me yelling…”
Doe said she was later offered a bed in Springhill, but declined because she didn’t want to be that far away from her home.
The December incident wasn’t the first time Doe had had run-ins with other patients at the detox unit. While there in May she said another client was verbally bullying other patients.
She returned there again this January, but she was once again verbally abused by another client.
“There are signs in detox stating that abuse of any kind will not be tolerated. Does this only apply to staff, and clients don't matter?” Doe questions.
“I needed help this time in detox and felt completely abandoned,” Doe said.
She hopes incidents like this will be looked at more closely in the future and steps will be taken to resolve conflicts between clients.
Kristen Lipscombe is spokesperson with the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and said in a written response to questions about the allegations that the NSHA takes personal privacy and confidentiality very seriously.
“We have an obligation to protect personal health information under provincial legislation and cannot answer questions about or release details on specific patients or complaints," she stated.
She did, however, say that the health authority takes all complaints seriously.
“When any complaint comes forward, we investigate it fully. Our patients are always our top priority.”
