Published on 12, July, 2020
Dear all,My Son George is 17, severely autistic, non-verbal and with oral and nasal sensitivities.He needs an operation to remove his toenail, when we went into hospital we had a terrible time. He refused to take a pre-med due to its smell and taste, the medical staff tried to restrain him and administer this through a syringe. He is 6ft + and is 17 stone, so through his panic, we couldn't manage to restrain him. They then tried gas, but George refused to have the mask over his face and became very distressed off the back of multiple failed attempts. In the end, we had to abandon the procedure and is now traumatised and obessesively re-living the event. He definitely needs the operation, so I need advice from anybody who's been through this.Thanks, Lisa.
You have my sympathy but not any practical advice.
The problem is that officially medical staff have to follow codes of ethics and laws regarding privacy and respect of patients rights etc. Unfortunately this means that practical matters take a back seat.
Your son needs to be restrained and sedated against his will. But this leads to legal complications. Eventually you will find a way to get him his operation. But you need to talk to doctors in advance and give permission for him to be sedated.
Codes of ethics etc are there to protect vulnerable patients like this. Are you familiar with the Winterbourne View scandal???
Yes I am.
And these codes and laws are there for good reasons. But in some situations such as here they become impractical. And there is a need for common sense.
And in many situations where staff are unsupervised and think they can get away with it. They openly abuse and neglect vulnerable patients.
I have seen it first hand in NHS hospitals.