Article
16. Patient Bill of Rights;
Additional
Rights of individuals in assisted inpatient treatment.
In
addition to those guaranteed in s.
16.1, patients placed in assisted inpatient treatment have the following
rights
(a)
The right to have preserved and safeguarded his or her personal
property..
In
a Mental Hospital there is a form to fill out if property is stolen, so I filled
it out right away after my son’s two shirts I gave him for Christmas
disappeared on Dec 25, or the 26th.
I had taken pictures of them. Also
a photo of him in the picture with the shirts.
I copied the receipts, and did everything I was supposed to.
I mailed this information to the Conservator and the Social Worker. It has been four months, and I have not received the refund
of $37.77.
This
may not seem like much expense, but I believe it is the right of the patient,
and also the principal of honoring people who cannot speak out for their own
rights and be heard.
Practically
everything my son received from his father, his wife, and myself is gone.
Some
clothing you have to accept as being mixed up or vanished.
Even socks in my own home disappear somewhere inside the washing machine.
But a beautiful over-sized book of planets and space, video tapes,
headphones and radio and a shaver? They
sprouted legs. I just hope they
found homes with the other patients. What good did it do to fill out the
official theft and loss report if I am going to be ignored?
I even sent in for sturdy name labels and sewed them all over the new
shirts. In the Mental hospitals
it’s common to see the folks
there unkempt, and my heart goes out to them, and with my glance of compassion,
a prayer is sent. I am proud of my
son, who lives in a facility, and I buy him nice things, and get them on sale.
He deserves to look as neatly dressed as possible.
If I could I would put new elastic in the sweat pants that are falling
off many people’s hips in the facilities.
My
last call to the facility that I am waiting for the refund from was to
the administrator. I left a message. I
hope this issue is settled soon. Sometimes
we shouldn’t just say ‘Oh well, that is always going to happen.’
Why should our family members have to settle for mix and unmatched?
More of us need to take the pictures and save the receipts, and fill out
the Theft and Loss report. Because,
if nothing is said then nothing is done.
By
Joy
April
25, 2001
