Tag: mentalhealth

https://www.psychvictims.com/stories/view/ambulance-staff-would-beat-up-patient-when-knowing-mental-health-labels-united-kingdom-g4s

“He’s homeless, he’s aggressive, he’s suicidal, so he ain’t gonna be the best, is he?” the driver can be heard to say. “You don’t need to take him if you don’t feel safe with him. That’s why we’ve got the fire extinguisher. Take it off the hook now and you’ve got something to hit him with. You’d rather be prosecuted, wouldn’t you, for beating a patient to a pulp than that patient beating you to a pulp, wouldn’t you, as a choice of the two?”

After his colleague agrees, the driver continues: “D’you want a broken arm, a broken jaw, black eyes, or do you want to beat the fuck out of someone and then get prosecuted? You could still say it was self-defence.” His colleague then adds: “And get suspended for six months while they check up on it.”

The driver concludes: “[At] least you’re able to sit in your garden. You wouldn’t be able to get into your garden with a broken leg, would you?”

At the end of the four-minute message, the driver realises they are still being recorded. “That was a long message on his phone,” he says, without appearing to register the significance of what the two have said.

The patient, aged 43, had not been picked up by the two crew members before and has no history of being aggressive towards G4S staff. He said the message left him distraught.

“When I got in the ambulance they were all nicey-nice and said ‘how are you mate?’ and I said ‘I was good till I heard your voice message’,” he said. “Then I played them the voicemail. They tried to apologise and I said it’s a bit late for that.” He said he self-harmed as a result of the incident.

On 10 May, G4S wrote to the patient saying: “I am sorry to learn that you had a poor experience with our service.” He was subsequently visited by G4S management, which apologised to him.

He added: “What made it worse is that I was told the two men were suspended on full pay.”

This person was picked up with the ambulance drivers and EMTS knowing he had been labeled with so-called “mental health” issues. As a result, they were going to use brute force, violence, and discrimination on him.

Psych Victims are at higher risk of being abused after being labeled, which will only make them worse off.

There was no proof of the man being previously aggressive with G4S ambulance staff. Only the label gave “guilty before being innocent.”

“The patient, who does not want to be named, told the Guardian he was sent the ambulance on 8 May to take him for an MRI scan on his lower abdomen after a stomach rupture. He has mental health problems and had been rehoused in temporary emergency council accommodation in Kent the previous week.”

The driver of the G4S vehicle left a message saying the crew would be a few minutes late to take him to William Harvey hospital in Ashford, Kent.

From The Guardian on May 15, 2019: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/15/g4s-ambulance-staff-left-message-saying-they-could-beat-up-patienthttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/15/g4s-ambulance-staff-left-message-saying-they-could-beat-up-patient

Wow! She certainly knows how to get her message through. Refreshing to hear another point of view. Does it hurt to be exposed to these views? Should an Australian audience be allowed to hear this- are they ready? https://t.co/AZZBjBwKmI

— Peter Cronau (@PeterCronau) June 8, 2019