Bridge to Nowhere

"Having someone - doesn’t have to be religious to be clear - who has been in those rooms can be helpful."

Starting a flame about religion is very not appropriate. Please don't do that.

For example your categorization of "cannot tell fantasy from reality" would not be a good description of say a buddhist."

Equally binding a view of mental health to religion seems a stretch. Perhaps you have experienced that, but I suspect that connection is not universal.

I didn't downvote you, I say these things to explain why you likely were downvoted. Not because your post was about religion, but because your viewpoint is both unnecessarily broad, and kinda missed the point.

The point was that having an experienced advocate on your side, who understands the process, who isn't under the mental strain of a recent terminal diagnosis, can assist you with good decisions.

If you are in a community of faith, and it's likely that the leaders in that community have walked this path before. If you are not then seek that person from wherever you are in community.

But your comment is not limited to hospitals. It's true for every business. If I sell an ice-cream my interest ends after you pay for it. Equally I'm not going to withhold ice-cream from overweight people - my job is to sell ice-cream.

If the hospital was a non-profit, and they felt there was no viable appropriate medical intervention, and they sent the patient home with no action you'd likely complain about that too. (I would, I go to hospital with an expectation that they'll at least try to fix me.)

It's somewhat trite to blame the profit motive, partly because that encompasses all of us, and partly because hospitals and doctors are primed for action, not inaction.

I am saying that in the US the stigma against taking mental health seriously is structural. Consider the amount of voters who think demonic possession is real (tens of millions of people) don't vote to fund mental health services. There are millions of our fellow Americans who are real people and think mental illness is punishment from god or think homosexuality or transexuality is a choice and a sin. We shouldn't start on abortion, but every argument against choice has its roots in religion.

These people have made a huge impact on healthcare and baked in tons of little decisions into healthcare that impact all of everytime we interact with the healthcare system. Live in a state where depression meds aren't covered, or maybe only some are? Might be them?

Clearly I am discussing in the US context, as such buddhism isn't a practical and a corner-case. You can pretend I am not referring to it (even though reincarnation is clearly problematic for people attached to this life based on evidence).