Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain • Hacker News Board

Re: Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain

#101

Post by 6stringmerc » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 4:39 PM UTC

Great to see the Investigative, Serious Business arm of Buzzfeed get linked here (I don't visit their site often but know of their growing legit digging). A sensitive, yet salacious type of subject that can use a spotlight in my opinion. Simply put, I hope for improvement.

One of the first films I ever watched with my Dad was "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" partly because it's part of his life history (grew up in Pac Northwest, ran into Ken Kesey a few times) but also because of the amazing life lessons within. The book is even more epic and deep. And, growing up in the US, I know mental health is still not quite up in the priorities as much as, well, look at commercials, there's a glut of dick-pills for sale.

I'm a proponent of using fiction to help re-package heavy, important lessons that journalism brings up. I'd written a short treatment years ago about a serious PhD Psychiatry student discovering most everybody in the "profession" at his Public/Private Treatment Center suffered from their own DSM-diagnosable serious mental illness. From macabre understanding we're all flawed might come enlightenment. Or, you know, just comedy.

Re: Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain

#102

Post by GrinningFool » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 4:49 PM UTC

cmdrfred wrote: post #8

DashRattlesnake wrote: post #5

> Lauren Singer, who worked for six months at the front desk of Colorado’s Highlands Behavioral, said people who were waiting in the lobby for an assessment would ask her what it would entail. “I would frequently get yelled at for overstepping my bounds and telling them too much about the evaluation process,” Singer said. A button behind the receptionist’s desk controlled the lock to the front door of the facility, a…

If these allegations are proven and those responsible for these policies don't spend significant time in prison then we can no longer deny that we live in a corrupt society.

> then we can no longer deny that we live in a corrupt society

I've not heard anyone denying this. The only thing people like to debate is which aspect - as if it were a binary choice.

Re: Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain

#103

Post by throwaway729 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

ethbro wrote: post #99

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is kidnapping plain and simple. The fact that it is done under the guise of a corporate/medical structure should not be relevant. Those involved in these crimes should be arrested and prosecuted under RICO laws, from the top to the bottom.

Sadly, I can see the counter argument. "It's not kidnapping, because someone with mental health issues can't be trusted to make their own decisions." {Cue jury ignoring logic errors and nodding} Maybe it's currently reading Larsson's books, but mental health issues seem to raise incredibly challenging ethical questions (under economically feasible settings).

Mental health issues may raise incredibly challenging ethical questions, but that's beside the point in this case. There is a legal structure set up for this sort of thing. You don't just lock people in a building against their will for days or weeks without a court order. And you certainly don't choose which people to lock up based upon availability of insurance money.

IMO Matthew Salanger should be facing down charges carrying hard jail time right now.

Re: Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain

#104

Post by sageikosa » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 10:01 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #41

sageikosa wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So without profit, the operating metric will be what exactly?

Er...are you questioning the existential purposes of the non-profit sector in general, or just non-profit healthcare?

Just trying to point out that human action without profit requires something else to account for the costs; otherwise there is no way to judge comparatively how limited resources should be applied. So if there isn't going to be profit driven activity, what will be the metric for success? If it is "outcomes", then we should start plowing everything we've got into it. Of course, should that mean we stop plowing resources into other endeavors? Do we make a vote of it? A law case?

Re: Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain

#105

Post by sageikosa » Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 10:07 PM UTC

gurneyHaleck wrote: post #80

sageikosa wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So without profit, the operating metric will be what exactly?

I can see it now: "This graph depicting revenue reveals that the maternity ward is quite the cost center. It should be going up and to the right! Smithers, why are there so few pregnancies? We need more in-patients, otherwise our overhead starts eating away at our profits." "Well, sir, I suppose there aren't as many teen pregnancies as there used to be, and with the benefit of modern procedures, the pregnancies we do…

You'll just need to have permission before you can get pregnant; cost problem solved (except for the expanding bureaucracy to manage the rules and operations of maternity).