Get yer’ Pants On!

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” — Winston Churchill

Four weeks ago today I got smacked upside the head with the lawsuit.   I confess…the first few days I was in shock.  It’s embarrassing, frightening, and unnerving on a good day, but even moreso if you are flying to another continent 12 hours after being served.  Trust me, that is one miserable plane ride.   But, eventually I found a wonderful group of attorneys to represent me and the rest of my trip was delightful and I haven’t lost too much sleep over it since.

As I have proven having survived the last 4+ years, what doesn’t kill me just makes me stronger.   This lawsuit experience is no different.  It’s going to be messy and expensive, but, it’s going to allow the truth to finally get its pants on and catch up to everyone who needs to hear it.  As my buddy Winston C. would say….

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

Meanwhile, I’m finding lots more great quotes from Winston Churchill that seem to apply to this situation and I’m enjoying reading more and more about him.  Here’s another one I am very fond of:

“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!”

Okay, I won’t!

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The Games Begin

On March 7, 2012, a private investigator showed up at my door and served me with a lawsuit filed by Ascend Health Corporation, UHP, LP (d/b/a University Behavioral Health of Denton), Richard Kresch, M.D., and Atique Khan, M.D.  They ask for a bunch of money they know I don’t have, plus ownership of all my websites, which include this WordPress blog and http://www.ubhdentonsucks.com

I have entirely too much respect for the American legal system to drag all the details out here on a blog, plus, that would be kind of stupid on my part. So, don’t look for updates or notices about how things are going.  I guess as long as the site is here, you’ll know I haven’t gotten my butt kicked.  If it disappears?  Well, you’ll know I have shoe prints on my backside.  But, I did think that everyone who chooses to do business with UBH and Ascend Health should know how they operate, in addition to all the other things I’ve revealed on my blog to date.

The date I was served with the lawsuit corresponded with my departure the following day for a three week trip overseas. And in Federal court, you have 21 days to respond to a lawsuit.  How convenient for them that they had such fortunate timing to serve me less than 12 hours before I left for the airport!  I wonder if that unfriendly private investigator who served me had been keeping an eye on me?  I can’t prove that, but it sure seems like convenient timing that I got served when I would be at the greatest disadvantage.

It is my opinion that it was also quite unsportsmanlike of them to refuse my request for an eixtension of time to respond to the suit, given the circumstances.  But hey, that’s John “Bull Dozier” Dozier, the  www.cybertriallawyer.com for ya!

Please note I did NOT make up that nickname, nor am I calling him “names.”  The “Bull Dozier” moniker is featured in an article that he shares on his own website, in an article about being a SuperLawyer (2006).   Apparently he is a Super Lawyer!  Well, I take that back… he was in 2006 and 2007 but not now, at least according to the Super Lawyer website.   (I have to wonder what caused him to lose his super powers?)

There was never any attempt to talk this out, or even to send me a nasty letter.  For those of you who think that our court system is used frivolously, just consider that they filed a lawsuit for millions of dollars that they know I don’t have before simply asking me to stop blogging, which they never once did.

Now Mr. Dozier can call all of this “defamatory” if he likes, but, the truth is never defamatory, nor is a personal opinion.  Everything noted above is either the truth or it’s an opinion I am sharing with my readers.

I have always been completely candid and transparent about who I am and why I’m doing this.  I’ve helped a lot of people since I launched this site in September of 2010.  So, even if I lose… even if a judge orders me to stop blogging about this company?  I still win because I did the right thing and I stood up for what I believed in.  I also stood up for myself against a bully.  My family is proud of me for that, my friends are proud of me, and I can look myself in the mirror and sleep well at night.  I wonder if the plaintiffs in this lawsuit can say the same thing?

ATTENTION ALL VICTIMS OF UBH DENTON/ASCEND HEALTH

I previously misrepresented the facts surrounding the lawsuit filed against me by Ascend Health.  I stated previously that they sued me for $1 million, and, I want to make it clear that my statement regarding that was made in haste, and, was not accurate.  My apologies to Ascend Health.

As it turns out, they are actually suing me for $5.5 million plus attorney’s fees.

Again, I apologize for the mistake I made in publishing this information.

Apparently They Don’t Learn

UBH… I received an e-mail tonight from the mother of an adolescent you are holding against her request for discharge.  Please know that she has found my blog, and me, and I will break her story wide open and share it with the entire world if you hold that boy over the weekend.  Also, please know that a lawyer’s office is determining right now whether or not to represent the four other families that are joining together to sue you.  If you don’t let that boy out tomorrow?  You are guaranteed a fifth family joining in the action.

It’s just that simple.

Being Thankful

Happy November, everyone!  It’s time to count our blessings.  And for once, I’m going to post about something positive that came out of my UBH experience.  Something that I am thankful for.

Have you ever felt so hopeless that you wondered if things would ever get better?  Maybe your job is getting you down or your spouse isn’t paying you enough attention or money is tight?  Well, we all get down about those things.  But I have a quick pick-me-up strategy I use to always–ALWAYS–effectively pull me out of my funk.  Want to know what it is?

….I remind myself that I could still be a patient at UBH Denton!  Yes, I know that sounds like a smart aleck thing to say, but it is what I do.  I’ve never been in a more miserable place or had such a rotten medical experience–anywhere.  The surroundings were just plain awful.  Broken furniture, a crappy tv, no activities except a few board games.  The beds were painful and uncomfortable.  The closets were stupid (Yes, that’s a petty thing, I know… but seriously, what good is a closet if you can’t have hangers and there are no shelves?)

Most of the food was abysmal, and even the stuff that was reasonably fresh was suspect after I saw the mouse running around on the food warmer counter.   The only redeeming quality about the place were a few really nice patients, and the non-physician staff members.  The mental health techs were really super sweet people and so were the registered nurses.  How they kept an upbeat disposition there was beyond me.  And, I see by their website http://www.ubhdenton.com/Careers.aspx that they still have oodles of job openings so I’m guessing turnover is still high?  Wow, what a surprise.

The most miserable time in my life, ever, were the years 2007-2008.  I am thankful every day that I am above the dirt line that I survived them and came out stronger.  I hope everyone who makes the mistake of going to UBH can come out okay, too.

 

Tales from a UBH Employee

I got permission from the employee who sent this to me to share it with you.  Of course, like most folks affiliated with UBH, he/she does not want to be identified.  But, I think you will find this very interesting just the same….  (my comments are noted in red below each statement)

“The place was complete chaos. None of the patient’s wore arm bands, therefore I can easily see how patient’s could get mixed up.”  

I will say everyone wore armbands when I was there.  The doctors didn’t give a crap about who each person was, and no one ever looked at the arm bands except for the RNs who handed out medication.  I will say they were great ladies, every one of them.  

“…meeting were with the whole treatment team…the nurses, docs, and counselors, and of course the people in accounting.  ….  <SENTENCE DELETED>  If the patient actually belonged there and had real mental problems they would discharge them with a couple days to spare so that they could come back.”

Every health insurer in the state of Texas should be taking this dung heap of a hospital off their acceptable providers list.  Every taxpayer in Texas should be PISSED because the state health plan (Blue Cross Blue Shield) pays for people to go here, too.      

“There was a foster parent that would bring her “out-of-control” teenagers to the facility on a regular basis. Since they were foster kids, their insurance is paid for by the government.  These kids would stay for weeks.”

I have heard similar stories about military personnel who wanted off active duty so they would do things to get sent here.  <SENTENCE DELETED>  I don’t know how true that is, but, I’m sure if it’s not someone will let me know in good time.  But what does that tell you about how our country values the military who risk their lives for our freedom?  

“<SENTENCE DELETED>  I don’t know what the outcome was…”

Wow.  I remembered looking at the barrier between our wing and the more critical wing.  I heard some pretty loud scary noises coming from over there, and, I saw one of the RNs come in from there one day in tears, just hysterical about something that had happened.  (I’m amazed they didn’t offer her some klonopin.  Hell, maybe they did!)  I realized right away that there really wasn’t much separating the two areas and that it was probably not the safest place to be.  

In short, THIS Is what the state of mental health “care” is at UBH Denton.  Richard Kresch should be ashamed of himself for owning such a hospital, and, if he is any kind of doctor he will clean the place up.  He can’t say he hasn’t been informed about the things that go on there, can he?

What would YOU Think… seriously?

What would you think….

…If a psychiatric nurse with an IP address from, of all places, Portland Oregon, kept periodically posting comments on your blog about how much she thought it was one-sided?

…If the hospital you were complaining about in your blog was owned by a company that owned facilities in just a few places in the U.S…. mostly Texas, but also one in Utah, one in Arizona, and two in PORTLAND OREGON?????

…If that hospital was JUST FEATURED in a front page story in Portland’s newspaper?

I dunno… maybe it’s a coincidence that this woman’s tragic story appears in the paper…(did I mention she previously posted on my blog to tell her story, but her comments were deleted to protect her identity at the time) …  on the same day that psychnurse75@yahoo.com posts another one of her comments?

You can see my most recent responses to psychnurse75’s posts about how one-sided my blog is. I don’t give a rat’s ass who thinks my blog is “one-sided.”  I’ll tell you what “one-sided is.”  That’s having your doctor write on your hospital record “HOLD FOR COMMIT” when you entered the place voluntarily.  And, the other thing that’s really one-sided is him writing on your discharge papers, “admitted after attempted od” when nothing could be further from the truth.  But at least I post psychnurse’s comments for you to see, even if I think she’s an Ascend Health employee who is out to do their dirty work for them.   They never gave ME that voice.

So tonight, my loyal readers… I am on a mission.  That mission is to scan in my medical records and start sharing with you the hard cold evidence that backs up everything I have told you.  I’ll be back with you soon to post Dr. Atique Khan’s own handwriting, and I”ll couple it with my lab reports from the E.R.  for good measure to show you what a damned incompetent psychiatrist Dr. Atique Khan really is.   Meanwhile, I just checked out his most recent rating on Healthgrades and it looks like I’m not the only person who didn’t like him?

ABSOLUTELY SCANDALOUS……

Sadly, I am not the only person who has received ill and negligent treatment at UBH Denton. I have recently gotten to know a group of people who all share the common experience of having been at UBH Denton.  Their stays were so traumatic and so unnerving for them they have formed an external support group!!!!

They shared their personal letters with me, to and about UBH Denton.  If you have EVER considered setting foot in that hospital, or, putting someone you love in it…. you owe it to yourself to read these first.

CLICK HERE FOR THEIR LETTERS!!!!

You can also see my letter to the hospital if you want to:

CLICK HERE FOR MY LETTER (2008)!!!

Well well well……

Just found a new group of people on Facebook…. a support group of people who have all had horrific experiences at UBH Denton. Apparently I’m not the only one? Will be joining that group soon and probably have a lot more stories to publish that need to be heard.

The LATEST in Unsolicited Comments

This comment was posted today, and I think it deserves front page coverage on the blog:

“Ditto. My naive 13 year old daughter was there for 2 days and we took her out. She was attending the North Point school next door and getting counceling from UBH. No supervision at the school from what I can gather. Some boy brought in some pot brownies and handed out. My daughter is naive and just ate it not knowing what was in it. We wound up in the ER with her last night. This place is a sham. You could walk in with a hang nail and they would suggest you be checked in and evaluated. They also love prescribing drugs, also. Wanted to put her on strong anti-depressants. STAY AWAY from this place. I am going to get a lawyer. They can threaten me all they want.”

I do NOT understand how they stay open!!!!!

I AM COMPLETELY DISGUSTED!!!!

At one time there were two psychiatric and behavioral health hospitals in Denton, Texas: Mayhill Hospital and UBH Denton.  After my experience at UBH I knew several doctors and therapists who said they would never use UBH again (at least not unless some things changed there). 

And now, guess who owns Mayhill? The same Quack Shack company that owns UBH Denton! I got this little nugget of joy from here:

January 5, 2011
Ascend Health Opens New Hospitals in Arizona and Utah and Expands Operations in Texas

NEW YORK, NY — Ascend Health Corporation announced the opening of two new freestanding psychiatric hospitals as well as the acquisition of two freestanding psychiatric hospitals. All hospitals offer a full range of inpatient, day hospital and chemical dependency services.

…. In late 2010, Ascend acquired…Mayhill Hospital, a 60-bed psychiatric hospital, in Denton, TX.

How tragic for the people of that area.  I wonder if they’ll use the same “innovative approaches” that UBH Denton uses for patient care?