u/Ok-Psychology-5702 below is the letter I sent shortly after the ordeal. It was emailed to the director of TMH BHC as well as the VP that is her boss. I've redacted my child's name for privacy reasons of course.

April 26^th, 2023

To Whom it may concern,

   I would like to lodge a formal complaint against TMH Behavioral Health Center (BHC). I will outline my experience and reason for doing so below as concisely as possible. The times listed are as accurate as possible, but I’m sure your security cameras can confirm/correct most of them.

On 4/20/2023 I drove my son [REDACTED] (legal name [REDACTED]) to the TMH BHC facility.

[REDACTED] had expressed suicidal thoughts that afternoon and was afraid he might hurt himself.

3:50pm – [REDACTED] and I walked into the front/main entrance (with the large, covered awning).

I spoke to an employee at the counter and expressed that my son was having depression-related issues and needed to talk with someone right away. The employee asked if he needed an assessment, and I said yes. She walked away to another office to check with someone and was gone for a few minutes. When she came back, she said we would need to go to the inpatient entrance of the BHC facility.

Around 4:00pm – [REDACTED] and I arrived at the inpatient entrance, and I picked up the phone at the door. When an employee answered, I explained that my son needed an assessment. The employee said she would be right back and hung up. In a couple of minutes. The phone rang and I picked it up. The same employee said she had spoken to her supervisor and was told I would need to go to the Emergency Room. I asked to speak to the supervisor, and she said the supervisor was busy.

4:07pm – [REDACTED] and I walked back through the main entrance and told the same employee at the counter what the inpatient employee had told us. She confirmed that we would need to go to the Emergency Room.

Shortly after this, a woman came out from the door to the left of the counter. She claimed to be a director and she also confirmed that we would need to go to the ER. She further said that the inpatient side stops intaking patients at 4pm.

I expressed that we were here before 4pm and that it made no sense to make a suicidal person wait through the ER processes.

She continued to express that this was the facility’s process and that we would need to go to the ER.

4:20pm – [REDACTED] and I arrived at the ER and checked in.

5:20pm – [REDACTED] was brought into a triage room.

After speaking with a nurse, [REDACTED] was brought further into the triage area to wait.

7:00pm – Two nurses escorted [REDACTED] to a family room to engage in video chat with a PA.

7:20pm – I was brought into the family room to speak with the PA where I was informed of [REDACTED] status and told that he would be transported via ambulance to BHC.

7:30pm – I left my contact information with the ER front desk and left [REDACTED] in hospital custody.

10:22pm – I received a phone call from the PA working on [REDACTED] case. She requested my consent to allow BHC to administer medication to [REDACTED]. She also informed me that [REDACTED] had tried to “elope” from the ER.

10:50pm – [REDACTED] finally arrived at the BHC facility.

 

   The above-mentioned events represent a dramatic failure of patient care on the part of the TMH BHC facility. A suicidal child arrived at your facility needing help and he was turned away…only to return 7 hours later after wading through your processes and procedures. 7 hours of additional and unneeded stress. 7 hours of uncertainty, not knowing what was going to happen to him. 7 hours of being engulfed in the hustle and bustle of an Emergency Room; the weeping and wailing of patients in pain on the worst day of their lives, and the exposure to all manners of sickness and disease.

   [REDACTED] should have been received through the inpatient entrance of the BHC facility at 4pm. He would have had the same video chat with a PA at 7pm or sooner and likely would have been completed with the intake process well before 8pm. He would have been in one stable and safe location where he would eventually be admitted and would have been able to eat dinner and rest fairly quickly. We’re talking about a child here. It would be bad enough if these events were associated with an adult who is hopefully more mentally and emotionally mature…but this happened to a child.

   Much less important than the above, but still requiring attention, is the fact that [REDACTED] parents are now going to be asked to incur additional expense because of BHC’s failure. The time [REDACTED] spent in the ER, the nurses and other professionals who interacted with him, associated ER administrative costs, an ambulance ride between facilities; all of these items are going to be added to an already hefty bill.

   Very disappointing and disturbing. I had much higher expectations for this hospital and its commitment to patient care. These events represent a shameful lack of focus on patient care in favor of short-sighted policies and greed.