I was admitted to the emergency room at Brookdale University Hospital on 6/24 for a drug overdose. Later I was transferred to the first floor psych ward involuntarily. The next day when my mother tried to come to see me they turned her away and told us that patients who are in the first floor holding area are not allowed to have any visitors. I only was able to see her for a moment and exchanged a few words with her before they told her that she had to go.
The next night there was a patient arguing with the staff, claiming that he was not supposed to be here and that this was a big misunderstanding. He said that he only came in to Brookdale for medication, not for hospitalization and demanded to be see the doctor in order to be evaluated for discharge. Another patient got up and started to argue with the staff as well, and for no apparent reason. I talked with the man who claimed that his admission to the psych ward was a mistake, and expressed my sympathy for him and tried to calm him down. I criticized the staff for the way they were treating him. One of the nurses decided to quell the dispute by administering antipsychotic injections to the two men who were arguing with the staff. The patients agreed to be medicated. When the nurse informed me that she had an injection ready for me, I was stunned. I had done nothing wrong, or so I had thought. I merely expressed my concerns about the way they were treating this man. I was respectful, and peaceful, and I never raised my voice against any one. Nonetheless the nurse saw me as being a part of this disturbance, and complained that the staff were not able to do their work, because too many patients were disturbing them. I did not want the injection, and I feared that combined with the toxicity of the drugs already in my system, that this would surely kill me, so I refused, and said that I do not consent to this injection. Without even a warning, four hospital security guards surrounded me and restrained me to the floor. They put me into a position where my face was pressed against the floor, and barely able to breathe. One of them told me to kiss the floor. I gave up and decided to play dead. They restrained me to a bed, and wheeled me into a room and left me for dead. They did not even send a doctor to counsel me or to explain what I did wrong. A half hour later the nurse came in and let me go, but it was a horrifying ordeal, which left me permanently traumatized.
The first floor holding area is a miserable and dreadful place. It looks like a dungeon, the bathroom is filthy and the furniture in the dining area is torn apart. It is a dangerous place where patients seeeking help are not at all cared for. Instead the staff routinely drugs patients, patients are not allowed to freely express themselves, and dissent is violently surpressed, and it must be shut down for good.