It was late 2012. A man had been found dead in his home. It was clearly suspicious yet nobody had pieced together exactly what had happened. Our radios came to life once more and informed us that there was a fire in a large detached house. We raced to the scene.
Upon arriving I noticed a large house completely ablaze. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) were arriving at the same time as us. A neighbour ran toward us screaming that their was a man trapped inside. A few of us entered the house, with LFB, and dragged a screaming man out of the house.
He was badly burnt all over. I could smell his burning flesh. He was still conscious and begging us to let him die. I'll never forget the way his white skin had burnt away revealing the muscle underneath. We applied burn packs to help the wounds but the male had to be restrained as he tried to pull them off. Flames were still licking up the windows in the house as the LFB tackled the enormous fire. Luckily, there were no other houses around the property which could have been effected. The LFB did a fabulous job that day. We didn't know that the male was trying to kill himself. We thought the fumes had caused him to become delirious. I was with him, with a large team of firemen, paramedics and police for about 30 minutes as we restrained this badly burned man so that he could be appropriately treated.
He died from his injuries later that day.
As it turned out, the male had recently broken up with his partner and that morning had travelled to his home and stabbed him to death. He had then gone to his own home. He had poured petrol everywhere, sat on his sofa and set fire to his house.
People often think of suicide as selfish. I don't. These people are in crisis and desperate and need help. Nobody will ever know exactly what that young man was thinking that day (he was only 23). Whatever he was thinking was not normal and he destroyed two young lives in a matter of hours. He also gave me something to think about, as well as a lot of other Emergency Responders.
Anonymous Bobby
Showing posts with label doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doctor. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Thursday, January 12, 2017
A Mental Health Crisis
Mental Health care in London is in crisis.
As a response police officer I would estimate that at least 50% of call outs are to people from suffering with mental health problems. It appears that no matter how in need of help they, they are soon released without adequate support and we are soon picking them up once again. I once section 136'd a male who was attacking passers-by with a mallet. He was violent towards any passing public and police and could easily have killed somebody. It was clear that once he was detained safely that he had major mental health problems. We were glad to section the male and take him to a place of safety at a mental health hospital where he could receive help. A couple of months later a colleague text me and told me that he had just had to section the male again, in the same place, doing the same thing. Luckily nobody was harmed on either occasion.
This example is not a rarity but, instead, commonplace. There is a distinct lack of funding and care which leaves a hole that police officers are expected to fill. Whilst officers are usually dynamic and communicative, the very presence of police can often aggravate a person with poor mental health. They need a response from mental health specialists.
It has often hit the media that police cells are used as a 'place of safety' for persons whom have been subject to Section 136. The truth is that often there is 'no room at the inn' at designated mental health suites, hospitals don't tend to want to know and the only option remaining is a police cell. However, since negative media attention on the issue this practice has all but ceased.
There are problems around legislation and police power. Section 136 of the Mental Health Act gives officers the power to take a person who is deemed an immediate danger to themselves or others to a designated place of safety, by force if necessary. This, however, only applies if the person is in a public space. If someone is at home and threatening to kill themselves, the police, nor the ambulance, have the power to forcibly take them to get help. The ambulance service have a Section 135, however this only gives them the power similar to a 136 if that person is unable to make a decision for themselves. This would include if they were physically unable to communicate, or mentally unwell enough to be unable to communicate. If they were sat on their bed, lucidly communicating how they intended to end their life, 135 would not apply. This often leads to a stalemate whereby police and paramedics remain at a mentally unwell person's home for hours and hours, trying to convince them to go to hospital, at least voluntarily. This grey area needs addressing and legislating for immediately.
Police officers, in the main, are all rounders and are equipped with problem solving skills and communication skills that get them through these incidents. However, officers are not trained in mental health to any kind of degree whereby they are truly equipped to do anything other than deliver people in need to the deficient services that are currently available.
Anonymous Bobby
As a response police officer I would estimate that at least 50% of call outs are to people from suffering with mental health problems. It appears that no matter how in need of help they, they are soon released without adequate support and we are soon picking them up once again. I once section 136'd a male who was attacking passers-by with a mallet. He was violent towards any passing public and police and could easily have killed somebody. It was clear that once he was detained safely that he had major mental health problems. We were glad to section the male and take him to a place of safety at a mental health hospital where he could receive help. A couple of months later a colleague text me and told me that he had just had to section the male again, in the same place, doing the same thing. Luckily nobody was harmed on either occasion.
This example is not a rarity but, instead, commonplace. There is a distinct lack of funding and care which leaves a hole that police officers are expected to fill. Whilst officers are usually dynamic and communicative, the very presence of police can often aggravate a person with poor mental health. They need a response from mental health specialists.
It has often hit the media that police cells are used as a 'place of safety' for persons whom have been subject to Section 136. The truth is that often there is 'no room at the inn' at designated mental health suites, hospitals don't tend to want to know and the only option remaining is a police cell. However, since negative media attention on the issue this practice has all but ceased.
There are problems around legislation and police power. Section 136 of the Mental Health Act gives officers the power to take a person who is deemed an immediate danger to themselves or others to a designated place of safety, by force if necessary. This, however, only applies if the person is in a public space. If someone is at home and threatening to kill themselves, the police, nor the ambulance, have the power to forcibly take them to get help. The ambulance service have a Section 135, however this only gives them the power similar to a 136 if that person is unable to make a decision for themselves. This would include if they were physically unable to communicate, or mentally unwell enough to be unable to communicate. If they were sat on their bed, lucidly communicating how they intended to end their life, 135 would not apply. This often leads to a stalemate whereby police and paramedics remain at a mentally unwell person's home for hours and hours, trying to convince them to go to hospital, at least voluntarily. This grey area needs addressing and legislating for immediately.
Police officers, in the main, are all rounders and are equipped with problem solving skills and communication skills that get them through these incidents. However, officers are not trained in mental health to any kind of degree whereby they are truly equipped to do anything other than deliver people in need to the deficient services that are currently available.
Anonymous Bobby
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