Northern Hospital Melbourne: Teenage girl chained to a bed and forced to wear a diaper for 12 days after terrifying mental health episode
- Teen tied to bed and forced to wear diapers
- Her mother announced her treatment
A 16-year-old girl was left tied to a public hospital bed and wearing a diaper after a terrifying mental health episode.
The young girl was held in leg and wrist cuffs for 12 days at Melbourne Northern Hospital in Epping, Melbourne’s north, because mental health beds were not available.
Hospital staff were forced to restrain the girl after she assaulted 10 nurses and left her with a concussion.
Doctors had injected her with blood thinners because they were afraid she would develop blood clots from being immobile, the girl’s mother claims.
A 16-year-old girl was chained to a hospital bed and forced to wear nappies at Northern Hospital in Epping, Melbourne.
The teen’s hair was also tangled after the crisis.
The girl’s mother said the time her daughter was chained to her hospital bed while waiting to be placed in a high-dependency juvenile psychiatric ward was “inhumane.”
“I feel sick that my daughter is capable of such violence,” the mother, who wished to remain anonymous, told News Corp..
The mother said she understood the need for coercive measures for the safety of staff and her daughter.
“Even so, it felt inhuman,” she said.
The teenager was held while waiting to be placed in a high dependency juvenile psychiatric ward (Photo: Northern Hospital, Epping)
Last fiscal year, Australian public hospitals recorded 1,522 mechanical restraint events where items such as straps and belts were used on a psychiatric patient to prevent them from moving freely.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) found that the number of available mental health beds had declined by 40 percent per 100,000 residents over the past 30 years.
The association’s Public Hospital Report Card – Mental Health Edition showed a decline in the number of public hospital beds available for mental health patients as the number of more seriously ill patients in emergency departments increased.
The AMA revealed last November that despite one in five Australians having mental health problems, they are routinely failed by the system.
The AMA has urgently requested attention for mental health care and public hospitals.
For anyone who needs support:
Lifeline 13 11 14
Children’s helpline 1800 55 1800