Johnathan
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
‘I don’t think nurses should be playing pranks on people in their care. They’re supposed to be looking after me not using me as the butt of their jokes.’
Johnathan, late 30s, had a car accident on his way home from work when he was 20. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury resulting in incomplete quadriplegia.
Following the accident, Johnathan spent two months in recovery at a hospital intensive care unit. He developed a pressure sore the size of a grapefruit and continues to experience a great deal of pain from the scarring and severed nerve endings.
A few years after the accident he moved to a regional city to be closer to his family. Johnathan told the Royal Commission that during this time he was taking a number of different drugs to manage his pain. He said doctors incorrectly prescribed ‘high doses’ of antipsychotics, antidepressants and opioids including OxyContin.
Johnathan’s mental health deteriorated and he decided to ‘get off the antidepressants and the pain killers … cold turkey’. But the sudden withdrawal of the drugs negatively affected his behaviour. His relationship with his family broke down and he was ‘thrown into the psych ward at [the local] hospital’.
Johnathan said that when the nurses realised he was on antipsychotic medication they decided to ‘trick’ him. ‘I’m not sure where they learnt this trick but they played a game, not with me but on me.’ Nurses told Johnathan drug smugglers were breaking into the hospital every night and stealing drugs. They repeated the story a number of times and Johnathan became scared and paranoid. ‘I started screaming this out to everyone in the hospital trying to alert them.’ He said the nurses were ‘too busy laughing’ telling him to ‘shut up’ while they quickly closed the curtains around him.
Johnathan was ‘really upset’ and wanted to report it at the time but he was isolated and ‘didn’t have … supports in place’. If he’d reported it, there’d be a record, and he could do something about it ‘so it doesn’t happen to anyone else’.
He has good supports now. ‘I’m feeling better about myself,’ he says.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.