Landon and Paloma

Landon is in his 30s. His mum, Paloma, says he ‘experiences behaviour issues and suicide issues’.

Paloma told the Royal Commission that Landon’s health has declined over the years because health professionals have forced excessive medications on him. Some have created psychosis, others malnutrition.

‘He was medicated with antipsychotics and labelled [with] schizoaffective disorder. From there his mental health also became physical health issues.’

Paloma says the prescribing doctors acknowledged this. But even though Paloma reported the issues to the hospital mental health unit, ‘they continued to increase this medication and placed numerous Community Treatment Orders on [Landon], forcing him into psychotic states 15 years later [due to] the continued abuse of medication’.

Recently, Paloma managed to get the amount of medication Landon is prescribed reduced and for a while he seemed to improve, ‘with less voices, less confusion and less weight gain’.

However, it didn’t last. The hospital readmitted Landon to hospital and resumed medication at high doses.

‘[This] has again bought on psychotic voices and confusion and weight gain, and I am unable to get him proper help due to the serious effects of these medications … I find this is an abusive treatment and violating his abilities [leading] to an unhealthy mental and physical state.’

Paloma has reported her concerns ‘to many authorities’ – state, federal and private – but says none has intervened or offered assistance.

‘I need this hospital and support system to leave him alone, take him off their system, so we can seek help through another source as we have done in the past.’

Paloma would like health professionals to give more consideration to available treatment options for people with psychosocial disability and stop automatic prescribing of multiple, sometimes uncomplimentary, medications. She would like doctors to stop disregarding people's wishes for their own treatment and ‘stop the abuse of these dangerous medications’.