Detox Diary - Chapter 2

October 6, 2003

Ugh. My patient "T", the domestic violence victim, left ADA, Against Clinical Advice. Her husband has threatened to kill her but she wants to go home to him.

Sometimes I feel as if I don't have all the time I need to help a patient and this is a prime example. But then I cheer up and think that perhaps my session with "T" may have changed her thinking just a tiny bit. Perhaps she can build on that. I just hope I don't see her name in the obituary column some day. Her husband is a bad guy. Really bad.

I found out that my co-worker who had her car stolen by one of the patients got the car back. The police had found the car parked right in front of the former patient's house. Because of confidentiality laws, my co-worker could not even give the patient's name to the police. In fact, the police specifically told her they would not take the patient's name for their records. My co-worker is highly ethical; she wouldn't have disclosed his identity anyway.

My friend said the car was basically undamaged but the young thief had left a lot of his stuff in the car including mail with his name on it, clothes, and syringes. She said she felt terribly violated and scrubbed the car inside and out, over and over again. Of course she had to be very careful of the syringes because they could be contaminated with Hepatitis C or the AIDS virus, among other things.

Such is the life of a detox counselor. I felt kind of bad because he had stolen her car keys while in my office. She had left her briefcase by the side of my desk. Her keys were apparently stuffed in the middle pocket. While he and I were talking, he apparently removed the car keys from the briefcase. She has the kind of keys that light up the car lights when you press the button.

He snuck out of detox, pressed the button, and voila! There was his transportation to wherever he wanted to go.

This is the kind of stuff we deal with.