I was waiting in town the other day for the bus home. Music blaring away in my ears as usual and watching the people wander by. Out of a shop comes a guy – a huge guy – who walks directly toward me, places his arm around my shoulders and says “Hi ****, how are you, long time no see”. There I am, 4 years after leaving the nursing profession and just about the only patient I have ever actually hated is standing right next to me. The guy is a sociopath.
On the Treatment Unit where I spent a couple of years too long, many patients came through the doors. Some I really liked, others I was ambivalent, a small group were mildly irritating but this bloke – initials RN – was the pits. He was vile no matter which way you took him. he was around 34 stone (476 pounds ?) and he used his size aggressively. I can distinctly remember one occasion when he was stood right in front of me shouting abuse at a very very ill man who had uncontrolled schizophrenia who was stood right behind me – each had their right arm over a shoulder of mine pointing at the other and yelling abuse and threats. Both had a solid history of violence. Genuinely worrying that was. He was borderline learning disability – in other words he knew which side his bread was buttered. To the police he would cry “I’m handicapped”, to people he was aggressive with he’d say that the Police would let him go – which they did. He actually threatened to murder someone on the Unit so I rang the Police. I got an officer to the Unit and I tried my best to get him arrested and charged. After becoming aware of his history they refused saying it was completely pointless – they could only arrest him if he DID murder, and even then he’d probably be returned to the unit for assessment. Even assault – Grevious Bodily Harm – would not see him arrested because as soon as the Custody officer was made aware of his ‘learning disability’ everything would be dropped and he would be handed over to Health / Social. And if it was Social they’d hand him to us.
So we are in town and he’s asking me lots of questions. I’m being very vague – this guy isn’t stupid and would come knocking on my door if he found my house. He then recites events over the last couple of years which has ended with him in his own flat with a social worker. He got a flat because he asked for one. He got a flat because no healthcare agency would touch him. He got a flat because everywhere he went he threatened to kill staff, he injured people and when they called the police they said he was no longer welcome. He played the system and won. He was actually gesturing in the street how he had beaten a member of staff up. The guy is a liar through and through, but even so what he was failing to remember was that he had done this very same thing to me. Several times. One time I had to go to the General Hospital to be there when he was arrested for absconding under a Mental Health Act section. There’s me, one copper and 2 porters – and one extremely verbally aggressive RN in a ward full of genuinely ill people (he was faking the whole time). We had to let him go. I had to tell them to leave him alone and I’d take any crap for it (I didn’t). He’s expecting me, in town to be happy for him and all I had was utter disdain and contempt for the nasty evil scheming person who was using and abusing every system there. As a clue to how bad he was, one of his places was costing a Health Authority around £4000 a week. Do that maths !
As bad as the now shelved Mental Health Act was going to be in so many ways, for people like RN being locked away would be a bonus for society. He was untreatable so unsectionable so could not live in a hospital. He was untreatable and unsuitable in the judicial system. He was untouchable – and he both knew that and used that unrelentingly. There are many RN’s out there – and if health professionals are worried then so should others be too.
