Kaiser, Don't Deny

The stress has caused irreversible damage to my body

For four long years  I was denied appropriate mental health support, especially frequency of treatment, at Kaiser Permanente — as a caregiver to an adult child with multiple disabilities who has extremely complex medical and behavioral needs. I experienced overt cruelty and gaslighting while begging for appropriate treatment from management and my resulting PTSD and depression was caused in great part by my absolutely unnecessary struggle to secure appropriate mental health support. Particularly disturbing, was that rather than provide the appropriate talk therapy treatment needed, thru my PCP — the psychiatrist recommended that I take Zoloft instead. Refusing to be “medicated into compliance” and to stay alert as a caregiver, I advocated relentlessly until I was finally referred for treatment out-of-network. The inevitable stress has caused irreversible damage to my body.

Desiree
Kaiser Waipio