Kat's Story

I was fifteen and in Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Florida. I came out of my room because I'm a chronic insomniac. They told me to go back in and I refused. I had only one blanket and it was cold. I wanted to pace the hallway. 

 

They [staff] dragged me back towards my room. I resisted and they slammed me into a wall. My nose was bleeding. My lip was bleeding. I was screaming at them to stop. They dragged me into my room and pinned me face-down to my bed. They had a person holding every single one of my limbs down, including my head. The woman on my left leg pushed her knee into a pressure point. I cried, begging her to stop, but she told me that I "should've thought of that before attacking a nurse.” 

All I did was resist when they dragged me. I tripped him [the staff], and in return, I was slammed into a wall. They held me face-down, laughing at me while I struggled. They pulled my underwear down and gave me a shot. I was wearing a hospital gown. When they'd finished, they went and sat in the doorway so I couldn't leave. 

 

I tried to leave the room – I hate being stuck, and I felt claustrophobic. The man grabbed me, and I kicked him. Another tech slammed me full-force into the wall, then into the floor so hard that I screamed. She wouldn't let me up. It hurt so bad – my face was bleeding. She held that terrified fifteen-year-old girl there for multiple minutes while I screamed and begged for her to let me up. She made me repeat after her that I was going to lay in my bed for the rest of the night and not leave the room. 

 

When I got in bed, they all laughed at me. They guarded me for the rest of the night. One tech made me kneel on the floor when he came into the room that night so that I was in a "less threatening pose.” 

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It's been almost eight months since then. I've tried to commit twice. My family has been forced to pay thousands of dollars for trauma therapy. I now need a service dog in order to be able to enter any type of hospital or doctor's office. I'll probably never be the same again. I have terrible panic attacks and nightmares every night. All because hospital staff chose to abuse a fifteen-year-old girl who only came there for help. 

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