Christina Fondren Ignored And Failed To Document Or Act On Suicidal Urges, Austin Texas

On June 30th, 2020, I was a patient enrolled in Ascension Seaton Shoal Creek’s Partial Hospitalization Program (wherein I underwent several hours of mental health treatment per day but was allowed to return home at night). The previous night I had attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on Ambien. I thankfully was not successful, and managed to drag myself to the hospital in order to try and seek help.

I arrived at approximately 10:00 AM, about an hour after PHP began, and I made contact with Christina Fondren. She handed me a daily check in card which among other questions asked for suicidal intent, which I marked near the top of the scale. I handed it back to her, and explained what happened the previous night. I was very clear that I had attempted to take my own life, that I was still heavily under the influence of the sleeping medication I tried to overdose on (though she failed to document this specifically she did note “pt appeared dissociated, flat speech, and disheveled” in the Social Services Progress Notes page she filed).

I also very clearly communicated that I felt like I may try again, and that I did not feel safe leaving. Despite this she informed me that I would be discharged due to showing up late, and it was falsely documented that I “contracted safety of self and for others over next 24 hours”. A few hours after I was told to leave the hospital I attempted to commit suicide once again. Thankfully, I was not successful in that attempt either.

I recently requested my medical records from Shoal Creek. Aside from the discrepancies listed above, my check in card was missing, even though every other day’s was present (it was instead replaced with a blank one, marked “absent” and dated 06/30/2020). There was also no suicide assessment risk performed that day, even though a social worker performed one every other day I was present. The hospital later claimed “an alternative risk assessment was performed” but failed to elaborate on what that entails or why documentation of it was not given to me. Finally, my paperworks indicates I voluntarily left the PHP program, when my separation was very much involuntary.

I believe this social worker acted recklessly in failing to take me seriously when I clearly communicated my recent suicide attempt, and my imminent desire to try again. At a bare minimum I feel I should have been referred for the dangerous amount of ambien that was probably still present in my system at this time. She also failed to or did not properly document important details of my care. Though I thankfully did not suffer any long term physical effects from either of my suicide attempts, this lack of a response stuck with me, and made it far more difficult for me to ask for or accept professional help, thus creating a major setback in solving the issues I enrolled in PHP for in the first place.