To find the Stephanie Bincliffe case so shocking

[Hairsprayqueeen]

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/24/hospital-autistic-woman-weight-gain-inquest

I just feel so sorry for her, and her family especially her poor mother. How awfully mistreated she was at such an expense. It's as if we're still in the dark ages. Saw it on the news yesterday and just cant stop thinking about it.

Disgusting!
I have a teenage child with severe autism who at times can lash out .
Over my dead body would I allow him in a institution when he's a adult . Shocking that this has been allowed.

Why didn’t her family step in? Surely they must have seen her in the 7 years she was there.

"Not everyone can be fixed"

People working outside of services who cater for people with duel or a complex diagnosis often can't take this on board.

I know Parents of Adult with a similar diagnosis and they are struggling to keep their children from morbid obesity. In one case luckily their daughter enjoys drama workshops, so it is a form of bribery, to get her to move. But Stephanie could be aggressive and self harm, so it's then finding something appropriate.

Services aren't supposed to use bribery because of autonomy.

I think the thing that stands out in this case is the inflexibility of sectioning for people with a complex diagnosis. There should be more family involvement, if possible, for the social/leisure side of the care plan.

That does also mean flexibility in the benefit system, so the carer is still recognised as a carer.

Hundreds of thousands of NT people are dying because they are eating/drinking/smoking themselves to death. So we get into the ethical dilemma of allowing autonomy and what we actually do to force people with LD/MH issues etc to comply.

She was over 18. Her family would have had very little say. She may also have been sectioned if they tried to remove her.

"...coroner Prof Paul Marks said that three treatments for obesity – bariatric surgery, appetite-suppressing drugs or a strict calorie-controlled diet – would not realistically have worked for Bincliffe, who had “high levels of self mutilation” and aggressive tendencies."

Sounds like she was severely mentally ill with violent tendencies. What did the family expect them to do? She was over weight before she went in, and obviously piled on more by staying in bed all of the time.

Many of them could have avoided needing to be fixed if the right support is given early on.

@Yoohoo16,
Firstly, she's an Adult, so decisions can be taken by Professionals. It's best practice to have family involvement, but they can be overridden.

Secondly, she'd committed a criminal offence (assault), so had to be immediately placed. Just as in the case of anyone without LDs, who are detained/arrested, then Sectioned. It is out of the hands, of the family.

Then events took over that meant the family got a limited say.

Stephanie first got Sectioned in 2007, practice and procedures have now changed.

@Hairsprayqueeen, are you on a course of some kind and this case has been used as teaching material?

I have a close relative who is very similar only now she's being cared for by another relative. In the last 5 years she's has gone from normal bmi to dangerously underweight (refusing to eat in hospital environment) and now being morbidly obese (refusing to move from bed). I see no way to fix the situation.

@Beautiful3, somethings they could have done are
Not place her so far away so consistant visiting was so difficult.
Allow flexibility in the role of the family for people who are sectioned, that have a complex diagnosis that includes Spectrum/LDs.
Make sure the treatment plan is short term and long term in the patients, whole health, best interests and needs.
Regular reviews that involve nulti professionals and the family.

The above are generally done now.

Unfortunately it often takes the death of people to show us how to do things, better.

ponoka7 no. I stated in the op where I came upon this case, on the news yesterday morning.
I cant figure out how to scroll back on my phone, but to the poster who said its 4 years old yes, it is, and I'd never heard of it. Had you?I assume not because you looked it up. Neither had others on this thread. It should have been bigger news at the time IMO.
I agree about the complexities and goady titles but, what I dont agree with is that she was beyond help. Not 'cure' or 'fix' but help.

She had been sectioned due to attacking a boy in a supermarket. Ive looked up what she did, and if you or I did that and got a 7 year sentence, I'd show my ass in harrods window. Some acts of barbaric intentional violence get less than that.

For comparison, I know a 20 year old with full capacity. No additional needs or MH diagnoses etc..
She, because she has been deemed as in need, has two carers with her at all times. Is helped with everything. Any jobs or ventures. She doesnt not need that help. Stephanie could have benefited truly from one on one and/or a true professional who wasnt over worked and under paid. The system does have money. It puts it in the wrong places. I know theres not a solution to that. It's the way of it. But sometimes something gets to me, and this did.

Yoohoo I watched some videos about the case and I think one of them said her family had a gagging order. BUT dont quote me as I was falling asleep watching it (night shift)and it could have already gone into a snippet about someone else.

These ATUs need to be shut down. Given the number of preventable deaths that happen in them, it should be all over the media. But it's not, because disabled people needlessly dying is something people don't want to think about.

news.sky.com/story/review-ordered-into-barbaric-treatment-of-patients-with-autism-and-learning-disabilities-11544681

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/26/nhs-trust-fined-2m-over-death-of-teenager-connor-sparrowhawk

Connor's mum campaigned for years for justice, and the abuse levelled at her by Southern Healthcare Trust is beyond belief. She had voicemails threatening her, and those of us that heard the message have no doubt that it was the CEO who sent it. She eventually resigned from her post, only to be taken on by the same trust as a consultant for half a million a year.

www.channel4.com/news/unanswered-questions-over-death-of-disabled-young-man

The family of Thomas Rawnsley are still waiting for the inquest four years later.

For anyone that does care, please ask your parliamentary candidates for their views on this, for their views on cuts to NHS mental health services, to outsourcing essential services, and cuts to social care budgets. Find out how much funding there is now compared to 2010, and make sure the figure is per capita and inflation adjusted, not some random big sounding number plucked out the air.

I'll get off my soapbox now. It just makes me rage how this harm is allowed to continue.

Compare this with the thread yesterday about individuals paying for dementia care. We really are struggling as a society to pay for/regulate/administer complex care for adults with severe difficulties. I don't know what the answer is but there is no doubt that we are not dealing well with it at all. How can we deal with it better? How do we care for adults who can no longer care for themselves yet who deserve independence and choice over thier own lives as much as anyone else? How do we pay for it? How do we protect other members of society from those who are unpredictable and put them at risk??

For these young adults the solutions possibly lie much earlier in their life. In support services for children that have long term aims. This is what the new educatinal health care plan system was supposed to start to achieve. (the failure of the that is a whole other thread - the thinking behind the changes is sound, the implementstion has been a mess)

These children need to be educated in small specialist environments, where they get targeted and long term help to learn to manage their stimulus and emotions. Where life skills are taught over years, not in 6 week blocks and then no further therapy. Where parents are seen as Co-therapists and sent on courses that recognise this - not just endless 'parenting' courses. Where strategies are planned over years, not short term.

The lack of interest in this thread just shows how little the majority care about this. Out of sight out of mind?

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/mps-have-no-confidence-government-tackling-horrific-detention-and-abuse-of-kids-with-autism-and-learning-disabilities/01/11/

Thanks MrsMaisieisMuff, that is so ver,y very sad.

frisbymouse that is so true. I wish we worked like that. This has reminded me of the Gemma Hayter case. It isnt the same, she wasnt institutionalised. But she was failed by the system.

www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2019/05/18/social-services-stopped-savage-murder-woman-learning-difficulties-9597553/amp/