We got a call from a patient who wanted his methadone and he claimed that if he didn’t get it then he was going to kill himself. The clerk that received the call did what we are told to do and kept the patient on the phone while getting someone else’s attention, that someone else just happened to be me. I went and found a doctor and nurse to talk to the patient, then I called the suicide prevention section where I work and I got a voicemail. I couldn’t believe it. It had to be a mistake so I called again. I got the voicemail again. I then tried to call the mental health section to see if they could give me some help. I told her that I tried to contact the suicide prevention section but I was put on hold. She put me on hold so she could go see what was going on with the suicide prevention team. She finally came back on the line and told me that the person was not at their desk and she didn’t know where he was, so she tried to help me. The lady on the other end of the phone line asked me if the patient was at our clinic. I told her that the patient was on the phone threatening to kill himself.

She told me, “You need to detain the patient and don’t let him go anywhere until help arrives.”

I told her again that the patient was not at our clinic, he was calling from his apartment and he was going to kill himself if he didn’t get his methadone.

The lady from mental health then said,” Well, in that case you can have him call us here.”
 
I was a bit surprised by that answer. “You want us to hang up with the patient and have him call you?” That was totally against protocol. According to what we’ve been told countless of times – we are not supposed to hang up with the patient until help arrives.

“Yes,” the mental health lady said. “You can hang up and have him call here or he can call after you finish with him.”

I was ready to hang up on the mental health lady because I felt that the patient needed someone with a little more brains than the person I was talking to. “I’m calling 911 and letting them know so they can do a check on him.”

“You can do that too” the lady said.

I hung up on her and immediately called 911.

At this time the doctor was talking to the patient, keeping him on the phone. I called 911 and gave the dispatcher all the information I had on the patient. He asked me for an address and I gave him the one in the system which the doctor confirmed with the patient. The doctor was smooth asking the patient where he was because he had to put the address in the system to order his medications.

“Does he have any weapons?” The 911 dispatcher asked me.

I asked the doctor, who then asked the patient. The patient said he did not have any weapons, but he said he would still find a way to kill himself if he did not get his medication.

The dispatcher asked me once again for the patient’s address. I gave it to him again and he told me that they were having another suicide incident in the same apartment building, so he wanted to make sure it wasn’t the same person. I couldn’t help thinking that I was glad I didn’t live in that apartment complex.

The doctor was amazing in the way he talked to the patient. He kept calm and answered all the questions I passed on from the dispatcher.

The whole thing seemed like something from a movie. I felt like things were going so fast, but at the same time I felt that we were working like team; the doctor, the nurse who was pulling up information from the computer so I could give to the dispatcher, and myself. We were a team that was trying to save this man and any wrong word or bad decision by either of us could cost him his life.

I don’t know that the patient would have actually killed himself or not, but when you’re faced with a situation like that you really don’t want to take any chances. You never know what someone else is thinking or what they are capable of doing.

Later I was told that we handled the situation very well and that we worked well together in relaying information back and forth.

The dispatcher finally told me that a police unit had arrived at the complex and were making their way to the patient’s apartment.

At this point the doctor looked at me and said, “He hung up on me.” I could see the surprise and fear in his face. I felt my heart race as I thought of how we had failed the patient we were trying to help

“The police have arrived and are with the gentleman.” The dispatcher said as I felt a wave of relief go over my body.

I told the doctor and I could tell that he was feeling the same way too. We were both relieved. If nothing else we had potentially saved someone’s life.

The dispatcher thanked me and gave me a number that I could use in case we wanted to find out more about the outcome.

As I hung up the phone I felt good. I felt good because I felt that in some way I had made a difference in someone’s life. Again, I don’t know if the patient would have actually killed himself or not, but it’s good to know that I won’t have to ask myself “What if…”