zzeasy, Unfortunatly, mental health facilities are always difficult to deal with. HIPPA laws are not new but were revised to be much stricter about 5 years ago. I am a resource coordinator for elderly and disabled folks. I have to have a HIPPA consent form for every client to allow me to discuss health issues etc. even though I am only trying to find help for them. My Husbands Dr. cannot discuss my husband with me, but I have a client that sees the same Dr. I can discuss her health with him because I have that signed form. If your adult daughter dosen't want you knowing about her mental health issues, there is nothing you can do. Try to convinse her to sign a consent form as an emergency contact person, then at least you can give your input to her Drs. God Luck, I feel for ya. Lisa

Thanks so much for the heads up. I don't "chat" online, never learned anything about and don't know how, but would love to hear from any of you who participate. Mrs H

Dear alammy, I see the date of your original post was a year ago. However, your description of the dilemma (involving your husband & son) is very similar to mine right now (there are significant differences, but the similarities are what caught my eye and interest). Because of these things, I hope you (still) get notifications from this thread and could answer a couple questions for me? 1) did you happen to follow either of the two suggestions offered on this board? I saw one suggestion thought you could consult a family counselor. The other poster suggested you pay for your son's rent and doing so could buy you both some time (no pun intended) to get him help by seeking additional support/ assistance? 2) Would you mind posting a follow-up (or update) now that a year has gone by? I feel for your situation, whether it has passed or is still ongoing. I hope to reconcile my problems with my son, but I doubt it will occur soon. I feel some problems, especially those which involve mental health issues, chemical or substance abuse, divorce or family involvement, and/or legal issues, can be long, drawn-out processes which do not get resolved quickly. Additionally, contrary to what many people may think when superficially reading others' problems, the issues we all face are rarely singular in nature and are frequently layered issues complicated by unique and individualized lifestyles or economic status. Thank you for your post, vet

I am no fan of Kaiser. Agree with Elmer wholeheartedly on medical mishaps as well as delays in getting important labs and testing . But I can attest that the entire state has a huge mental health care problem. The county Elmer and I live in has a horrid shortage of psychiatrists available. It's not just Kaiser. We have excellent supplemental insurance along with medicare and have full access to any Stanford affiliate as well as most major hospitals. My DH is Bipolar and today we learned he may have another condition that may add dementia into the mix of rapid cycling of mania and depression. Let me tell you, there is no such thing as weekly visits here. Appointments are monthly and you better not miss one. Rescheduling is a nightmare. I have been dealing with this system for over twenty years. Our own personal physician is needing to get psychiatric help that is rather unique for a family member and he is finding it a nightmare to get an appropriate doctor. On the 4th of July we had a mental health crisis. I called everywhere. Our psychiatrist is in one of the largest mental health groups in the area. They were closed. I called several hotlines. Leave a message. In desperation I called two separate suicide hotlines. Both had a machine answer saying leave a message. I finally called the police for help. No help whatsoever. I requested CIT (Crisis Intervention) trained units. I got one officer who tried to help but was over ruled by his superior with a big attitude. A thug behind a badge. My friend stayed with me all night in fear for me and the house itself. So picking Kaiser out as a scapegoat is pure bull. I would never have Kaiser insurance , they have a lot of problems but what that article state is no different county wide and i have been told statewide. Yesterday I had another crisis to deal with. Neighbors called the police. I was calling for help. The police came over an hour and a half later when I already had him inside and calmed down. We were lucky to get a great team this time. I was very grateful to them for the way they handled things and understood the situation and how I handled it. Even DH didn't get his feathers ruffled up by them. I let them know I was happy to have them and thanked the neighbor who called them. I also told them I hope that they could make a change. Our force is known by every lawyer and outside forces for their bad apples. If they moved on elsewhere I would certainly understand.