My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas
Hi there. I recently got in my first bout with legal trouble this month. I am a 21 year old male with a severe case of bi-polar disorder and I was going to college full-time. Back in February, I had a nervous breakdown with suicidal ideations and thoughts, and a friend took me to the emergency psych room at a local hospital (JPS Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas). I was there on suicide watch for 13 hours, and after speaking to one of the psychiatrists there, giving them my family history and personally history of mental illness, I was given a prescription to the SSRI antidepressant drug "celexa." I requested a mood stabilizer instead, because I was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder 9 years ago and have been having the most intense mood swings of my life these past few months. The doctor refused to prescribe me the mood stabilizer I requested, saying that the dosing procedures were complicated and would take a while before it kicked in. I asked her what my best option would be, and she recommended an antidepressant instead so that I could cope with my suicidal thoughts, I asked her which one had the least side effects and she said celexa would be my best option. I felt that it was a bad move on her part to give me this drug alone without the mood stabilizer, as SSRI's and other antidepressants can trigger manic episodes in bipolar patients, but I decided to listen to her recommendation and was released from the hospital right afterwards.
I started taking celexa the day after, and I noticed effects almost immediately, I felt a bit agitated and my anger was progressing more and more within the first week. I wanted to stop taking the medication but I thought that I was perhaps just having a hard time adjusting to it, and that the effects would fade away soon, so I continued on with the "therapy". By day 10, I was experiencing a full-blown manic episode filled with intense rage, anxiety, and irrational thoughts. I went to school on friday, March 2nd (the 10th day), and I was shaking uncontrollably in my first class. I couldn't focus on the test I was finishing and my thoughts were racing like crazy, and I had violent thoughts running through my mind. Some people in my class were talking extremely loud, and it just made my mood a lot worse, as I couldn't finish my assignment. I asked the class to please stop talking so loudly so that I could finish, and another student (roughly in her 50's), stood up, started giving me an attitude and we were exchanging inappropriate words with each other. She walked over to my desk, cussing at me, and I stood up and told her to "back the **** away from me", she kept on agitating me and I yelled at her, saying, "if I don't leave the class right now, I feel like I'm about to kill somebody." She saw the look on my face and instantly became quiet, the entire class was looking at me in shock, and was seemingly terrified at how I reacted. I asked my teacher if I could leave the class and finish my work in the library, and she said to go ahead and go. I finished up my test in the library and went back to the classroom to apologize for blowing up on everyone, but all the students and my professor had already left. I felt terrible about what happened, and I stopped taking celexa that day.
Later that day, I got a call from a police officer at the campus, and he told me to speak with him regarding the incident the following monday. I went to meet with him that monday before class, and he started questioning me about what happened, and told me that the student went to him, claiming that I threatened to come to school with a gun and shoot everyone in the class. Those words never left my mouth, but after explaining what I was accused of, he started reading me my rights and put me on camera. I was severely confused and didn't understand why he was doing that. He told me that due to the severity of the situation, I could choose between going straight to jail, or getting psychiatric treatment at the hospital. I tried to explain my situation to him, and denied the allegations brought against me, saying that I absolutely did not recall saying anything about a gun or shooting anyone. The police searched my truck in the parking lot for weapons, but since I don't even own a firearm, they didn't find anything. I told him that I wanted to get psychiatric help immediately and that I had no intention of hurting anyone, and that I must have had a bad reaction to the celexa I was prescribed to, I haven't had a single manic episode since getting off that medication. The officer said that I was making the better decision by going to the hospital, and that I wasn't to worry about any charges brought against me or anything like that. He placed me in handcuffs at the school and took me to the hospital as "involuntary committal."
I stayed in the waiting room for about a day, then was transferred to the psychiatric ward at the other side of the hospital. I was supposed to be placed in the psych ward for a minimum of 72 hours, while getting psychologically evaluated, put on the right medications, stabilized, and then released. I was given notice from the campus simply stating that I was temporarily suspended until I was approved to come back by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist. Anyway, my time at the psych ward was absolutely hellacious. None of the nurses or doctors would listen to me, and they forced me to take 7 different types of medications that I had never taken before (I can only remember the names of 6 though). Here's a list of the medicines I was forced to take:
- Depakote
- Trazadone
- Vistaril
- Wellbutrin
- Tenex
- Thorazine
I didn't respond well to any of them, and I tried to explain to them over and over that I needed a different mood stabilizer, notably lamotrigine (Lamictal). The depakote they were giving me was making me feel extremely anxious and irritable, so they had me take vistaril (hydroxyzine) for my anxiety, and trazadone for my insomnia. I started hallucinating on the trazadone and I could barely get to sleep (I slept for about 4 hours the first night I was there). The following morning, they gave me wellbutrin, more vistaril, and tenex. I was constantly ignored by the nurses and I asked them if I could speak with the doctor about getting on different medication. Later that day, I found out from my family who came up there to visit me, that I was getting charges pressed against me from the school. I asked about 12 times before finally having the opportunity to speak with the doctor, and all he did was drop the wellbutrin and add in mirtazapine for my insomnia (I used to take mirtazapine and saw good results), I was never issued the medication though, it was just written on a prescription card so I could fill it after I left the hospital. I asked him if he knew anything about the police being involved in my departure from the hospital, and hesitantly speaking, he finally told me that "yes, from what I'm aware, there are some legal troubles for you to deal with once you leave, but that's out of my control." I instantly broke down, had a panic attack, and was trying to figure out why this was happening to me. About 20 minutes later, the nurses gave me some more vistaril, but since it was doing absolutely nothing for my anxiety, the doctor ordered them to give me thorazine. He said it was an anti-anxiety medication and that I would feel better and calm after taking it (unbeknownst at the time to the actual effects of the drug, an antipsychotic, I complied and took the medication). Within 30 minutes, I felt completely drugged up out of my mind, and the hospital staff said that I was getting released from the hospital. I saw the same police officer who took me there, waiting for me at my location. The hospital had me sign a release form, and I was immediately placed in handcuffs after signing the paper. I could barely stand up or function at all on the thorazine, as they gave me a 100mg dose. It's a drug used for schizophrenia, NOT anxiety..and I felt as though my brain was fried. I've had amnesia and memory problems ever since I took the thorazine, I'm afraid it might have done some damage to my brain, I've had a hard time remembering almost anything from the past 6 months now.
The police officer took me to the county jail, and he said the school district was pressing charges against me for making "terroristic threats". I asked him why considering he told me not to worry about charges beforehand, but he just replied saying "they feel you're a threat, and I follow orders." So after being drugged up like a zombie, I go to the jail and get placed with general population. I was in a stupefied state of mind and was heavily sedated. I tried to explain to the jail staff that I was under the influence of multiple sedatives given to me at the hospital, but I was incoherent and could barely speak correctly. They kept yelling at me and treated me like an animal. I was in no position to defend myself in case I was to get in an altercation with another inmate, but they ignored everything I said and looked at me as if I was full of crap. Luckily for me, no one harmed me at jail and I only stayed there for about a day, being bailed out by my roommates mom the following morning at 5am.
Now, I've come to find out that I've been charged with a third degree felony, and my initial court summons is thursday, March 29th @ 9am. I'm supposed to have my psychiatric appointment I had set up prior to all of this happening, on March 29th, @ 10:30am..and considering how far the court and doctors office is from each other, there's absolutely no way I'll be able to make my appointment. It's imperative that I see this psychiatrist that I've been waiting to see for the past 8 months (yes, I've been on the Tarrant County MHMR waiting list for that long to finally see a doctor), and since they're extremely busy, I don't have an option to delay or reschedule my doctors appointment. I'm scared to death about what's about to happen, and from what an attorney has told me, I could be facing 2-10 years max for a third degree felony. I can't believe the school has taken matters this far, and I don't have the financial means to hire an attorney (my family is luckily helping me with the initial $1500 retainer fee, but it's not guaranteed yet, he hasn't started my case at the moment and there's no telling if it's going to cost a lot more money down the road). I've been trying to contact him for the past week but I haven't heard anything back yet, and I'm afraid he won't get my initial court summons delayed soon enough.
I need advice on my situation, because honestly I'm absolutely terrified at the thought of going to prison. Because of what happened, I got kicked out of school, banned from all campus property, and now I'll have to pay back my federal pell grant and won't be eligible for financial aid any more. This has literally ruined my life, and I don't know what to do. I had a bad reaction to a medication that was wrongly prescribed, and I have documentation that I was treated for "mood disorder" from the hospital, prescribed celexa, and documentation showing my bipolar disorder diagnosis from a while back. This ordeal is costing me tons of money, and I have no means to pay for it..I've been paying my rent from the leftover grant money I had, and I've been unemployed since may 2011. I've been trying to seek treatment for my disorder since I ran out of medication last summer, but I've had absolutely no help at all..and I don't know what to do at this point. I also have evidence that I was seeking therapy from the school counselors prior to this incident and I was telling them about the suicidal thoughts I was dealing with before going to the hospital.
I don't want to go to jail, especially for something I did in a completely crazy state of mind, I wouldn't ever do something like that normally. I'm not generally one to point fingers, but I honestly believe this entire situation would have been avoided if the doctor at the hospital would have just given me the proper medication instead of celexa (which studies have shown can cause mania in people with bipolar disorder). I tend to over-worry about my situations and I'm scared about what might happen to me. I just want to get help, get my life back on track, and get back into school. I don't want to keep living like this, without medication, and I sure as hell don't want to be sent to prison..this will absolutely ruin any chance I have at having a successful life. What should I do?..a few people have told me that I should sue the hospital for medical malpractice, for the initial wrong medication, and for the mistreatment I received at their psych ward..but my main concern is to get these charges dropped against me..I can't get this out of my mind and it's causing me to panic constantly. Please help me..thank you.

