Should I file a complaint?

[hoshi112]

Last year, I was really in a bad way. I had not been dx'd yet, they had somehow missed a roaring mania where I spent thousands of dollars and didn't sleep for days on end. And other stuff. Anyway, I was in the midst of a mixed episode and I was very close to being psychotic. I slashed up my arms really bad, some 30 cuts, and I was told about 5 of them should have had a good number of stitches. It feels like a dream now, and at the time, I thought it was *funny*. I was laughing to myself when I was doing it.

Anyway, a few days later I was hospitalized. It was a real sucky psychiatric hospital, but a doctor did something to me there that angers me now when I think about it. He put me on a medication, didn't tell me about it. When the nurses tried to give it to me, I asked what it was for and she just said "oh, a lot of things" and would not tell me. The next day, I noticed my arms stinging fiercely. The felt like they were fresh cuts, like I had just sliced them open. I have a high pain tolerance, so I said nothing about it. It never crossed my mind that it was because of that pill. Then I went in to see the doctor for the day. He put on a sneer and said "So, how are you arms? Hurt enough for you?". It turns out, the medicine he put me on had a side effect. It intensifies pain. He then told me this. He was like "Maybe you'll think twice next time, huh?"...like pain would stop me if I wanted to do it. Please.
The more I think on it, the more angry I become. His sole purpose was to cause me pain. I wish I could remember what the medication was called...if anyone knows, please tell me.
I checked the hospital's website and he no longer works there. Everyone, even the staff, hated him, so he probably was fired. But should I file a complaint with the medical board or something? I've never filed a complain on anyone, ever. I usually get on great with staff at mental hospitals.
What should I do? Should I just let it go, or should I file a complaint? And how do I go about doing such a thing?
Thanks in advance.

[hoshi112]

I was never given anything for the pain and the wounds were never treated, so it wasn't anything like that. He TOLD me he gave me the medication because it intensified pain. He seemed to think it quite funny, he had a smartass looking smirk on his face and was making snarky remarks about it. And laughed.
And, at least in my state, I think they only way they can give you meds against your will is if they get a court order. But it wasn't against my will. I didn't know what it was, they wouldn't tell me, but I took it anyway because I didn't want anyone to be upset with me. I have never refused meds. I always do what I am told at hospitals and by medical professionals.

[ILADVOCATE]

    One potential idea is to speak to the patient liaison or review board or whomever addresses these type of complaints at the hospital. If it was a pervasive pattern at the hospital then it would be worth going further. But if although they cannot tell you that psychiatrist was fired from his position because of these type of abuses then in that situation they did the correct thing. Its hard to say what they gave you. I do know when I had cut myself (not intentionally but when I accidentally put my hand through the window pane as a kid) I was given topical anesthesia by injection but of course if it had been a more severe cut I would have required major anesthesia. Sometimes people can have a reaction to that when its wearing off or it can interact with other medications depending but that is monitored for. You could ask a doctor you trust about the medication issue.
   As regarding medications given in a psychiatric hospital that at times are not acknowledged as to what they are if they believe a person is psychotic an antipsychotic can be given without explaining what it is although at all the hospitals I've been to they explained what I was being given and what it was for. However all of this should be on your hospital record and you have a right to request that record and be allowed to review it so that would be the first step so that you know what happened and what specifically went wrong.