Is there anything I can do?
Location: Philadelphia, PA
2 years ago I went to an hospital after midnight via cop car. Back story: Around this time I was going through a lot mentally, I was depressed for months. I was at my boyfriend house & we got into an argument and I decided to leave his house (with no where to go) to clear my head and he end up calling the police on me because he thought I was going to unalive myself.
The police came to my location and ask if I needed to talk to a psychiatrist. I said yes anyway because I did need someone to talk to at that moment and did not feel comfortable talking to my boyfriend. The cops took me to the nearest hospital because that’s the only one they knew that will help at that time of night and it was a close distance. I made sure to confirm that I was just coming to talk to someone and that I can leave whenever, that’s what I was told when I arrived. And that they let my boyfriend know so he will be able to pick me up when I’m ready.
Once I got in the hospital I was took to the second floor and they took my ID & insurance etc. I was told I needed to be triage before I talked to the psychiatrist so that’s what I did but at this point it felt strange because I came to just talk to someone not get all these questions asked and temp check etc.
I was then took into a room and had to wait to talk to someone, once I did the lady ask if I wanted to unalive myself or someone and I said no which was the truth I just needed someone to talk to about what I was going through. I made it clear to her that I did not want to stay and that I wanted to leave after. She said okay and that she had to call one of my family members to let them know I needed to get picked up (red flag).
I’m gonna try to make this short: I end up staying for over 10+ hours, I was trapped in a room with mental patients & 1 guy was going thru withdrawal. I was told that a doctor will talk to me but they never came and they took my phone so I could not get anyone number to contact me. The person that they did contact was my boyfriend sister and they told her they think I shouldn’t go home. It was so stressful I end up crying for hours feeling helpless & hopeless, I kept asking for a doctor and they said 30 mins every few hours I did ask. It was a very traumatic experience for me I felt like I was being held against my will and genuinely going crazy inside.
Aftermath: my boyfriend step dad works at the hospital and i did ask for him but they said they didn’t know who I was talking about. He end up coming up to the room that morning to talk to me and told me that I needed to “act normal” and to “stop crying”. Because of him I only end up staying a couple hours more when they told him I would have to stay 72 hours because I was showing signs of being stressed. The doctor never talked to me and I was discharged. They charged my insurance and want me to pay out of pocket for the visit. I called them and my insurance to explain the situation and my insurance supposedly disputed twice but I am still getting notices to pay til this day (I don’t have the same insurance anymore.)
What do I do now? I really want to sue them for emotional distress but I don’t know if their polices prevent me from doing that. Any advice will be extremely helpful.