Atrium Health Behavioral Health — Local services in Charlotte

Horrible place and a waste of funding. The doctors here are all questionable and the other comments about them not doing a thing for ppl. Well that's all true. If I had insurance I would never have set foot in this place. And they treat every patient like they are junkies. Even if there's absolutely no history to back it up. So if you come be ready to take that $100 piss test off the gate and keep an eye on the nurses. I did a urine test and they botched it and said it was me. I can't wait to find somewhere else to go.

Update: I asked for my medical records stenting almost 10 years with this facility and was sent bits and pieces and after careful review by multiple people, every one of them come to the conclusion they were hiding things. I agreed because one year in i met the lead doctor and he was amazing for years and wrote everything and followed up every time i visit. Not one of his notes were included for years of treatment (the only proper treatment i ever recieved) like i never met him. After reviewing what they did release it was full of all the lies and terrible first impressions they claimed by me. Every practitioner (there was only 2 actual doctors which I am including in this statement) lied and wrote these lies as fact on all my records. After the DOCTOR that was actually professional and took pride in his line of work left I was told by his replacement that his practice was old and odd and this facility was an absolute nightmare since. So I can never be treated properly ever again after a chainsaw accident I discovered I had been red listed at all surrounding hospitals even though iv never seeked help in a regular hospital. Only at Billingsley and they ruined my mental health and any chance of addressing such a long lasting illness. I lost my younger brother who went through the exact same nightmare there. My step brother was homicidal and suicidal and admitted himself and was thrown out towards the parking lot in the middle of the same night he seeked help and ended up trying to stab me with a military k-bar knife days later. I had to fight for my life. All the good reviews and I mean ALL of them are fabricated. I trusted them from age 19-28 and about 4 years of medical history was unaccounted for and after a 3rd request I was simply ignored. After all the unprofessionalism, wrong meds, days being without meds was a norm. Narcotics or not. Very dark period of my life and truly felt like there was no light at the end of this tunnel. I now co-own a very successful business going on 5 years without one visit. Maintain a 4.8 star rating through home advisor. Stopped all meds and seeking help with these guys aginst their insisting I was making a grave mistake and it took me 3 months to get used to just dealing with me and face my issues head on. This approach may not be for everyone but I went there so long I was left with no choice after an altered medical file. Best personal decision I have ever made. I'm more confident with myself than I ever felt through their insults and degrading talks. For people seriously wanting to see a little light in your tunnel, ull never find it here. I dident and in the end about 6 years ago I dealt with every practitioner and the 2 doctors and was rejected from being seen by every single one of them after they review my records with them. A male practitioner stated "here's your drugs your after." The state or county seriously needs to put a few of their top representatives through just the initial process. Its borderline inhuman from an out patient p.o.v. I made sure to lie for years to avoid inpatient treatment. I have seen staff drag ppl off against their will even if they were acting reasonable and politely asking to walk behind the double doors themselves instead of being dragged in front of out patient customers which has to be absolutely humiliating. It leaves a very sick feeling inside to see it over and over just to try to get someone to take me serious and actually listen. This place will cause you more health issues than u showed up...

Sorry in advance for the wall of text.

For some reason my last review was removed without notice. I have had 12-14 hour waits here as well. I was told that they take patients based on the severity of their problem, not by order of arrival. I can not guarantee this however due to the fact that I was also referred from the emergency room to the walk in clinic to have a prescription filled. The medication is a type 2 controlled substance and will not be prescribed by the walk in clinic.

I have been in outpatient treatment here since 2008 and know their hospital procedures pretty well by now. The Dr. on duty at the emergency room should have known the prescription would not have been filled there, It has been a policy set since the walk in clinic service first started. That's why people have to go to the emergency room for certain prescription issues. If I know that they should as well. I have had many issues with this facility since I first started coming there for treatment.

A few examples are: Coming to the ER for treatment, being triaged, and seen by a DR and discharged, but having my medical records indicate that I left before being seen. I have hard copies of my discharge papers, and a hard copy of the highly inaccurate medical record entry. I have been told by the walk in clinic that the emergency room would not fill my Schedule 2 medications, and that I would have to wait to see my Dr on my next scheduled visit to get them filled. That statement is also inaccurate, as I have records of me getting these same medications filled at the ER on two previous visits there, again hard copy records from their own facility stating this had been done. I was flagged as a marijuana user due to a positive result on a urine test, once. Every other screening test I have taken before and after this one test resulted in a negative return on all screening panels. Including the tests the month before, and the month after the positive result was listed. Again hard copies of all of this provided by their own facility. I was never notified that the screening showed up positive, or I would have requested another screening, or gone to Labcorp myself and paid out of pocket for an independent screening to dispute their findings. which leads me to... I have had several entries made in my medical records like the above without any notice given to me that this had been ever been done. The only way I actually found out about it was that a psychiatrist I had seen had asked me about my marijuana use, and showed me where they had me flagged as abusing marijuana and immediately ordered another screening, when I told him I had never done illegal drugs, which came back of course negative for all drugs screened. So she removed the flag from my records, after she reviewed the results.

There are several entries like the one I first described here, where I have discharge papers from the ER but am listed as patient left before being seen, with no record of why I came to the ER and the doctors decision on my issue, I was flagged as abusing a type 2 controlled substance by an ER doctor in my medical records, yet have hard copies from my pharmacy that shows I had the prescription for that medication filled the day after I was flagged, issued by the very same doctor, because they did not accurately list that I was actively taking said medication in my medication summary. Why would a doctor prescribe me a script for a type 2 controlled substance, the day after he flagged me for abuse of it? Obviously, if it were true he never should have.

If you go here, get hard copies of EVERYTHING. Make a My Carolina's account and review every record they have in your file, again if possible make hard copies of any discrepancies you find. You will need them.

The only things they have ever done accurately, and expeditiously since I started going there is. Take my co-payments, and bill me for services.

Do not go here, unless like me, you cannot afford to go...

Atrium has failed my medical care and has violated my rights as a United States Citizen with mental health.

On Friday July 15, 2022, I entered the Behavioral Health ER because I have not been sleeping. I was asked a series of questions to evaluate my mental health at the time of entering the facility. With the symptoms that I was displaying, the physician assistant determined that I was undergoing a mental health crisis. I advised them of my family’s mental health lineage and cross compared my paternal grand mother and father’s bipolar self and assisted diagnosis and the physician assistant proceeded with triage,

He gave me two options: to commit myself voluntarily or involuntarily commit myself.

I advised the physician that I was not “sleeping” and I was mentally exhausted due to high levels of stress (that is my main concern). Between my father’s incarceration and worrying about my kid sister’s mental health along with 3 deaths during a world wide isolating pandemic can cause anyone to shut down.

He asked me a series of questions to determine my mental state and found that I was in a crisis. My therapist advised me before hand to go because she too agreed that I needed sleep and my primary care doctor, whom I reached for a psychiatrist, has not provided me the care that I needed.

After the set of questions were replied to, He gave me those two options, Either you commit yourself voluntarily or I can commit you against your will. I asked if it will stay on my record and he reassured me that no employer would know as this is only for medical records. Since I had the same choice, I chose observation and to let the doctors help me for the issues that I was having pertaining to not sleeping. After hours of waiting, I lay isolated on the floor on a mattress. I was offered a makeshift bed however, another patient was convinced that I was a threat to her and that she knows me from before and doesn’t like me. Snacks were limited and the turkey sand which was given to me that was 3 days expired. I didn’t eat it and lay it on the floor for the technicians to pick up. Hours I was staring at the wall convincing myself that I was crazy They offered only one redemption and common theme that seems to occur within the mental health hospital; medication. Since I was committed against my will, the sanity left in me told myself to comply in hopes to be out the day after. I was given 2 separate antipsychotic medications to help stabilize my mood and was sent off to sleep. I was waken up at 4:30 AM on the floor disoriented all to sign myself into an in-patient hospital. I was not thoroughly explained my rights and give little to no option. I was woken to signing my rights away without explanation. The same physician that took away my liberties Smiled showing his teeth While pretending to play nice on camera. I kept asking him when can I get out, I am traumatized and he advised to comply and take my medicine and based on my cooperation, and response, should be a few days. A few days of screams, isolation, torture and abuse Staff was cursing at patients Staff was laughing at our state of mind Staff, was looking at my calm and collectedness and did not vouch for my freedom. Doctors after doctors after doctors giving false hope and false information. My time at the ER either counts toward my time spent in constant observation. I was lied to over and over.

If you want to hear the full story: I can share, google characters...