Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T00:36:20.369Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Sad Case of Mr Watene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

J. L. Crammer*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Here is a good teaching case:

Mr Watene, aged 25, was put in prison for seven days on a charge of offensive behaviour, with a charge of robbery pending. On the third day he was recommended for transfer to a psychiatric hospital because he was sullen, depressed and uncommunicative; he had barricaded himself in his cell because he was scared of other prisoners, and he carried a knife for his protection, as he said. Two doctors wrote the order. One noted: ‘It is very difficult to gain his attention. He cerebrates slowly, and replies to repeated questioning are in the main irrelevant.’ The other said: ‘It is not really possible to have a conversation with him, but he does indicate his fear of being left alone in the cell and wished me to stay with him. Says he is mixed up.’

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1983
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.