St. Loman's Hospital in Mullingar

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Customer reviews about St. Loman's Hospital

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  Hans Fischer Added 06/10/2018

  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  Although my rating remained it seems that the text body of my review vanished without explanation. I will reproduce it to the best of my abilities. This hospital was the epitome of horror. The decrepit building and standalone units were often not up to living standards and the hospital has had a long history of the incarceration of the rejects, from the unloved, social outcasts, and incurably embittered and dispirited (to quote a little someone) and the admission of children and adolescents to supposed adult-only units. Having kept up-to-date on many of the inspector reports over the years I am bewildered as to how they managed to grasp on for so many years. Irish psychiatric units and mental health services are notorious for being behind standards and non-compliancy with law and St. Loman's Psychiatric Clinic throughout all of it's history is the perfect example of these horrors. It makes me absolutely sick that so much of the community (many of them with no experience behind those walls) would give support and praise to this horror house with their reasoning not going much further than their pleasant limited interactions with the staff, or interactions under certain conditions, only taking success cases into account while marginalising many of those who have had their lives destroyed by the hospital (though some do get a lot of support there are many who do not), individuals of their family or social circle being employed there, and the fact that the hospital was a huge employer in the region. Jobs over morals! (yet so many of them are self-deceptive Catholics aren't they... always been a strange bunch). Those people are enablers. Mental health services in Ireland are beyond a joke. The building should have been abolished out of respect for the many victims.
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  Wayne S Added 02/09/2018

  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  St. Loman's is an absolutely terrible hospital. I was snatched out of my home late one night as a minor and involuntarily admitted to a unit on their grounds for an evaluation. The treatment was degrading and they needlessly used excessive physical restraint. They were intimidating bullies. One member of their staff had even referred to my mother and siblings as “knackers” for sticking up for me. They also didn't seem to care about my concerns about the possible side-effects of medications.
  
  It all started when a group of people barged into the house unannounced one night shouting "where is he". When I came out of my room I was met by a bunch of males at the top of the stairs who grabbed me from about every limb and dragged me out into a van without explanation. I thought I was being kidnapped. Then I thought I was in prison when we turned up at Loman's. I only found out where I was when my mother arrived and told me.
  
  They wouldn’t allow me to use the toilet alone, despite being told to stop following me into the toilet on numerous occasions. My mother had to regularly come in to stand outside the bathroom door to prevent anyone from violating my privacy while I showered and used the toilet. And on one occasion when I asked to use the toilet while they had me restrained, they dragged me into the toilet, pulled my pants down, put me sitting on the toilet, and would not let me up until I did my business. Then they wiped me with my hands being held in front of me. They left me alone directly after that. There was absolutely no need for it. I had full control over my facilities and asked them to leave me alone to use the toilet and reminded them of my age. Intimidation.
  
  And they didn't take very well to criticism in the hospital at all. They were very difficult to deal with and would label one as aggressive and use unnecessary physical restraint for the simplest of reasons (e.g. argumentative when they're wrong). It was never a last resort, but something they used very freely. The restraint often left me feeling my circulation was being cut off and having breathing difficulties. They did not care much for pleas for release.
  
  On one occasion when they had me restraint, I begged them to release me, but they said they would not stop until I was "calm", despite laying there placid for some time, and continuing to do so for some time afterwards. I only began struggling as time went on and my breathing and circulation issues exacerbated to the point that I was in terror. Their response to this, which was by no means "aggression", and they knew this hearing my pleas, was to have me forced an injection. I was bruised and cut all over my body after the incident. One of the men restraining me also pressed his knee across my neck and head, which I found very abusive. My older sister came in towards the end and saved me from those animals.
  
  I only spent about two weeks in their care because very soon into the evaluation the judge had me transferred into competent care, where my family and I were treated with respect. They never robbed of my dignity in the hospital which I was transferred to. The staff at the second hospital were extremely polite, patient, helpful, and understanding. The difference was hell to heaven. I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and released soon afterwards. However, I did have to continue seeing some unhelpful psychiatrist or counselor (I don’t know what he was) under the HSE who refused to take me off medications which had undesirable side effects, the main one being rapid weight gain. I had issues with my weight previously which he was already aware of and once I was taken off the medications I starved myself for a number of months (they should have seen that coming).
  
  I have been suffering with suicidal thoughts for years because of the scars left from the experience under the care of the HSE and I have felt unable to open up to anyone about suicidal thoughts to avoid being forced through anymore unhelpful treatment. It was a traumatic experience. The treatment was anti-therapeutic and degrading.
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  Alex Karlsson Added 20/08/2018

  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  The employees from the lower to the administrative levels at this hospital and it's associated standalone units behaved like dirty thugs behind closed doors. There were serious cultural problems at this hospital which should have been addressed decades ago. They terrorised and sneered in the faces of families caring for their loved ones and fighting for their rights. They play by their own rules. The laws will not be abide by. Your human rights and dignity are spat on and thrown out the window once you enter St. Loman's. They wreck havoc on people's lives, endanger them and do not take any responsibility for their actions even when the person is eventually cleared of "mental illness" had has irreparable psychological and physiological damage as a result of psychiatric "treatment". You will not get an apology. Integrity is low with these ruthless thugs. It is a horrific ordeal to go through and I would not wish it on anyone. They would much rather blame a person's issues on "mental illness" than acknowledge how society and the failings of the system cripples their most vulnerable by putting them through unbearable circumstances and causing them overwhelming emotional distress. Psychiatry is often used as an instrument of oppression and they are quick to misuse psychiatric medications. A lot of people walking through those doors do not legally meet the criteria for "mental illness". It's unfortunate that people only want to hear of the success cases involving people who had supposedly beneficial outcomes while neglecting, turning their noses up at and shunning those who are vocal about having their lives destroyed psychiatry. This hospital is unworthy of praise. The thugs practicing quackery under the mental health services in Ireland are often given far too much control and power. The DSM is not even scientifically valid. And there is no evidence that psychiatric drugs such as "anti-psychotics" and "anti-depressants" (e.g. SSRIs) actually work according to the postulations made by the pharmaceutical industry, psychiatrists and GPs. None whatsoever. Because those postulations are nothing more than rationalisations. Psychiatrists are ironically notorious, when they mess up, for hiding behind psychological defence mechanisms, chasing confirmation bias, and using brute force (via the proxy of the privileges their practice gives them over their rationalised interpretations) with the use of restraint, drugging, denialism and manipulation when met with opposing challenging them on the grounds of their involuntary commitments. Not to mention doing everything to keep the patient in the dark about their treatment and diagnosis as not to be challenged. They take advantage of their position and tailor their "interpretations" to their advantage. There's an unequal power relationship. It's utter quackery and on par with alchemy and astrology. Only it's legitimised by the SCUMBAGS working for the state, the same people who will selectively warn against certain forms of quackery, giving you mixed signals, as facts only matter when it suits the scumbags. Psychiatry offends the values of autonomy and liberty and expects people to accept quackery (often involuntarily) when it's being perpetuated by educated and socioeconomically advantaged pompous psychiatrists and pharmacists who expect you to believe in them with blind faith and without question because they're "experts". These people are not only quacks, but, along with much of the healthcare system (e.g. GPs) and the government, they operate as cohesive social predators cooperating to perpetuate their quackery and lie to the public to meet their own goals (e.g. profits) and make their own jobs easier. This is the same hospital which locked a woman up for nothing more than throwing a cup of tea at their husband during an argument and countless adolescents for being social outcasts and their needs neglected by the state.
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  Luke Moore Added 13/08/2018

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
  Very good architecture. Worth having a look around.

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