On July 9, 2026, I went to the Dodge County Hospital emergency room solely to have blood drawn as part of finally reporting a rape that occurred four years earlier. I explained that coming forward was part of my healing process, guided by my Buddhist understanding that suppression is the root of anger, and that the rape itself had been my deepest form of suppression.

Without my knowledge, my mother contacted my former social worker, Precious Wilcox, who was present. The focus quickly shifted away from the assault report and onto me. I repeatedly asked to leave and go home. Wilcox told me that if I left I would not be able to report the perpetrator. I made clear I had reported him only for my own healing and no longer cared about pursuing that aspect. She redirected me back into the emergency room and began calling others.

Staff then pressured me, referencing a prior Coastal Harbor recommendation of a 1013 and insisting that if I wanted to go home I must urinate in a cup. When I became distressed and made a statement about Coastal Harbor’s mixed-gender units and the experience of rape survivors there, a white nurse with pulled-back hair and glasses suddenly declared, with no prior warning: “Because of your language, we’re gonna have to sedate you.”

I tried to de-escalate, explained that I had arrived calm and would calm down further, and attempted to record the interaction on my phone. The phone was taken. Approximately ten people held me down, pulled my pants down, and forcibly injected me with sedatives. The experience was as traumatizing as the original rape.

Afterward I was told that if I urinated in a cup I could leave. I complied. I was then informed again that I would be sedated. I stopped resisting, believing I would finally be released.

The next day I awoke being transferred alone, without my mother or any family present, to Riverwoods Behavioral Health. Still under the effects of the sedation and deeply traumatized, I told a staff member named Ms. Nadia that I had only sought a rape kit and had instead been sedated and shipped away. I wrote her a note that read: “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed, it gets you raped.” She said she would document it and claimed that placement in a facility is simply “part of the process” when one reports a rape, after which one is supposed to “fly right out.” That did not occur.

I arrived on a Friday. Staff repeatedly invented reasons to extend the stay (weekends do not count, the first three days do not count). They never informed me that I could leave against medical advice; instead they made it sound impossible. Because of these delays I also missed my auntie’s funeral on the Saturday I would have been able to attend if I had been released when I was supposed to be. I was prescribed Abilify for an alleged bipolar diagnosis and paced constantly under its effects. Staff claimed I had arrived in psychosis, though I had been heavily sedated. A Caucasian nurse with short blonde hair told another patient not to listen to me because I was “in psychosis.” Dr. Dhanani attributed my supposed psychosis to my relationship with Buddha. Every day he asked why I was there; I answered that I had reported a rape and did not understand why I remained. What he told my mother was that I was manic and in psychosis. Because of that diagnosis I remained on Abilify.

Discharge appeared imminent on July 17 until staff waited until my mother had driven three hours to say I was “a bit pacey.” They also increased my medication dosage the night before release without prescribing a beta blocker. I could not research the effects at the time because I was denied access to my phone. After leaving I realized the ongoing physical effects were caused by the Abilify.

I later learned that Riverwoods Behavioral Health is operated by Acadia Healthcare and is part of the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) network. Public records show Acadia has paid the state of Georgia millions of dollars related to Medicaid fraud allegations that include holding people against their will, exaggerating symptoms to justify continued confinement, and increasing medication dosages. I am a Medicaid recipient.

What happened to me was not care. It was a traumatic, coercive response to a rape survivor who sought a blood draw and the ability to leave. Forced sedation without meaningful warning or consent, the denial of the right to leave, the mischaracterization of trauma and spiritual belief as psychosis, the withholding of information about against medical advice discharge, and the use of psychiatric medication in this context demand accountability.

We demand:

1.  A full, independent investigation by the Georgia Department of Community Health, the Georgia Composite Medical Board, and any other appropriate state and federal oversight bodies into the actions of Dodge County Hospital staff and Riverwoods Behavioral Health / Acadia Healthcare in this case.

2.  Public release of findings and any corrective actions, policy changes, or disciplinary measures taken.

3.  Clear, enforceable policies at both facilities guaranteeing that patients seeking care related to sexual assault are not subjected to forced sedation or involuntary psychiatric holds without proper legal process, and that they are fully informed of their right to leave against medical advice.

4.  Review of billing and clinical documentation practices involving Medicaid patients at Riverwoods / Acadia facilities in Georgia to ensure confinement and medication decisions are clinically justified and not driven by financial incentives.

5.  Meaningful apology and acknowledgment from both institutions to survivors who have experienced similar harm.

Sign this petition to demand accountability so that no other survivor seeking help is met with force, confinement, and further trauma instead of care.