The recent two-part RTÉ Primetime Investigates documentary on the Irish psychiatric crisis was deeply distressing for me to watch - because it reflects experiences I have personally endured within Ireland’s health system.
In 2022, on two separate occasions six months apart, I entered Irish hospitals seeking urgent medical care and was instead subjected to coercive, inappropriate, and traumatising treatment.
First incident: medical emergency treated as a psychiatric issue
On the first occasion, I experienced a severe adverse reaction to steroids prescribed for a reoccurring lung infection.
My GP was present and repeatedly informed a female Garda sergeant that a bed in a private hospital was actively being organised and that this was a medical crisis, not a psychiatric one. Despite this, the Garda sergeant threatened my GP to sign Mental Health Act paperwork and refused to accept a telephone call from my solicitor.
Under extreme pressure, and on the advice of my GP, I agreed to be admitted voluntarily. At that time, I did not understand what voluntary admission meant or the legal and clinical implications of that decision, as up until that date I had never required psychiatric assistance, had never been admitted to a psychiatric facility, and had no prior psychiatric history.
Despite agreeing to voluntary admission, once the Gardaí left, I was taken to a room where five members of staff insisted that I be injected with a substance I was not informed about. When I calmly and politely refused, I was pinned down on a bed and forcibly injected against my consent.
As a survivor of abuse, this resulted in severe retraumatisation. When a survivor is physically restrained and injected without consent, the body does not distinguish this from assault. The nervous system responds as if the original trauma is happening again. Waking the following day and realising what had been done to my body without consent was profoundly violating, and the impact remains with me.
Second incident: post-surgical complications misclassified
Six months later, following major surgery in which four organs were removed, I suffered a serious adverse reaction to medication that had been incorrectly prescribed post-operatively. An ambulance was called. Despite my surgery having taken place in a private hospital in Dublin, paramedics refused - due to policy structures - to return me there and instead brought me to the local public hospital.
I lay on a corridor trolley for six hours, in urgent need of medical treatment. When I was eventually assessed, the doctor ignored my next of kin and admitted me to a psychiatric ward on a 90-day order.
For those unfamiliar, a 90-day order permits involuntary detention in a psychiatric facility for up to three months.
During this detention:
I was refused access to a medical doctor for three days, despite having five surgical incision wounds requiring dressing changes
I was treated like a criminal rather than a patient
I was placed on a ward with a known sexual predator on remand, despite being a survivor of abuse
The hospital refused calls from my legal team
On day seven, my legal team issued a High Court injunction against the hospital, and I was discharged within two hours.
Why I am speaking publicly
These experiences were profoundly traumatic and are part of over 30 years of navigating repeated failures across Ireland’s medical, mental health, and social systems. They are also why Cneasú and Cneasú the Podcast were established - to platform lived experience, expose systemic injustice, and advocate for trauma-informed, accountable care.
Call for action
I am calling on the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice to:
Investigate these failures
Examine the use and misuse of the Mental Health Act
Review involuntary detention and forced medication practices
Address the misclassification of medical patients as psychiatric cases
Initiate a national inquiry into systemic harm within Ireland’s mental health and our healthcare services overall
This is not care.
This is systemic harm.
And it must be answered for.