(photo : autistic Sophie McGuire at the Viking Village in Reykjavik, February 2019. Her mum Lynn took Sophie on holidays to London, Paris, Copenhagen, Niagara Falls, New York and Iceland. They went to the Canaries every Christmas and to Turkey every spring. She used her savings to give Sophie some good memories in case she lost her eyesight or died young due to Bardet Biedl Syndrome)
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Sophie was arrested on Friday. She tried to jump out of a moving vehicle, hit out at nurses who struggled to restrain her, and ran away screaming.
It happened on the way back to the hospital from a check-up by a local opthalmologist. The police were called and returned her to the hospital humiliated in a caged van. Back in the ward she was held down and injected.
Sophie, who is mildly autistic, is desperate to leave Forth Valley Royal Hospital where she has been detained since January 2020 by psychiatrist Dr Gary Cooney. Although she has been ready for discharge for more than one year, this has been delayed because Dr Cooney insists on moving her into supported accommodation, against her wishes.
Several options have been investigated, as far away as Dundee and Northumbria. All have proven unsuitable. The latest is a council-run facility only 7 miles from the family home. Her companions would be 3 elderly women who have severe learning disabilities. Dr Cooney thinks this is ideal. Sophie's mother Lynn thinks it does not meet the needs of a young woman with a lively mind who wants to get a job and lead an active social life with people her own age.
What Sophie wants is to return home to live with her Mum. Dr Cooney refuses to discuss this option. He has decided that Lynn is not a suitable carer because she disagrees with him about what is wrong with her daughter. And he says that Sophie is not able to make her own decisions because she agrees with her mother rather than him about what is best for her.
Because of Sophie's resistance on Friday, he is now threatening that she could be sent much further from home.
Since 2 June 2021 Lynn has been banned from having any contact with her daughter because Dr Cooney imagined she was encouraging Sophie to resist his plans. He promised that if she persuaded Sophie to change her mind about the local facility then he would allow her to visit her daughter for Christmas or for Sophie's 21st birthday.
Despite the obvious blackmail, Lynn tried her best. It would be better than the hospital. But Sophie is adamant : she will not go there. While enjoying a long vacation himself, Dr Cooney did not allow any visits for Lynn. But she did get a FaceTime on Sophie's birthday.
It appears that Dr Cooney is not able to accept the obvious explanation that Sophie's aggressive behaviour and attempts to escape are the normal reaction of someone with a mind of her own to being imprisoned, cut off from her family, and forced to do what she does not want to do. He prefers to believe that her behaviour is due to mental disability, that she is being controlled by her mother, and that it is in her best interests for him to make life-choices for her.
Bullying is nothing new to NHS Forth Valley. In August 2021 its Chief Executive Cathie Cowan made local headlines when an internal investigation found a culture of bullying and cover-ups which left front-line staff distressed and afraid to challenge bad practice, and exposed patients to unnecessary risks.
Lynn's MSP wrote to Cathie Cowan on 31 August 2021 to ask why the hospital had banned Lynn from visiting her daughter. Instead of helping to resolve the dispute Ms Cowan accused Lynn of libelling her staff on social media and threatened to report the matter to the police.
As yet, Lynn has had no contact from the police. But she is still asking : "Why can't I take my daughter home?"