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Medical Director allegedly suggests disabled vet shoot his servi

Medical Director allegedly suggests disabled vet shoot his servi

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by: pksbar Active Indicator LED Icon 5 OP 
~ 10 years ago   Nov 6, '13 12:10pm  
Ray Kirby is a veteran of the Iraq war who has a service dog named Doc who helps him cope with his anxiety and PTSD. Recently when Kirby needed to check in to a private psychiatric hospital he alleges that they wouldn’t let him bring Doc with him. What is even more shocking is what the medical director allegedly said to Kirby.Kirby suffers from PTSD, anxiety and seizures. Recently he has begun coming out of the seizures and believes he is back in Iraq in 2003. He doesn’t recognize his own mother or girlfriend when he comes out of the seizures.On Halloween night he was admitted to the University Behavioral Health of El Paso.“I kept asking them about my service dog, it he was going to be allowed in,” said Kirby. “I kept hearing mixed messages, them saying, ‘Yes, he will be allowed to come in later on,” and someone said, “No, he’s not going to be allowed in.’When Kirby finally was admitted they told him Doc would not be allowed to come with him. Kirby asked to speak to the medical director to try to sort out the situation.“I told him what he was doing is breaking the law, with ADA,” Kirby said. “He said, ‘It’s my hospital, I’m not going to allow your dog to be there,’ and I told him, ‘That’s fine, I’ll file a complaint with the Department of Justice,’ and he was like ‘I’ll come down and help you file the paperwork, who are they going to take the word of? A crazy disabled combat veteran with PTSD? Or a medical director with medical prestige?’” Kirby recalls. “I was ****, I had never been so angry at someone before.”Then the medical director began asking questions about Doc and his effectiveness since Kirby was still having seizures. What Kirby alleges the director said next is truly shocking.“He asked if I thought my dog was not doing his job by keeping my anxiety under control, and I said they’re too far beyond his means,” said Kirby. “He said, ‘Well don’t you think you need to take your dog out back and shoot him for not doing his job?’”Kirby was so angered by the director’s comment he hung up the phone.A nurse at UBH also tried to speak with the medical director about allowing Doc in and explaining ADA regulations, but was unsuccessful.“She called up the medical director and read [ADA regulations] to him several times, and said ‘Sir, you might want to allow this dog here,’ and kept arguing back and forth with him,” said Kirby.A close friend of Kirby’s, Dawn Duffer spoke with a manager at UBH who has asked to remain anonymous, but supports Kirby’s story.“He said they were fully aware, and when they came in in the morning, everybody was hearing about it,” said Duffer. “I have a feeling that the nurse that tried to help Ray wants everybody to know about it, because I think she’s afraid of losing her job.  She also commented that they’ve accommodated to people with service dogs before, so everybody was pretty surprised when they got there that morning when they found out what the medical director had done.”UBH denies all of the allegations and released the following statement:“University Behavioral Health of El Paso is a private psychiatric hospital specializing in the treatment of mental health and chemical dependency treatment. Due to strict federal confidentiality laws, UBH is precluded form discussion the details of any specific case. We are committed to serving the unique needs of active duty service members, veterans and their families. In fact, UBH of El Paso provides highly specialized, evidenced based treatment for combat post-traumatic stress, addiction and PTS/Addiction dual diagnosis diagnoses. University Behavioral Health of El Paso complies fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act and is committed to accommodating individuals with disabilities including the appropriate use of service animals in our hospital.”A representative with UBH, Selene Quintana, said she interviewed several employees that were unable to confirm the allegations. She also spoke to the medical director who denied the allegations and also stated he had not dealt with a patient with a service dog in the last several weeks.Kirby though has his discharge papers that prove he we was at UBH on Halloween. The word the medical director said to him have had a huge impact on him. And he fears one thing the medical director said might be true.“Whose word is everyone going to take?” Kirby said. “A disabled, dysfunctional combat vet with PTSD or a medical director with medical prestige? After I hung up the phone it hit me hard, it’s like, he’s right, who are they going to believe, him, or me?” 4951
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Angie1002 Active Indicator LED Icon 1
~ 10 years ago   Nov 6, '13 12:17pm  
Where did you get this story from? 4951
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pksbar Active Indicator LED Icon 5 OP 
~ 10 years ago   Nov 6, '13 12:26pm  
Where did you get this story from?
 
@Angie1002: It's a dog website, everyday they do a news story about something to do with dogs, whether abuse or happily ever after stories. It shows up on my FB page.
4951
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