Book Excerpt for Breakthrough

Breakthrough -- Extract

Richard Stooker

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The right of Richard Stooker to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of the Copyrights and Patents Act 1988.

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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

PREVIOUS ADMISSIONS: Two hospitalizations in MBMHC -- one for three months in 1979 and one for five months in 1981.

The first admission was in connection with the death of his 14-year-old sister, who fell out a window. Patient was present in the same room she fell from, and began screaming hysterically and making compulsive gestures. He went totally rigid when an ambulance driver touched his shoulder, and was taken immediately to MBMHC, where he was treated with Haldol, Prolixin, and Cogentin.

Patient later explained that he had been having an argument with his sister because she wouldn't let him watch the television program he wanted to see. This distressed him because he was scheduled to receive a communique from his secret agent in Atlantis via that particular channel. His sister's stubborness convinced him to "push her with my mind." His mother testified to the police that patient and his sister were arguing violently, but that he was standing across the room from her when she opened the window for fresh air, suddenly lost her balance and fell out. Patient was discharged August 27, 1979, with a diagnosis of moderate mental retardation, etiology unknown, and with no medications.

The patient's second admission to MBMHC came after he was reported acting in a bizarre fashion on a street corner, telling passersby that he was the reincarnation of St. Francis of Assisi. During this hospitalization, patient caused several disturbances. He convinced another patient that he had "cured" her by a "laying on of the hands." This patient, a 50-year-old woman, demanded immediate release and had to be forcibly restrained when she didn't get the gate pass she wanted.

As a result of the second incident, a nurse with ten years' service had to be dismissed. She reported to her supervisor that she had seen a halo around the patient's head, and said an angel should not be locked up in Malcolm Bliss.

During that admission, patient refused suggested electroconvulsive therapy: "You're not going to radiate my brains." ECT not used. Patient was discharged October 10, 1981, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, chronic undifferentiated type, on Prolixin Decanoate and Cogentin.