Dr. Michael E. Balkunas, MD at 100 Grand Street in New Britain, Connecticut

Customer Reviews about Dr. Michael E. Balkunas, MD

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  Michael E. Balkunas, MD, chief psychiatrist of the W-1 unit of the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain knowingly misdiagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder in May 2014 despite knowing from my family, my brother (who is himself a clincal psychiatrist) and my outside psychiatrists that no such BPD exists. He did this despite my being admitted with a decades-long Axis 1 diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (and with PTSD since 2009 due to hospital brutality and abuses). I believe this was done in order to justify the implementation of an inhumane Behavioral Treatment Plan, four-point mechanical restraints and the use of a horrific seclusion cell. Before I was double-locked into one W-1 soundproof isolation cells, I would be stripped naked "for safety's sake." No matter how voluntarily I entered, the nurses always injected me with three "punishment drugs." Even when I said I would take them orally or in the arm, this was refused. I could be pushed onto my face on a bare mattress, forcibly held down until I couldn't breathe, administered them in my buttocks. I was repeatedly secluded and even restrained spread-eagled and NAKED in 4-point leather cuffs for many hours, yet never was this because of "imminent danger of causing serious bodily harm to self or others" as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid require. It was always and only because I was loud and “disruptive.” I informed the guards about the CMS "rules." To their credit they at first seemed taken aback that such rules even existed, but in the end they were always willing to inflict pain to ensure my rapid compliance. Dr. Balkunas, insisted on the diagnosis of BPD yet he never treated me with anything but antipsychotic drugs and never wrote of BPD symptoms in his notes after that initial Dx. In fact his whole rationale for starting commitment procedures to the Connecticut Valley State Hospital was that "antipsychotic drugs take time to work.” The W-1 unit staff and most certainly Dr Balkunas himself (HOCC is the former New Britain General Hospital) need to be re-educated about torture and trauma-informed treatment. But as a penalty for the extraordinary abuses they have long inflicted with impunity upon helpless patients, they should lose their jobs and their licenses to practice.
  April 25, 2017

  by Pamela Spiro Wagner

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About Dr. Michael E. Balkunas, MD in New Britain