long term mental hospital patient-Ms. X

I first met Ms. X. in April 2023 when I accepted the first assignment in the mental Hospital in Carroll County. The first day, she gave me a sheet of paper written of her story of what happened when she was arrested last November. She wanted me to translate this statement to Chinese, so that she can present it to her lawyer or the court. However, later I found out that another interpreter already did it for her, so I did not do it.

She was tall and plump, with acne spots around her face and wrist. A talkative girl, she is always in good spirits, and almost answered all my questions, so I got to know a lot about her life. Following is her story.

She was born in 1985 in Wuhan, so she is 38 years old now. Her parents are both from Wuhan, and she has a sister 3 years older than her. However, her mother fell in love with a guy from Hong Kong, divorced her father and took her to Hong Kong when she was still in elementary school. Her older sister was left with her father in Wuhan, where they still live now.

Her mother gave birth to a son fathered by the guy from Hong Kong, so her step brother is more than 10 years younger than her. Therefore, she lived in Hong Kong for many years, during which time she lived in Maryland, USA with her family for a short time. After graduating from a second-rate university in Hong Kong, she worked as a security guard in Hong Kong until 2020, because her mother divorced her husband, the guy from Hong Kong, and brought both her and her step brother to the USA.

Her biological father remarried and lived with his new wife and a step son from his wife’s first marriage in Wuhan. Her older sister, who also still lived in Wuhan, married early and adopted a kid from her husband’s family. She and her father own a store to sell cloth in Wuhan.

Ms. X. lived with her mother in Los Angeles for about 3 years since their family immigrated to the USA, and her step-brother who is close to neither of them, moved out shortly after they arrived in LA. Ms. X. said that both she and her mother have not had much contact with him, and just knew that he is a cook, and maybe already married. Her mother opened a massage center in LA, and lives with a much older retired American man now.

Ms. X. has never been married, but she said that she had a boyfriend once when she was 18-year-old in Hong Kong, and the relationship lasted for 4 years at least. It looked like she never had any other long term relationship after that.

Ms. X. said that she tried to study English and find a job in the USA, but never succeeded. For some unknown reason, she left LA and began to travel by herself in the first part of 2022. Firstly, she rented a place to live, then she used the camping sites, and at last, she became homeless. According to her, she was robbed in New York City, New Jersey and Maryland, and lost all her luggage and wallet, so when she was arrested, there was no ID in her.

In accordance with Ms. X.’s note, on the day she was arrested, November 10, 2022, she was cold and was looking for a place in Maryland. Because of her delusion, she believed a house was the one she lived in when she was in the USA as a teenager. She even mentioned she saw a note stating that, so she entered the garage of this house, and stayed there until she was arrested for trespassing. She was put in jail for several weeks before transferred to the mental hospital. Therefore, she has been in this hospital for 5 months.

Her hearing was first scheduled on May 9, and then moved to Nov. 7. I believed it was because she was determined as incompetent for court at her evaluation. But, just before my last encounterance with her, she told me her psychiatrist said she can go to court at an earlier time. It is good news, because if she can behave herself in the court, it is almost certain that she will be released.

An additional piece of information, when she was first arrested, she had no ID in her, and could not provide any contact information because she forgot her mother’s phone number, a social worker went through her social media account and found her mother. Her mother visited her in the mental hospital once, and she has been giving her mother a call everyday ever since. Their current plan is to rent an apartment for her near her mother’s place in LA, and she can work in her mother’s shop as a receptionist after she is released from the hospital.

Ms. X. told me that she likes driving. Although she has not obtained her driver’s license in the USA, she had one in Hong Kong. She really believes that driving a truck is a fun job with good pay.

She only understands a little English, and has limited vocabulary, so she can only communicate basic stuff in English. But it looks like she is interested in learning more English. She took active part in all the activities in the hospital, and was in a stable mental status. However, I am not clear about her diagnosis, and had no chance to know about her medication and prognosis. The Mental Hospital only hired interpreters two days a week, 4-5 hours on Wednesday. and 2 hours on Thursday. Except for recreational activities, the interpreters were only asked to sit in on the group meeting for competency at court, and I have never met her doctor or any other staff in her treatment group. But from what I see, I think she should be able to return back to society, and I hope she has a better future, and maybe even become a trucker driver in the USA. 

P.S.

I want to say something about Ms. X.’s mother. Although I never met her, I felt like she played a very important role in Ms. X.’s life. If everything Ms. X. said about her mother is correct, then she is not an adequate mother. She must be a very attractive woman, so she can have multiple partners in her life, and each time went upwards. From the attitude of which Mr. X. talked about the massage salon her mother operates, I doubt this salon engages in some type of sexual services. Also, all three of her children did not have good education, and only one (Ms. X.) went to a below average college. A selfish mother does great harm to her children.