Good Night, Nurse!

December 16, 2013

3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Apartment 136

Washington, DC  20008

Steven Steury, M.D.
McClendon Center
Medical Director
1338 North Capitol NW, Suite 201
Washington, DC 20002
Ph: 202-745-0073

Dear Dr. Steury:

I am a patient of Nurse Sara Carroll at the McClendon Center.  I am struggling with the psychological effects of workplace mobbing, a subtle form of job harassment that I experienced during the period March 1988-October 1991.  McClendon Center has diagnosed me with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, alcohol dependence (in remission), and paranoid symptoms -- all recognized after-effects of workplace mobbing.  (See attached D.C. worker's compensation claim).

I experience chronic insomnia.  On December 12, 2013 I requested that Nurse Carroll prescribe Dalmane.  Dr. Carroll refused, citing the potential for drug dependence.  I have been on benzodiazepines from 1999 to the present including Ativan, Clonipine, and Xanax and have never abused these drugs.  I have never become dependent on benzodiazepines.

I have identified an article published in 2009 in the journal Current Psychiatry that recommends the prescription of Dalmane for insomnia incident to workplace mobbing. (See attached).

I am concerned about Nurse Carroll's treatment of me on two counts.  First, Nurse Carroll has refused to accept the fact that I was a victim of job harassment and in a past consult she expressly said that my job termination was my fault.

Second, in view of the psychiatric literature on the treatment of the psychological effects of workplace mobbing, Nurse Carroll's refusal to prescribe Dalmane appears to be medically uninformed.

I request that Nurse Carroll prescribe Dalmane for my insomnia or that McClendon transfer me to a medical practitioner at the clinic who will prescribe Dalmane or another benzodiazepine hypnotic.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman