Infographic Visual Tool: My son is an expert in the communication of information through Infographics and I have observed that these tools work quite well. I plotted my family member's weight over a year's time, beginning in June of 2018, and presented the resulting chart during a team meeting at the hospital in May of this year.
I thought I would share this idea in case someone else needs a visual to drive home a point. I used Excel to develop the infographic, plotting weight on the vertical axis and dates on the horizontal axis over the previous year to date. The infographic also includes a few recent admit and discharge data points. It's a powerful visual and I recently learned that the message provided by the infographic was written into the official medical record!!! Perhaps this kind of information would also be useful to gain support from the individual's Insurance Company.
[Obviously other factors were taken into account when FM was finally admitted in May for a longer stay because her weight was frighteningly low (low 70's) but even then, the remark of the ER physician was "she is awfully thin" [pause for several exclamation points !!!!!!!] but she otherwise noted that all her labs came back normal (meaning electrolytes) and then said the recommendation was to discharge FM. My response was, long story short, to say "...she is dying and she will die if you do that...."]
In summary, the infographic reflects FM was discharged more than a year ago with a weight of just under 100 pounds but as time went on into the summer, fall and winter, as has always been the case because she has never been fully in recovery, her weight dropped, came back up a little, dropped more, came back up a little, dropped significantly, etc., etc. In May 2019, FM was discharged at her insistence (Anorexia took over) at a ridiculously low weight only to drop again enough in two weeks to be rehospitalized. FM was admitted for another almost three weeks but again, at her insistence at a weight that was at least 20 pounds under a reasonable goal based on so much documentation and the recommendation of her PCP, FM was discharged again. The decline, unfortunately, as I write this, is repeating.
Closing: I am so grateful to Dr. Bulik et al whose research results have recently been published in an article written by @Sumathi Reddy the Wall Street Journal titled "A New Genetic Explanation for Anorexia" (see link) including findings on the genetic metabolic and psychiatric links, as well as to others who continue to push for a stabilized (ie for several weeks if not months) weight before assuming a person is safely into a recovery phase allowing for outpatient treatment. Maybe, someday, doctors will receive more than 1-5 hours on eating disorders during their medical training.