Hello,

A friend of mine is very worried about something that happened to her. I thought I would ask here on her behalf.

She's been in a mental hospital for a few weeks due to puerperal psychosis (a form of PND) and has recently been discharged. While she was there, she went out for a 15 minute walk around the hospital garden and she was singing and dancing. She thought nobody was there and so she felt free to do this all on her own. As she passed a gate on her way around towards the other side of the hospital, several young teenage boys appeared through the gate all laughing at her. One of them was filming her on his mobile phone and he said that he'll send it to YouTube. My friend became distressed and reported it when she returned. By the time hospital security had a look, none of the teenagers were found. These teenagers were from the street outside and they taunted my friend also by shouting out "Lunatic" at her.

Can I ask, I know nothing about YouTube because I use dial-up and I cannot watch videos. Could these teenagers have been allowed to just send my friend's film on YouTube without her permission and on a hospital ground? Or is YouTube strict? This is really worrying my friend and she had a panic attack just to think millions would be watching her sing and dance. I don't know what else to say.

Lady Amethyst

Lady Amethyst

Hi Lady Amethyst,

Im sorry to hear of the way your friend was treated by these youths, i hope that she is well on her way to recovery now and that she can put this experience behind her.

As far as i know, having seen many news items about unsavoury youtube uploads, these louts may well have been able to upload the video without any worry.

contrary to popular belief you can film anything as long as youre not stood on private property, so if the kids were outside the gate they cannot get into trouble for filming whats going on inside (unless there is a specific law, such as government property)

But do you really think that they would be bothered to upload it? i dont see what theyd get out of it.

Now, if i were in your position and my friend was that worried about things i would tell her its impossible for them to upload the film. She'd probably be hard pushed to actually find it on there herself even if it is uploaded. Otherwise she may worry herself silly about something that may not have happened anyway.

I hope she feels better soon