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A lawsuit filed last week with the Indiana Department of Insurance alleges gross violations of care at an Indianapolis behavioral health facility.
According to the lawsuit, in March, Paige Dufour sought help for mental health at Indiana University North Hospital. She was referred to Options Behavioral Health.
She voluntarily went to Options and agreed to treatment for a minimum of one day and a maximum of three days.
When she arrived at Options, Dufour was taken to a small intake room and given paperwork to sign allowing her insurance to be billed.
Then, an unknown staff member came in and took pictures of her face and naked body, saying it was "necessary to document skin markings." Dufour was uneasy but complied.
Later, when she had questions about the images' whereabouts and use, Options denied photos were ever taken. The facility eventually admitted pictures existed, but were "lost."
Dufour was kept in the intake room for seven hours, according to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Options contacted her insurance. Though she had self-admitted for a maximum of three nights, Options requested five. As soon as pre-approval was granted, Dufour's "needed" treatment plan was set for five full nights.
The lawsuit alleges this was done without an evaluation by a psychiatrist and without Dufour's consent. No one informed her that any changes had been made to the treatment plan.
Once assigned to the patient room, Dufour allegedly witnessed cruelty to other patients and realized she would not receive mental health care at Options. Staff dismissed and berated her, she said. When Dufour asked simple questions about treatment and basic care a staff member responded, "I don't have to talk to you for 72 hours," according to the lawsuit.
Dufour told staff she wanted to leave. She had a longtime therapist and a psychiatrist who could provide outpatient treatment, and she had demonstrated she was not a danger to herself or others.
Dufour also had a career, and a husband and two small children waiting on her return. However, her repeated pleas to be released were ignored and admonished. She persisted and filled out an AMA discharge form to leave, according to the lawsuit.
Staff openly warned Dufour that any effort to leave before Options discharged her would result in retaliation.
She alleged that she witnessed other patients, struggling under similar abusive circumstances, told the same. Staff threatened patients that if they tried to leave, she said. Options would most likely "secure a court order detaining [the patient]" for another 14 days, the suit said. Intimidated, weary, and still believing her discharge date to be March 21 at the very latest, Dufour withdrew her AMA.
The next day, staff informed her Options had extended her "treatment" to March 23. Staff sent her, crying, to participate in an arts and crafts activity, according to the suit.
There she was allegedly given a blank piece of paper and asked to illustrate her emotions in a drawing. Dufour drew a crying face and left, returning to her room. Shortly after, a staff member brought the drawing back to her. He sternly admonished Dufour that this was the kind of behavior Options would punish by detaining her even longer. Then he tore the paper into pieces and threw it in the trash, the lawsuit alleges.
Emotional patients were allegedly warned by staff they would get "the shot," understood to be a sedative if they were not complacent. Patients were verbally abused by staff on multiple occasions, told to "endure" their time in the facility, and subjected to what can only be viewed as acts of cruelty and disregard for patients' wellbeing.
"Another familiar practice by Acadia, based on victims we've interviewed, is the systematic isolation of patients from anyone with the ability to advocate their release," Cohen & Malad LLP investigating attorney Chad Bradford said in a press release. "In one instance a family member called over two dozen times, trying to speak with her loved one. Each time staff lied, saying 'he wasn't taking calls.'"
He allegedly was never told about the calls.
Dufour called her experience at Options "a kennel for vulnerable people."
"Ms. Dufour's experience and those reported to us by other patients are hauntingly similar, despite being treated in Acadia facilities thousands of miles apart," Cohen & Malad LLP Partner Justin Kuhn said in a press release. "Acadia Healthcare has exhibited a pattern of taking advantage of patients for financial gain, all while knowing that victims-individuals in extremely vulnerable positions-may ultimately choose privacy when it comes to addiction and mental health issues."
In Dufour's case, her pre-approved insurance coverage was exhausted. She was detained from March 18 to 23. During those six days at the Acadia-owned facility, Dufour was never evaluated by an Options psychiatrist, her lawsuit alleges.
Tim Blair, a corporate communications spokesperson for Acadia Healthcare, emailed a statement to Indiana Lawyer that read, "Options Behavioral Health Hospital has not been formally served with any legal documents at this time. Due to patient privacy laws, we cannot comment on specific patient care. Our commitment to the highest standards of care and integrity remains steadfast."
Since her release, Dufour has allegedly suffered psychological harm, including severe anxiety at the thought of seeking future mental health care or entering a medical facility of any kind.
Dufour's husband, Jamie Reckelhoff, is also a plaintiff in the complaint.
The complaint alleges the defendants violated the Indiana Crime Victim's Relief Act and committed medical negligence.
It lists six counts including general negligence, civil remedy for racketeering activity and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The plaintiffs are seeking up to three times the actual damages, cost of the action, reasonable attorney fees and punitive damages.
Cohen & Malad is working with a number of patient victims in states across the country, whose rights were violated in numerous ways including through forced, prolonged "treatment" at facilities operated by Acadia Healthcare.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Acadia Healthcare-one of America's largest chains of psychiatric hospitals-allegedly lures patients into their facilities and holds them against their will even when detaining them isn't medically necessary.
Acadia Healthcare has 258 treatment facilities across 38 states.
Since the pandemic, the company's revenue has significantly increased and its stock prices have more than doubled.
The investigation reported from 2019 to 2023, a Florida Acadia facility filed more than 4,500 petitions to extend patients' involuntary stays. Court records showed only 45 of those petitions were approved.