Trending...
- Assent Expands Executive Team to Accelerate Global Growth & Innovation
- Centennial Flyers to Become Colorado's First Launch Customer for All-Electric B23 Energic Aircraft
- Easton & Easton, LLP Files Suit Against The Dwelling Place Anaheim & Vineyard USA Over Abuse Allegations
New York Times exposé on unethical practices in a chain of psychiatric hospitals prompts mental health industry watchdog to push for the removal of involuntary commitment accreditation from abusive facilities and urges victims to come forward.
LOS ANGELES - iSportsWire -- A ground-breaking New York Times investigation found a major national chain of behavioral hospitals has lured patients into its facilities and held them against their will until their insurance ran out.[1] Since 2015, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, a mental health industry watchdog has had the company's behavioral facilities under scrutiny for patient abuse, filing tens of thousands of complaints to legislators about alleged unscrupulous practices.
In light of the Times findings—vindicating CCHR's concerns—CCHR wants hospitals that detain patients against their will for profit to be stripped of any license they may have to receive patients to involuntarily commit them. For example, the Florida Administrative Code allows hospitals to obtain a license and be a designated "receiving facility" to involuntarily commit patients under the state's Baker Act.
The Times pointed out that in Florida, hospitals can hold people for 72 hours unless the patients agree to stay longer or a judge or a medical professional determines that they are not ready to leave. Citing a North Tampa behavioral health hospital as an example, the facility was able to exploit this and filed more than 4,500 petitions to extend patients' involuntary stays.
CCHR Florida has been exposing this for many years, and CCHR International has warned of similar abusive practices in other states. The Times also found that in at least 12 of the 19 states where the hospital chain had hospitals, dozens of patients, employees and police officers have alerted the authorities that the company was detaining people in ways that violated the law. In some cases, judges have intervened to force the hospital chain to release patients.
On 12 June 2024, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee released the findings of its two-year investigation into the hospital chain and three others. Their report, "Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities," mirrored what CCRCHHRHR Int has been reporting for a decade and aligns with the findings of the New York Times investigation. According to the Senate report, "The harms, abuses, and indignities children in [RTFs] have experienced and continue to experience today occur inevitably and by design: they are the direct causal result of a business model that has incentive to treat children as payouts and provide less than adequate safety and behavioral health treatment in order to maximize operating and profit margin." Further, "Providers will continue to operate this model because it's good business, unless there is some bold intervention."[2]
More on iSports Wire
As part of that necessary intervention, CCHR launched a new public service announcement to help people abused in behavioral facilities to seek recompense. It calls for people who have been abused in such facilities, held against their will or whistleblowers who have "insider information about such abuse," to report this to CCHR.
Other practices The Times found which could be reported to CCHR include:
In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that "A State cannot constitutionally confine... a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends...."[4]
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International says, "Privately owned psychiatric facilities violate this regularly with impunity, and can bilk Medicaid, Medicare and other government and private insurance to cover and financially profit from forced detainment and treatment. This keeps filling investors' pockets despite the devastation caused to patients. It's a shocking comment on the psychiatric industry that it relies on such coercive practices that breed patient abuse."
The Times report reinforces the urgent need for bold interventions, including harsher penalties for abusive hospitals, revoking their licenses to involuntarily commit, shutting down facilities with repeated violations, and ensuring compensation for patients harmed by forced treatment—including those subjected to involuntary commitment.
More on iSports Wire
CCHR urges anyone who has been abused or unlawfully detained in a behavioral facility to come forward, along with whistleblowers who can expose further wrongdoing. A report can be submitted to CCHR here.
About CCHR: CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, a prolific author who long advocated for the abolishment of involuntary commitment. For decades CCHR has helped to secure legal rights for patients, including informed consent to treatment and the right to refuse it, and the right to legal representation to oppose forced detainment and treatment. It has secured hundreds of laws worldwide to protect patients, including the prohibition of damaging practices such as electroshock on minors, psychosurgery and deep sleep treatment.
Sources:
[1] Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, "How a Leading Chain of Psychiatric Hospitals Traps Patients: Acadia Healthcare is holding people against their will to maximize insurance payouts, a Times investigation found," The New York Times, 1 Sept. 2024, www.nytimes.com/issue/todayspaper/2024/09/02/todays-new-york-times
[2] Chris Larson, "Senate Finance Committee Releases Excoriating Investigation of Abuse in At-Risk Youth Industry," Behavioral Health Business, 12 June 2024, bhbusiness.com/2024/06/12/senate-finance-committee-releases-excoriating-investigation-of-abuse-in-at-risk-youth-industry/
[3] "Involuntary Civil Commitment: Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Protections," Congressional Research Service, 24 May 2023, crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47571
[4] Melissa McCall, J.D., Legally reviewed by Aviana Cooper, Esq., "Involuntary Commitment: Patient and Public Rights," FindLaw, 25 June 2023, www.findlaw.com/healthcare/patient-rights/involuntary-commitment-patient-and-public-rights.html
In light of the Times findings—vindicating CCHR's concerns—CCHR wants hospitals that detain patients against their will for profit to be stripped of any license they may have to receive patients to involuntarily commit them. For example, the Florida Administrative Code allows hospitals to obtain a license and be a designated "receiving facility" to involuntarily commit patients under the state's Baker Act.
The Times pointed out that in Florida, hospitals can hold people for 72 hours unless the patients agree to stay longer or a judge or a medical professional determines that they are not ready to leave. Citing a North Tampa behavioral health hospital as an example, the facility was able to exploit this and filed more than 4,500 petitions to extend patients' involuntary stays.
CCHR Florida has been exposing this for many years, and CCHR International has warned of similar abusive practices in other states. The Times also found that in at least 12 of the 19 states where the hospital chain had hospitals, dozens of patients, employees and police officers have alerted the authorities that the company was detaining people in ways that violated the law. In some cases, judges have intervened to force the hospital chain to release patients.
On 12 June 2024, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee released the findings of its two-year investigation into the hospital chain and three others. Their report, "Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities," mirrored what CCRCHHRHR Int has been reporting for a decade and aligns with the findings of the New York Times investigation. According to the Senate report, "The harms, abuses, and indignities children in [RTFs] have experienced and continue to experience today occur inevitably and by design: they are the direct causal result of a business model that has incentive to treat children as payouts and provide less than adequate safety and behavioral health treatment in order to maximize operating and profit margin." Further, "Providers will continue to operate this model because it's good business, unless there is some bold intervention."[2]
More on iSports Wire
- $53 Million Company Valuation Investment with Majority Acquisition Option, Plus New Stock CUSIP Supporting Brand Transition of Fan Engagement Company
- $14M Deal with Famed David Lloyd for Sports, Entertainment & Gaming, AI Powered Fan Engagement Company; New Stock CUSIP; Creating Shareholder Value
- Disposable Vape Ban Spurs Hayati Innovation
- Prolific Hollywood "Unknown Actor" Leads 11 Day SoCal, Hands-On, Performer Employment Securing Residency that Shows Others How to Get More Work
- Dr. Harmon Completes Prestigious Zygomatic Implant Residency in Brazil
As part of that necessary intervention, CCHR launched a new public service announcement to help people abused in behavioral facilities to seek recompense. It calls for people who have been abused in such facilities, held against their will or whistleblowers who have "insider information about such abuse," to report this to CCHR.
Other practices The Times found which could be reported to CCHR include:
- Patient symptoms exaggerated and medication dosages tweaked, then claims made that patients needed to stay longer because of the adjustment.
- Holding people who had voluntarily checked themselves in but then changed their minds, or holding them until their insurance runs out.
- Patients or their families needing to hire lawyers to get them released.
- Patients sexually or physically abused, bruised, assaulted or neglected.
In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that "A State cannot constitutionally confine... a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends...."[4]
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International says, "Privately owned psychiatric facilities violate this regularly with impunity, and can bilk Medicaid, Medicare and other government and private insurance to cover and financially profit from forced detainment and treatment. This keeps filling investors' pockets despite the devastation caused to patients. It's a shocking comment on the psychiatric industry that it relies on such coercive practices that breed patient abuse."
The Times report reinforces the urgent need for bold interventions, including harsher penalties for abusive hospitals, revoking their licenses to involuntarily commit, shutting down facilities with repeated violations, and ensuring compensation for patients harmed by forced treatment—including those subjected to involuntary commitment.
More on iSports Wire
- Agreement to Deliver Thin-Film Solar Technology to Space Solar Array Provider, NASA Collaborative Agreement for Orbital Applications in Power Beaming
- Iterators LLC Honored with IST82 State Award for Accessibility in Massachusetts
- Josh & Heidi Share Upcoming "Spreading the Good BUZZ" Podcast Guests, Select Top Five Elopement Locations as Their Instagram Presence Grows Globally
- Opteamix Launches StackRewrite.AI to Transform Enterprise Legacy Modernization
- "The Pornified Generation": Dr. Chris Samuels Exposes the Toxic Alliance Between Bro Culture and Pornography That's Rewiring a Generation
CCHR urges anyone who has been abused or unlawfully detained in a behavioral facility to come forward, along with whistleblowers who can expose further wrongdoing. A report can be submitted to CCHR here.
About CCHR: CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, a prolific author who long advocated for the abolishment of involuntary commitment. For decades CCHR has helped to secure legal rights for patients, including informed consent to treatment and the right to refuse it, and the right to legal representation to oppose forced detainment and treatment. It has secured hundreds of laws worldwide to protect patients, including the prohibition of damaging practices such as electroshock on minors, psychosurgery and deep sleep treatment.
Sources:
[1] Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, "How a Leading Chain of Psychiatric Hospitals Traps Patients: Acadia Healthcare is holding people against their will to maximize insurance payouts, a Times investigation found," The New York Times, 1 Sept. 2024, www.nytimes.com/issue/todayspaper/2024/09/02/todays-new-york-times
[2] Chris Larson, "Senate Finance Committee Releases Excoriating Investigation of Abuse in At-Risk Youth Industry," Behavioral Health Business, 12 June 2024, bhbusiness.com/2024/06/12/senate-finance-committee-releases-excoriating-investigation-of-abuse-in-at-risk-youth-industry/
[3] "Involuntary Civil Commitment: Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Protections," Congressional Research Service, 24 May 2023, crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47571
[4] Melissa McCall, J.D., Legally reviewed by Aviana Cooper, Esq., "Involuntary Commitment: Patient and Public Rights," FindLaw, 25 June 2023, www.findlaw.com/healthcare/patient-rights/involuntary-commitment-patient-and-public-rights.html
Source: Citizens Commission on Human Rights
0 Comments
Latest on iSports Wire
- The Citizens Commission on Human Rights Annual Purple Heart Day Event will be Hosted at the Historic Fort Harrison
- Blake Harris the Leading Authority in International Asset Protection Joins Tom Hegna on "Financial Freedom with Tom Hegna"
- Psychedelics for Vets? CCHR Cites History of Exploitation and Failed Science
- GreenPal Empowers Lawn Care Pros Leveraging AI, Surpasses 5 Million Transactions
- Santa Monica Businesses Push Back on Bus Stop Relocation That Threatens Access and Safety
- The Blue Luna Encourages Local Schools to Take Steps to Enhance Safety for Students and Staff
- The Sessions Studios Secures $300 Million Commitment to Launch World-Class Studio and 15-Film Global Slate
- Smart Resnse Unveils Smart Resnse(SRMS) Token-Powered AI Orchestration Platform to Revolutionize Multi-Billion Dollar Market
- Olson's Walk-Off Hit Gives N.L. All-Star Game Triumph In Strat-O-Matic Simulation
- Josh and Heidi Follow Up the Much Anticipated and Successful Launch of the "Spreading the Good BUZZ" Podcast with a Personal Request
- Revolutionary Blockchain Platform Okh Finance Announces Okh Finance(OKKH) Token Launch to Transform Global Asset Leasing Market
- Cover Girl Finalist Teisha Mechetti Questions Legitimacy of Inked Originals Competition, Demands Transparency
- Easton & Easton, LLP Files Suit Against The Dwelling Place Anaheim & Vineyard USA Over Abuse Allegations
- AI Visibility: The Key to Beating Google's AI Overviews and Regaining Traffic
- Stuck Doing Math or Figuring Out Life's Numbers? Calculator.now Makes It Stupidly Simple
- Colbert Packaging Announces WBENC Recognition
- DivX Empowers Media Enthusiasts with Free Expert Guides for Advanced MP4 Management
- Assent Expands Executive Team to Accelerate Global Growth & Innovation
- The World's Largest Green Economic Revolution Emerges as Nature, Tech, and Finance Converge
- Vinnetwork Unveils Decentralized AI Platform with Vinnetwork(VIN) Token to Challenge Tech Giants' Data Monopoly