Unlawfully held, threatened, abused: Gross violations of care at Indiana behavioral health facility
A disturbing complaint filed with the Indiana Department of Insurance alleges profound, likely systemic malpractice by one of the largest operators of psychiatric hospitals in the United States. Defendant Acadia Healthcare, a for-profit corporation that owns hundreds of behavioral health providers nationwide, is charged alongside Options Behavioral Health, Indianapolis. Options is one of Acadia’s ten Indiana locations. The complaint outlines an unimaginable yet seemingly common practice at Acadia-owned facilities of prioritizing financial gain over patient care.
On March 18, 2024, Paige Dufour sought help for mental health at Indiana University North hospital. Staff referred her to Options Behavioral Health. She voluntarily went to Options, and agreed to treatment for a minimum of one day, maximum of three days. What followed was anything but mental healthcare. Dufour found herself imprisoned, neglected and subjected to inhumane treatment – in what she referred to as “a kennel for vulnerable people” – by the medical professionals entrusted with her mental and physical care.
“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,” said Justin Kuhn, partner at Cohen & Malad, LLP. “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.”
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, however, when she questioned 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, cold and hungry, until early morning on March 19. 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: five full nights, discharge on March 23. This was done without an evaluation by a psychiatrist, and without Dufour’s consent. In fact, no one informed her any changes had been made to the treatment plan.
Once assigned to patient room, Dufour soon witnessed cruelty to other patients and realized she would not receive mental healthcare at Options. Staff dismissed and berated her. When Dufour asked simple questions about treatment and basic care – When would she see a psychiatrist, participate in therapy or receive a meal? – a staff member responded, “I don’t have to talk to you for 72 hours.”
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.
The response was appalling. Staff openly warned Dufour that any effort to leave before Options discharged her would result in retaliation. She witnessed other patients, struggling under these abusive circumstances, angrily told the same. Staff threatened patients that if they tried to leave, Options would most likely “secure a court order detaining [the patient]” for another 14 days. Intimidated, weary, and still believing her discharge date to be March 21 at the very latest, Dufour withdrew her AMA. It was March 19.
The next day, staff informed her Options had extended her “treatment” to March 23. Dufour was overwhelmed with sadness. With cold indifference to her despair, staff sent her, crying, to participate in an arts and crafts activity. There she was 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.
These incidents are but some examples of the malpractice Dufour both endured and witnessed during her forced stay at Options. Emotional patients were 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,” said investigating attorney Chad Bradford, Cohen & Malad, LLP. “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.'” In truth, he was never told of her calls.
In Dufour’s case, just as Options had planned from the very beginning, her pre-approved insurance coverage was fully exhausted. She was detained from Monday, March 18 through Saturday, March 23, 2024. During those six days at the Acadia-owned facility, Dufour was never evaluated by an Options psychiatrist.
Since her release, Paige Dufour has suffered immense psychological harm, including severe anxiety at the thought of seeking future mental health care or entering a medical facility of any kind. Months later, recalling the incident, she said, “It felt like I was kidnapped out of an emergency room.”
Dufour, too, is haunted by the neglect and abuse of patients she befriended while trapped at Options. She remembers their names, their stories, and she’s angry that like her, they were just a means for financial exploitation. It is, in part, on their behalf she has chosen to publicly expose what should be private – her own mental health journey.
Dufour’s husband, Jamie Reckelhoff, is also a plaintiff in the complaint. Counts include:
- Medical Negligence
- Violations of Indiana Crime Victim’s Relief Act
- Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
- Willful and Wanton Conduct
- General Negligence
- Civil Remedy for Racketeering Activity
They are represented by Cohen & Malad, LLP attorneys David J. Cutshaw, Justin C. Kuhn and Chad J. Bradford. The firm is working with a number of patient victims across the country, whose rights were violated numerous ways including through forced, prolonged “treatment” at facilities operated by Acadia Healthcare.
Cohen & Malad, LLP urges former patients who experienced abuse or malpractice, and anyone who has knowledge of such actions at an Acadia facility, to share their story. Consultations with the attorneys investigating Acadia Healthcare are free and confidential. Call 866-644-3591 or click here.
