Body brokering is a harmful practice that allows drug rehab facilities to recruit patients and pay for referrals.

Families can report facilities that engage in this illegal practice.

Families can also file lawsuits when patient brokering contributes to the injury or tragic death of a loved one.

For help in holding a negligent facility fully liable, contact an experienced attorney for a free case consultation.

Patient Brokering in California Rehabs

Body brokering is a harmful tactic used by drug rehab businesses to gain a steady flow of patients and profits.

It involves the illegal practice of paying money or benefits to get Substance Use Disorder (SUD) sufferers directed to certain drug rehabs or guided into certain healthcare networks.

The participants may be agents sent out into the field to recruit patients. It may be staff members working at other rehabs who receive perks for directing patients leaving the program to another facility.

This practice is unlawful under California Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 11831.6. Facilities are not allowed to give or receive compensation or anything of value for the referral of a person who is seeking treatment services.

It’s also illegal under several federal laws.

See: How to report a negligent California drug treatment center.

How Patient Brokering Hurts SUD Patients

Body brokering is immediately harmful to patients because it changes the goal from recovery to profitability. Drug rehabs try to fill their beds so they can collect the maximum in fees each month from insurance companies, Medi-Cal, or from families who pay the dues out of their own savings.

• Patients can end up in facilities that don’t offer the level of care they need
• Patients in a dangerous withdrawal period may not get medical attention, medication, and the emergency response they require
• The quick transfer of patients can mean suicide risk, overdose risk, and health risks aren’t communicated properly
• Relapse risks when patients end up shuffled from facility to facility, but don’t ever reach recovery
• Privacy violations as patient information is sent back and forth between many locations

Patients can end up in “patient mills.” It’s a term to describe when patients are relocated between different levels of care in the same health care network. The patient can be moved from facility to facility.

In each place, they are held until the insurance limits or Medi-Cal limits are met. Then the patient is moved again to a place where their coverage will kick back in. It’s repeated until the money has run out.

Patient Dumping: The Other Side of Body Brokering

Eventually, the insurance coverage reaches its limits, or a family’s savings are exhausted. The body brokering comes to an end, and another shady and dangerous practice occurs.

Facilities engage in patient dumping. They can look for any reason to send a non-paying patient out the door. Patients can even be declared “healed” when they are not.

They may be released without warning to loved ones. Victims may have nowhere to go, except back into the arms of those who provide drugs like Fentanyl.

See: How shady drug rehabs dump patients in the middle of the night.

Evidence to Show Body Brokering

These heartbreaking practices can all serve as evidence of a negligent drug rehab facility. They can also lead to a tragic death for a patient.

When state and federal investigations are opened against rehab facilities, indictments and penalties can serve as powerful evidence when families must file wrongful death lawsuits.

But families may require a lot more proof to hold a drug rehab clinic fully liable and to earn support. Unfortunately, secure facilities and their teams of lawyers can cling to evidence tightly and make sure it’s kept behind locked doors.

A skilled California drug rehab wrongful death lawyer assists families in securing this evidence. Our lawyers file legal requests for important documents and physical evidence. This can include surveillance video, the results of internal investigations, and monitoring logs showing how little supervision a loved one may have received.

Contact a Negligent Rehab Lawyer in California

Martin Gasparian, the founder of our law firm, helps families get help paying funeral costs and leftover medical bills. He helps families demand support for their grief and loss to cover their hardships now and in the years ahead.

We can help families who may live in other states hold California rehabs accountable.

We can help families file claims against drug treatment centers that have been forced to close.

Contact us for a free case consultation that comes with no obligation to your family. In fact, if you need us for your case, you won’t pay anything up front. We are only paid if we win your case for you. Then our fee is covered by the settlement a drug rehab facility must pay.