Corporate owners at drug rehab centers can slash staffing and lower the quality of care simply to boost profits.
But unlike normal business/client relationships, they also owe a special “duty of care” when they take in vulnerable patients. When an owner’s actions leave a patient at increased risk of an injury, perhaps an overdose, companies can be held liable for the harm done and all recovery costs.
Patients and their families can file claims and seek support after an accident caused by a facility’s negligence and harmful cost-cutting.
The Dangers of a Rehab Owner Focused on Profits
The easiest way to hold a healthcare network liable for a patient’s accident is to bring up its advertised promises to family members. Did they provide 24/7 monitoring as mentioned in their brochure? Did patients get one-on-one counseling promised on their website? Did patients receive the care guaranteed in the contract the family signed?
California drug rehab facilities can fail to deliver and leave patients at increased risk of falls, taking the wrong medication, and overdoses.
Budget cuts can contribute to these dangerous acts of negligence, including understaffing. They affect every phase of the treatment process, from intake to discharge.
These are just a few of the lapses in care that can occur:
- Getting low on important medications, like NARCAN
- Emergency response is hampered (such as calling 911 immediately after an overdose)
- Less one-on-one care
- More chance for relapse and overdose
- Less security and more drugs in a facility
- Fewer qualified supervisors
- Patients being discharged who aren’t ready
- Negligent Supervision and monitoring
- Lapsed hiring standards, negligent hiring, and negligent training
- Burnout and poor work conditions force great staff members to leave
Securing Proof of Budget Cuts After a Rehab Facility Injury
These cuts by companies and corporations behind drug treatment centers can be harmful and downright shady.
But proving that cutbacks at a facility contributed to a loved one’s relapse or death can be difficult. Facilities will have corporate lawyers ready to block access to important information and even direct blame at the vulnerable patient.
A skilled lawyer would fully investigate what happened, the company’s finances, and the owners involved. Legal requests would be made to secure any internal documents that were being hidden.
An experienced lawyer would demand these details and others:
- Staff logs, monitoring logs (rounding logs)
- Medication usage and stockroom records
- Hiring records, and background check findings
- Security footage and sign-in sheets (proof that someone carrying drugs was allowed in)
- Cellphone and phone records, 911 records
- Report from an internal investigation from the corporation
- Report from local police or sheriff’s department investigation
You may feel you are the only one speaking up for a patient, but an attorney’s investigation can help back up your suspicions that a facility didn’t keep up its end of a contract. A lawyer helps you demand the maximum in support for a loved one in injury recovery or for family members who have had a loved one taken from them due to an overdose.
See: Do I have a case?
Contact Us if a California Rehab Facility Allowed Your Loved One to Get Hurt.
Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to patients and their families after patients were put at risk due to a rehab center’s cost-cutting tactics.
Families may need a lawyer’s help to prove a lack of staffing or a lack of resources put a victim at elevated risk. Mr. Gasparian keeps the blame on the facility and makes sure families earn justice and support.
Call us today or fill out a free case review form.
Remember, if you require our help to take down a rehab facility, you don’t need any up-front money. We aren’t paid unless we win your case for your family. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the money a drug treatment center must provide to you.