Families seeking help for a loved one will look to find centers providing constant monitoring and a secure environment.

Facility owners and operators can promise this type of care, but once a patient is admitted, the actual care can often fall short. This is especially true for facilities that don’t hire enough staff members.

Families may feel powerless upon hearing the news of an injury or overdose. But loved ones can seek justice. If they can prove that a facility had inadequate staffing, they can demand support for injured patients or for those left behind after a tragic fatal accident.

Dangers of Understaffing in California Rehabs

Negligent facilities can fail patients in many ways, but the root of many issues is a lack of monitoring of the facility and the patients. This attention is key to keeping a facility drug-free.

It’s key in keeping drugs out of the hands of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) sufferers. It’s key in identifying patients who have managed to overdose. It’s key to taking quick action to save their lives.

These failures can happen at any facility, but are much more likely at facilities with so-called “skeleton crews.” Sadly, it’s common for corporations behind rehab networks to cut back on staffing, simply to boost profits.

These are just some of the elevated risks for patients in an understaffed drug treatment center:

• Security staffing isn’t sufficient to keep out visitors and staff carrying drugs into facilities
• Security staffing isn’t sufficient to keep patients from running away (elopement)
• Security staff isn’t sufficient to stop assaults
• Patients who have overdosed on a drug like Fentanyl aren’t discovered quickly enough
• Patients who have attempted self-harm aren’t discovered quickly enough
• Patients in detox aren’t monitored closely enough for respiratory issues
• Fewer staff members to respond to an emergency, such as a heroin overdose
• Patients don’t receive enough bed checks and face-to-face interaction
• Patients don’t get the one-on-one counseling they need

These and other hazards of understaffing can leave facilities fully liable for the harm that patients are exposed to. However, support for victims and their families is never guaranteed.

Families will need to prove that understaffing put patients at constant risk. Obtaining this evidence can be hard when corporate lawyers working for the facility are focused on keeping important documents out of the hands of loved ones.

See: Understaffing in a California adolescent drug rehab center

Evidence Needed to Prove Negligent Understaffing

An experienced attorney will know the exact evidence needed to hold a drug rehab clinic accountable. An attorney knows how to make legal requests for documents held in the facility that can force the company to turn them over.

These and other pieces of evidence would be a priority when building an injury claim or lawsuit:

• Rounding logs: These monitoring logs show how often Q15 or Q30 checks were made on patients. They can show how often searches occurred. They can also show how employees stretched thin weren’t able to provide full supervision to vulnerable SUD patients.
• Hiring records: These documents can show the normal staffing at a facility and differences in the current level of staffing.
• Internal investigation findings: The findings of an internal investigation can show how long patients had to wait to be found in distress. Other mistakes may come to light in internal reviews.
• Security footage: Video evidence is powerful when showing a patient in distress and how long it takes negligent, overtaxed staff to notice. Footage might also reveal how drugs made it into a facility. It could uncover how one patient was able to attack another.
• The facility’s own handbooks and contracts: The monitoring failures by a skeleton crew staff may be easiest to prove by showing the standards the drug rehab sets for itself. A contract may also show the care promised to families when they check loved ones in.

See: How understaffing can be hazardous overnight

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a claim over a drug rehab center injury?

A case involving standard negligence (a personal injury claim) would usually have a statute of limitations of two years. It’s the same for wrongful death claims involving standard negligence from a facility. Cases involving medical malpractice would usually have a deadline of three years. For more information on deadlines, you can visit our page describing the time limits in other types of drug rehab injury cases.

Can a drug rehab facility be responsible for hiring unqualified or dangerous staff members?

Yes, rehab facilities in California must conduct proper background checks and confirm qualifications for any potential hire. If companies fail in these checks and a staff member with a criminal past hurts someone, owners can be liable for negligent hiring. Facility owners and operators can also be held liable for negligent retention when an unqualified or dangerous staff member is discovered but not fired.

What type of support is available for victims and families after an injury at a drug rehab center?

Victims should receive help with their medical bills for as long as recovery takes. They should be compensated for the extra time they miss at their jobs. Victims must get support for the pain they endure and the emotional trauma suffered. Families who tragically lose a loved one to something like an overdose in a facility can ask for help with funeral expenses and all remaining medical bills. They should be helped in replacing the income the deceased may have supported the family with. Family members may also receive support for the lost care and guidance. Victims and family members may also benefit from punitive damage penalties facility owners are hit with. You can find information on our page about how punitive damages are handled.

Contact Us if a rehab center’s negligence led to a loved one’s injury.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who have had a loved one injured or killed due to an understaffed rehab facility. We can also help families file claims against a facility that was so careless that it’s since shut down.

Call us today or fill out a free case review form.