A staff member with a personal relationship with a drug rehab patient represents a terrible danger and an abuse of power.

These forbidden relationships can result in the request of favors in both directions that might allow a patient to gain access to drugs and overdose.

A rehab center that allowed this type of relationship to lead to a relapse and tragic death would be liable for negligent care. Families could demand justice.

To find out how your family should proceed after a tragedy, take advantage of a free case consultation. Call us today or fill out a free case review form.

The Prohibited Relationships in California Drug Rehab Facilities

No staff member at a drug treatment center should have anything but a professional, therapeutic relationship with a patient. All facilities will have language in their contracts and company policies forbidding any romantic, sexual, or overly personal relationships with patients.

California also enforces a patient’s bill of rights that includes the right to receive care free from an exploitative relationship. The rights are explained in documentation from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).

“…in a treatment setting that is safe and ethical (10) To be free from mental and physical abuse, exploitation, coercion, and physical restraint.”

All staff members, including doctors, nurses, and counselors, must refrain from having any inappropriate relationship with a patient. That duty can extend beyond just the patient’s residency in a drug rehab clinic. Staff members should not engage in relationships with patients once they are released.

The Dangers of a Drug Rehab Facility Relationship

Patients can end up in relationships that place them in compromised positions at such a vulnerable time. Patients may also use a relationship to gain favors, including access to drugs like Fentanyl and heroin.

Patients can relapse and, because of their state of drug abstinence, have even less resistance built up to a drug like Fentanyl. This lowered tolerance can lead to an even easier path to overdose and to a fatal reaction.

Drug rehab facilities are responsible for the care of the vulnerable patients they admit. They can also be liable for the harm that can come to patients when relationships with staff members are allowed.

• Patients are emotionally vulnerable when they begin their recovery journey. An inappropriate relationship can damage the journey, even if consensual.
• The power imbalance between a staff member and a patient also creates a dangerous dynamic.
• A staff member’s judgment may be affected by the relationship.
• A patient can use the relationship to manipulate the staff member (perhaps to obtain drugs).
• A patient may be able to manipulate a staff member to secure a release.
• A patient may feel obligated to provide sexual favors.
• Relationships that lead to patients borrowing money or receiving gifts. Creating obligations.
• Patients relying on an undependable relationship to recover instead of a recovery based on steps they can use outside the facility.

Clinicians and counselors face even stronger guidelines barring relationships with clients. The California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP) has its own ethical guidelines.

Seeking Justice After a Drug Rehab Facility Overdose

Proving that an inappropriate relationship contributed to a patient’s relapse, drug use, and overdose can prove difficult for the families of victims. But a California rehab facility wrongful death lawyer is experienced in investigating negligent facilities and gaining access to evidence that corporate lawyers may try to keep hidden.

A lawyer can legally request the important documents and records that show how a patient was allowed to relapse and overdose. A lawyer can also use this evidence to put pressure on facility owners to accept blame for a tragic death and provide support.

A skilled attorney would demand these and other benefits for families through a wrongful death claim (and in some cases, a Survival Action):

• Money to pay for a burial.
• Money to cover remaining medical bills left behind.
• Replacement of any income that the deceased would have provided the family.
• Support for the loss of care, security, and guidance that a loved one provided.
• Support for parents who lose a child at an adolescent drug rehab center, especially for their loss of companionship.
• Punitive damages penalizing extremely negligent rehab providers, with the fines going to family members.

Contact Us if a California Rehab Facility Allowed Your Loved One to Overdose.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who lost a loved one at a California rehab facility.

Call us today or fill out a free case review form. If you need our help, we don’t charge your family anything upfront. We are only paid if we win the case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement that a negligent facility must provide.