Families can hold alternative medicine rehabs liable for the death of a loved one in California.

An unlicensed detox facility may use substances such as Ibogaine and Ketamine to help with drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

If these unproven treatments cause life-threatening side effects, or are used in place of approved medical care, and a patient is hurt or killed, families can file lawsuits.

The Dangers of Holistic Rehab Programs

There are many licensed drug rehab facilities in California. They often provide medical care, withdrawal monitoring, and professional counseling to Substance Use Disorder (SUD) sufferers. Staff members can use approved and legal medications to help patients detox and avoid relapse.

Other rehab centers take a different approach. “Alternative” or “natural” rehabs can use other strategies to help SUD patients. Some of these alternative centers add yoga, meditation, and nutrition to the normal rehabilitative process. But others may incorporate unproven drugs (sometimes illegally) into a treatment plan.

Unfortunately, this reliance on holistic care can mean facilities don’t have a clinical staff to react to a dangerous withdrawal or overdose health emergency. They may also expose patients to experimental recovery treatments that cause health issues on their own.

Licensing for Alternative Detox Facilities

Many natural drug treatment centers aren’t required to earn licensing from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). If they don’t provide true medical care and professional counseling, they wouldn’t have to submit to DHCS inspections.

But that doesn’t mean these holistic programs avoid liability when they cause harm to a vulnerable patient. These facilities still owe patients a safe environment to mount a recovery.

They are under premises liability legal obligations to show a duty of care to any guest they accept. Facilities are accountable for basic healthcare standards and observing patients’ rights.

Alternative therapy owners and operators can face liability when providing patients with illegal treatments or using legal drugs in unapproved ways, and causing injuries or even death.

They are also responsible for the promises they make to patients and their families. These promises can be made through the facility literature, on websites, and in face-to-face meetings.

What Is Ibogaine?

The National Library of Medicine explains that Ibogaine is a naturally occurring substance made from the root bark of an African shrub. It has psychoactive properties, and some studies have shown it can assist patients going through opioid withdrawal and help them avoid relapse.

Currently in the U.S., Ibogaine use is not legal. It is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. That means California facilities that use and provide Ibogaine are breaking the law and could be putting patients at grave risk.

Ibogaine can reportedly cause cardiac arrhythmias and even cardiac arrest, and reports of sudden deaths in patients have surfaced.

Natural drug treatment centers that provide Ibogaine can face criminal charges. If they allow a patient to come to harm due to Ibogaine use, facility owners can face civil liability. Families can seek support for things like their funeral costs, the emotional trauma, and the lost income that may have supported close loved ones.

Note: Ibogaine treatment is forbidden in the U.S., but it’s a major part of therapy in some rehab resorts in Mexico and Europe. California families that send their loved ones to rehab facilities out of the country, only to have them get injured or die, need to explore their legal options against those facility owners.

Can Ketamine Be Used to Help with Drug Recovery?

Ketamine is a legal prescription drug that can numb pain (particularly short-term pain), put people in a relaxed state, and be used to get high.

Some practitioners have used it to help SUD patients during withdrawal and detox. It’s not expressly approved for use in a drug rehab setting, but some clinical staff prescribe it to help patients going through detox and withdrawal symptoms.

Ketamine has health risks associated with it. It can raise heart rate and blood pressure; it can also make patients unstable. It can affect memory and speech.

If an alternative drug treatment rehab used ketamine as part of therapy, even legally, a healthcare company could be sued in the event of a tragic death.

Evidence to Hold a Negligent Alternative Detox Center Liable

Families may feel they are the only voices speaking up for a loved one who died at a holistic treatment clinic. Lawyers for a clinic may find all sorts of ways to pin the blame for a tragic death on the victim. But don’t accept that it was your loved one’s fault.

Facilities are liable for the safety of their patients. A California Wrongful Death Drug Rehab Facility Lawyer can help families collect the evidence they need to show that a facility and its staff were negligent.

These are just a few of the situations where a treatment center would be fully liable for a wrongful death:

• Providing an illegal substance like Ibogaine to a patient, causing death
• Providing Ketamine to a patient without proper licensing or medical staff to administer prescription drugs. A lack of medical staff to monitor patients on Ketamine.
• Understaffing that leads to negligent surveillance of patients.
• Untrained staff to identify suicide risks.
• Untrained staff to identify withdrawal health risks.
• Untrained staff to deal with patient overdoses.
• Negligent security that doesn’t keep drugs out, allows patient assault, or doesn’t provide a safe environment.

A skilled attorney assists families in securing difficult-to-obtain evidence from inside facilities to help build a strong case.

Contact Us if a California Rehab Facility Caused Your Loved One Harm.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to all families who lost a loved one at an alternative California rehab facility. He wants to stand with you when you may be the only person who thinks a facility failed your loved one.

Call us today or fill out a free case review form. There’s no obligation, but if you need our help, we don’t charge your family anything upfront. If you hire us, we are only paid if we win the case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check that a negligent facility must write for your family.