A delay in a 911 call can prove a key factor in a tragic overdose death at a drug rehab center.

Staff members who put off calling 911 or never call for an ambulance cost victims access to real medical care in a hospital that might save their lives.

Facility owners can be liable for staff member negligence and an overdose injury or death, and victims can receive support.

Calling 911 to Save an Overdose Patient’s Life

Staff members at a drug treatment center can only do so much to help an overdose victim. The victim’s true hope lies with a hospital staff that’s prepared to take action.

Every facility’s handbook will instruct staff members to make sure 911 is contacted immediately after an overdose is identified. Unfortunately, employees can get careless and forget; they may be undertrained in the proper response; they could also be underqualified.

Narcan can be given in a facility to stop a fentanyl overdose, but its effects are temporary. Patients can soon experience another round of heart problems and breathing issues that need to be treated in an ER setting.

What an ER Can Provide for Overdose Patients

First, Ambulance EMTs can stabilize overdose patients, check their vitals, and transport them faster than anyone else to the hospital. They may also be able to administer overdose-halting medication if available.

Once at the ER, doctors will have the knowledge and resources to give patients the best chance for survival.

• ER doctors are better able to determine the drug used for an overdose when the substance hasn’t been identified.
• ER doctors can perform surgery when necessary.
• Patients may need to be hooked to ventilators to keep them breathing.
• The ER can provide a higher level of physical monitoring and have advanced machines to monitor heart rates, respiration rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.
• ER doctors can better treat the side effects of some medications used to stop an overdose.

Narcan can help patients who have taken an opioid, but doctors may need to give additional doses. Patients who have overdosed on benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax or Valium) may be given the medication flumazenil, but its side effects include dangerous seizures. Patients can even go into comas, and will need every resource a hospital can provide.

A cocaine overdose could stress a patient’s heart and other internal organs. Close monitoring at a hospital is necessary.

What Staff Members Can Do Before an Ambulance Arrives

Paramedics will take over treatment and monitoring of the patient.

However, Substance Use Disorder facility staffers have critical duties until help arrives:

• Administering Naloxone (Narcan is a brand name) to stop an opioid overdose as soon as possible. Multiple doses may be required before an ambulance arrives.
• Administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other emergency first aid techniques.
• Keeping an unconscious patient in the “recovery position” so they can’t choke on vomit, and their tongue doesn’t block the airway.
• Providing constant monitoring of the patient until the ambulance crew arrives.

Staffers will also need to notify family members of what happened. They’ll need to make sure facility leaders know about what happened. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) must be notified of an overdose death or serious injury within a day. A written report will also be required.

Proving Negligence After an Overdose at a Drug Treatment Center

California drug rehab treatment facilities can be financially responsible for many different kinds of negligence in an overdose.

Investigators will certainly wonder how a patient got access to a dangerous drug in a supposedly “drug-free” environment. They’ll question how often patients received bed checks and if a lapse allowed an overdose to go unnoticed for a dangerous amount of time. This can fall under “negligent supervision.”

And inquiries about when 911 was called (if ever) will be key.

Families hoping to hold a drug clinic liable for a loved one’s injury or death will need strong evidence of a failure to contact 911. A skilled attorney can help families track down difficult-to-obtain documents and evidence that corporate lawyers try to hide.

These and other details can show a delay in notifying 911 and getting an ambulance on the way.

• 911 recordings and dispatch records
• Cellphone and phone records at the facility
• Duty logs at the facility
• The facility’s own findings about how an overdose response was handled
• Patient Care Report filed by an ambulance crew
• Witness testimony
• Surveillance video

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

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to victims and their families after an overdose at a California rehab facility. Victims should never be blamed for their overdose at a licensed inpatient facility. Families should never have to face the aftermath of a frightening overdose alone.

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

There’s never any obligation for this informational session. There are also no worries about how you’ll pay us if you need us. Our lawyers are only paid if we win your case for your family. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check a drug care facility must write for you.