Patients who go through detox for drugs will usually experience a lowered tolerance afterward. This is a danger to monitor, because if they somehow take drugs again, a similar dose to what they took before rehab could be enough to cause major injuries and death.

Facilities must alert patients to this risk before they are discharged, or they can face legal responsibility for any harm that’s caused.

A facility that accepts a patient with more medical issues than they are qualified to treat can also be found liable if a patient is hurt.

A Clinic’s Responsibility to Warn About Lowered Tolerance

One of the many dangers with drug addiction is that the body slowly builds a tolerance. The CDC reports that this process means that those taking the drugs would slowly need a bigger dose to get the same effect.

This is a big threat when patients who go through detox are off a drug for a time. They can suddenly relapse and ingest the same dosage they had taken before rehab. However, that same amount can now be extremely dangerous for them. Their tolerance has lowered.

The loss of tolerance happens quickly, and it’s why patients are at increased risk of overdose and death after being released from a Substance Use Disorder treatment center.

Actions a Drug Facility Must Take to Prepare Discharged Patients

Inpatient facilities that admit drug rehab patients must take every precaution to keep residents safe.

Part of that care would be a warning when they leave the facility about every danger they may face, including their tolerance danger:

• Warning patients and their families about their increased risk of drug use due to the patient’s change in tolerance.
• Supplying patients and families with NARCAN kits and training them in how to use them.
• Helping patients find doctors who can continue to prescribe other medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) that helps with recovery and prevents relapses. (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine)
• Recommending support groups and maintaining cellphone and in-person check-ins.

Failure in these and other precautions can leave facilities responsible for any harm that comes to former patients. The liability is especially likely when facilities knowingly release patients who aren’t physically or mentally ready to be discharged.

Evidence of this type of negligence can help families hold rehab facility owners fully liable for an injury or a tragic relapse death. At times, the proper evidence can be obscured by corporate lawyers, but a skilled attorney can help family members gather the evidence needed to earn justice.

See: How much time do families have to file a claim against a negligent rehab facility?

The Admission of a High-Risk Patient to a Drug Rehab Center

When facilities admit patients they know need more intensive care than their staff members can provide, they can commit “negligent admission.”

The high-risk patient may need 24 hr care in a hospital. They may need the resources of a much bigger staff as they go through withdrawal and detox. But drug rehab facilities can take on a patient they shouldn’t, often for financial reasons.

They may commit negligent admission for these and other reasons:

• Trying to secure money from a patient (e.g., through Medicare, insurance, or the patient’s family)
• To meet certain quotas for patients
• Not having the proper medical experts to assess the needs of a patient
• Rushing the intake process
• Understaffing at the facility that leaves it unable to provide for certain patients

These acts of negligence may not even be intentional, but treatment centers that don’t take the best action for the patient can be held financially liable.

Contact Us If a Rehab Center’s Negligence Hurt Your Loved One.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to victims and their families. It’s a no-risk information session after negligence at a California drug rehab facility causes harm to someone trying to manage a difficult recovery.

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