If your family member is in a dangerous situation at a California drug rehab, and they are at risk of harm, you should remove them from the situation as soon as possible. If you know your loved one is at life-threatening risk, call 911 to get help in protecting them and getting them out.

If there’s time, ideally, families would want to secure admission to another rehab before removing a patient. This gives the patient the best chance to continue recovery and avoid an AMA departure (against medical advice).

In some cases, a negligent rehab might try to put up obstacles to removing a patient. Families can take some important steps to get a patient the help and freedom they need.

Why a California Drug Rehab May Become an Unsafe Place

California drug treatment centers providing certain advanced care, like detox services, need certification from California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). The centers will be inspected regularly to make sure they are observing state laws and the business’s own standards.

But the DHCS can miss certain questionable gaps in care. There’s also plenty of opportunity to allow dangerous conditions to develop when rehab owners let standards slip and start cutting staff to boost profits.

An unsupervised drug treatment clinic can become a hazardous place. Patients may not be able to stick up for themselves.

Families should watch for these and other signs of an unfit health care facility:

• When a loved one has unexplained serious injuries.
• When a loved one appears to have access to illegal drugs like fentanyl, indicating that someone on staff is dealing drugs.
• Signs of physical or sexual abuse.
• Fears that a facility will discharge a family member without warning.
• A sudden drop in health.
• Signs that medication isn’t being administered.
• Threats made against a loved one.
• A patient’s thoughts of suicide going ignored.
• A facility suddenly loses its license or is cited for serious failures in care.

These and other terrifying circumstances can lead to an urgent situation. You may feel that if you don’t act quickly, you’ll lose your loved one forever. Quick action is often necessary, but negligent rehab owners and operators can try deny and delay tactics to keep a profitable customer.

SEE: What to Do If Your Loved One Is in a Dangerous Staff/Patient Relationship.

Helping a Family Member Leave a Dangerous California Drug Rehab

Deplorable conditions could make an urgent check-out necessary. Notifying local police and the DHCS may also be advised.

However, for vulnerable patients dealing with Substance Use Disorder (SUD), a sudden change or sudden exposure to the real world can be damaging. That’s why, if there’s time and the patient is safe for the moment, families should strive for a smooth transfer to another facility.

A clinic-to-clinic move is much safer for the patient in most situations. But a negligent facility may not make it easy.

First Steps. For a safe bed-to-bed transfer, families will want to inform the unsafe facility operators in writing that they are seeking a “coordinated transfer.” The letter should confirm that the patient is not seeking an “against medical advice” departure.

These are a few more important tips when moving a patient out of a dangerous situation:

• Try to work with your loved one’s counselor or physician at the rehab facility to facilitate a transfer.
• If at all possible, don’t pull your loved one out of treatment until they have a confirmed bed and acceptance at another facility.
• Make sure there’s a specific time set up for admission into the new facility.
• Make sure medication needs will be overseen during the move and upon arrival.
• Make sure patients have safe transportation to the next treatment center. Patients with medical issues, such as heart issues, or who are in withdrawal may need an ambulance transport.
• Make sure insurance providers are clued into the move and are covering the next facility’s costs.

A facility may insist that your loved one must leave on their own and Against Medical Advice. You should work with administrators or speak with a physician at the clinic to get around this policy. An AMA discharge could send a vulnerable loved one out on the street and into a quick and dangerous relapse.

SEE: Support for families if their loved one dies days after being expelled from a rehab.

Contact a California Negligent Rehab Lawyer If Your Loved One Is Hurt

A patient who is injured or dies while in the care of a drug rehab facility is not to blame. You may feel you are the only one voicing concerns about the care and attention your loved one received. You aren’t alone.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who lost a loved one. It’s a no-risk, no-obligation way to find out what kind of support patients or families can receive.

And families don’t have to stress about how to pay a California Rehab Facility Wrongful Death Lawyer. We start work immediately, and we don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee is paid out of the settlement check negligent rehab owners must send you.