Drug rehab facilities promise 24/7 monitoring of your loved one, but if they don’t have the staff to deliver, those promises can quickly be broken.

The corporations that often own drug treatment centers can be held liable when they decide to keep more of their profits and hire less than a full staff.

It often means putting patients at risk due to understaffing.

It’s a business decision that can lead to injuries and even death for vulnerable Substance Use Disorder (SUD) patients.

A Lawsuit Against an Understaffed Drug Treatment Center

Loved ones battling through recovery need a drug-free environment for recovery. They’ll require constant surveillance and check-ins during detox to have a chance to win this important fight against drug abuse.

Unfortunately, these and other critical precautions can’t happen when inpatient treatment facilities have too few employees in place.

It’s one more danger for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) patients, and it can lead to self-harm and even overdoses.

There’s liability for those who promise to take care of them. Drug Rehab Centers are required to show a duty of care based on state requirements that follow guidelines from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

Private equity firms and corporate healthcare networks can be held accountable when that care can be delivered because of cutbacks and layoffs for profit’s sake.

These are just a few of the ways that understaffing can threaten the safety of patients:

• A lack of security personnel to conduct searches and keep visitors carrying drugs like fentanyl out.
• A lack of staff members who can make scheduled checks on patients.
• A lack of staff members who could administer medications.
• A lack of staff members who could monitor the dangerous actions of other patients.
• A lack of qualified nurses who know what to do when an overdose is discovered.

When owners and operators fail to provide the employees necessary to run a safe treatment center, they can put patients at risk. Failures in a duty of care towards patients can lead to drug use, setting patients back in their detox journey. Victims might also overdose and quickly suffer breathing issues, seizures, and suffer nerve damage, and brain damage. The owners who are responsible for corporate negligence need to be held liable for any injuries and harm that result.

You should also know who can file a wrongful death claim if negligence leads to a tragic, fatal accident.

Evidence of Drug Rehab Facility Understaffing

These lapses in care can leave corporations and health networks liable for the harm they cause. But even when understaffing is obvious, evidence is still needed for the best chance to hold a facility liable.

Your California negligent drug rehab injury lawyer can help you investigate an accident and gather proof of why your loved one was placed in harm’s way.

This and other evidence would help build a powerful case:

• Employee records and evidence of dangerous staffing ratios that don’t meet state standards
• Examining the facility’s own principles to see if they violated their own corporate policies
• Securing difficult-to-obtain internal evidence, such as incident reports, duty logs, hiring records, and the results of an internal investigation.
• Security records and surveillance footage
• Medical records
• Phone records and 911 evidence
• Eyewitness accounts and testimony from other patients and their families

Your family and your lawyer can also file an official complaint with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). The state’s investigation can reveal some powerful evidence of understaffing and neglect. They can punish facility owners and help back your case.

See: Premises Liability when drug rehab facilities fail to keep contraband out.

Contact Us if a California Rehab Facility Contributed to Your Loved One’s Injury.

Families who can prove a rehab center’s negligence (perhaps due to understaffing) caused an injury or the death of a loved one can demand support. This support can help patients pay their medical bills and start over at a new facility with better care.  Patients and families can also recover income the patient may have lost while injured and unable to work.

However, taking on corporate owners of rehab centers can mean facing off against their corporate lawyers. It’s smart to have a legal representative of your own.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who lost a loved one at a California drug rehab facility. There’s no obligation, but all families should know that there are no upfront costs to hire a skilled lawyer. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement a drug rehab facility must provide.