If you or a family member were abused at a behavioral health facility, or at a substance abuse rehab center, you likely have legal options.
Fill out our form below to see how you can help seek justice.
Fill out our form below to see how you can help seek justice.
“He sexually abused me so much I can’t even remember, count the times,” one teen (RH) told the Richmond Times-Dispatch about her pediatrician Dr. Daniel Davidow at Cumberland Children’s Hospital near Richmond, VA. The hospital is owned by Universal Health Services (UHS) and offers residential treatment to youths with behavioral issues. The abused teen had just been rescued from a sex trafficking ring, only to be thrown back into trauma.
Many other so-called rehab or behavioral health centers, located all across the country, are suspected of harboring predators who hurt the children or other vulnerable people in their care. This includes sexual, physical and emotional abuse sustained from staff, physicians, administrators, other patients or outside visitors; it also includes being tricked into admission or detained longer than necessary; and forced chemicals.
We are here to listen and help you take your power back with a lawsuit.
— Unnamed patient —
Lakeview Behavioral Health Hospital
in Norcross, GA. Facility owned by Acadia.
For-profit psychiatric facilities paid out $152M in fines or settlements in 2019, of which $144M was paid by two behavioral hospital chains, UHS and Acadia Healthcare.
Last December Acadia was caught in a scandal leading to a large-scale investigation when 50 police officers raided its Lakeview Behavioral Health buildings in Gwinnett County, GA. They were responding to allegations of abuse and excessive drugging. One patient was missing and found crying in a freezer, though his documentation said he was accounted for. The incident was covered up. In another incident a child lost a toe. Sexual abuses were also reported.
The New York Times reported that another Acadia Healthcare facility, Piney Ridge in Fayetteville, Arkansas, used chemical injections to restrain young people in seclusion, a violation of federal rules. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette learned of the violations after obtaining a report through the Freedom of Information Act.
Universal Health Services and Acadia Healthcare are far from being the only behavioral treatment operations in the U.S., but they are the largest: UHS (worth $11B) claims 400 facilities, of which 250 are acute care and behavioral health centers; 89K employees; 3M patients annually. Acadia (valued at $6B) has 227 similar facilities; 42K employees; 70K patients daily. With lax procedures victimization is assured, and lax procedures make for bigger profit margins.
That’s why A Case for Women is stepping in to help educate survivors and their families about legal options to take their power back, seek justice and help stop the cycle of abuse in places where enough darkness is already endured.
In 2020, a new law went into effect in California that allows people who were sexually abused as children to file lawsuits even if the abuse happened decades ago. At the same time, adults who were abused within the past few years may also have an opportunity to seek justice.
What does that mean for you? There is still a chance to seek justice for your abuse. No matter when it may have happened. And while a lawsuit can’t change what happened, it can help expose a systemic cover up of abuse that hurt so many children.
If you were hurt, you have the power to help stop this cycle of abuse. You just have to contact us. We want to help you.