{"id":6900,"date":"2025-03-03T17:39:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T17:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6900"},"modified":"2025-03-03T17:39:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T17:39:34","slug":"lawsuit-claims-d-c-psychiatric-facility-held-patients-without-cause-to-maximize-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6900","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Claims D.C. Psychiatric Facility Held Patients Without Cause to Maximize Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A 73-page class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accuses the Psychiatric Institute of Washington (PIW) and its parent company, Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS), of involuntarily detaining patients without medical justification, falsifying records, and withholding necessary treatment in pursuit of profit.<\/p>\n<p>An individual only described as Jane Doe stands as the lead plaintiff. In court filings, Doe describes being involuntarily committed to PIW for four days in April 2024 after her estranged husband reported she was suicidal. Medical records noted a \u201ccurrent suicidal\/homicidal ideation with intent, realistic plan, and\/or available means,\u201d though the lawsuit alleges no such ideation existed. PIW staff allegedly fabricated the assessment to justify her admission.<\/p>\n<p>Doe\u2019s attempts to seek legal counsel during her stay were unsuccessful. She said she was denied access to a phone, leaving her \u201cstripped of her autonomy and unable to contest her confinement.\u201d While at PIW, Doe alleged that she received no individualized therapy or meaningful treatment, the complaint asserts. Conditions in the facility included broken fixtures, cold temperatures, and limited access to food.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The lawsuit claims that UHS, through its management of PIW, directed policies aimed at increasing patient admissions and prolonging hospital stays to maximize insurance reimbursements. Patient records were allegedly altered to justify these extended stays. One section of the complaint states, \u201cPIW routinely fabricates patient records, ensuring maximum financial gain through involuntary detentions and unnecessary hospitalizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The complaint describes Doe\u2019s experience as representative of a wider pattern, alleging that patients are admitted regardless of medical necessity and kept longer than needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPIW and UHS have chosen profit over patient care, deliberately placing vulnerable individuals in harm\u2019s way,\u201d the lawsuit contends.<\/p>\n<p>The suit cites violations of consumer protection laws and claims of false imprisonment and medical negligence. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of Doe and other affected patients and calls for accountability for what it describes as \u201cdeliberate actions that have stripped countless individuals of their dignity and basic human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo person should be forced into confinement without cause, denied basic rights, or exploited for corporate profit,\u201d the suit contends.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>One social media user who described himself as a healer, counselor, coach and hypnotherapist took to social media to weigh in on the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is very common with psychiatric facilities, as the focus is often on sustaining business and profits, not on true quality of care or respecting patients\u2019 rights,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jedishaman\/status\/1894077177924104312?s=46\">social media user Jed Shlackman wrote on X<\/a>, formerly known as Twitter. \u201cModern psychiatry currently fosters more harm to mental health than genuine healing aids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/psychiatric-institute-washington-lawsuit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown A 73-page class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6902,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900\/revisions\/6902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}