Nationally renown rehab facility sued for wrongful death

A nationally renown treatment center is being sued for the death of a 20-year-old patient while he was under treatment for bulimia and alcoholism. When complications arose in his treatment, the facility transferred him to another center, where he suffered from cardiac arrest and died.

The boy was transferred from an Arizona sober living home to the Morningside Recovery center in California. Initially the young man had made progress with alcohol use, but continued to binge and purge. According to a prior medical history, his biggest problem was with bulimia, not alcohol addiction.

It is the belief of the victims’ family and other medical professionals that the death could have been prevented if the facility been properly monitoring his condition. In his bulimic state, he suffered from such malnourishment and low potassium, that he should have been hospitalized.

The family is suing Morningside Recovery and affiliated medical professionals alleging failure to administer proper care for their son. Morningside is a nationally renown treatment center and has been featured on the A & E television network show, “Intervention.” The facility has faced numerous other allegations and is involved with other pending litigation involving code and zoning violations, as well as other lawsuits from former patients and families.

The state has ordered the company to shut down residential rehab programs and relocate other clients. A California agency in charge of regulating such facilities is in the process of revoking Morningside’s license after finding that it was careless with prescription drugs and operating beyond the scope of its rehabilitation license.

Source: The Orange County Register, “Family sues Morningside Recovery after son’s death,” Sean Greene, April 10, 2012.