tod evans
05-10-2014, 04:50 AM
"Drug abuse and mental health" are key phrases used to suck tax-dollars from various government agencies most of whom have been funded by feel good legislation claiming to help the children with drug addiction...
This is another facet of the war on drugs where various tax-ticks suck the lifeblood from a faltering economy yet the Communist Newz Netwerk wants to focus their article on federal licensing....
Ex-patients, families say decades of abuse, fraud at Colorado facility ignored
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/09/us/colorado-treatment-center-lawsuits/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
How did an unlicensed professional, who led people to believe he was a medical doctor, run a facility for adolescents with mental illness and drug abuse problems for decades, despite complaint after complaint to state regulators alleging abuse?
That's the question that haunts some of the alleged victims of an inpatient treatment center that operated in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, for about 30 years.
A CNN investigation uncovered at least 15 civil suits and some two dozen complaints to state regulators against Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado, also known as AFIC. The allegations include verbal and sexual abuse, unauthorized discontinuance of psychotropic medication and fraud.
The man in charge, AFIC's president and founder, Alexander Panio Jr., was not a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist in the state of Colorado, yet he was allegedly treating patients, and participating in and enabling the abuse at his facility.
"It did the most incredible damage to our family," said Rick Palmer, who's filed a civil suit against AFIC, Panio and other staff members.
Rick and Sylvia Palmer turned to AFIC in 2011 to help their then-16-year-old daughter, Jessica, a star soccer player who was struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. But instead of getting help, the Palmers say, Jessica was harmed.
In their civil suit, the Palmers claim Jessica "was repeatedly told by AFIC staff that she was a 'bitch,' 'dumb,' and a [expletive]. She was told that her parents didn't love her and that she was the source of all their problems."
The Palmers also allege Jessica was cut off from her family, was abruptly taken off her bipolar medication without authorization, and was brainwashed into believing she was faking her mental illness.
"As a result of her experience at AFIC, Jessica Palmer became more depressed, suicidal and filled with self-loathing," according to the civil suit.
Jessica Palmer took her own life in 2012, less than a year after leaving AFIC.
In court documents, AFIC and staff deny all claims. The Palmers' suit is pending, but both sides tell CNN they have agreed on settlement terms.
Complaint after complaint
The Palmers are not alone.
Colorado public records obtained by CNN detail similar complaints and other alleged abuses that date back to the mid-1980s.
The allegations of abuse include sexual misconduct during physical exams, such as fondling and measuring genitalia.
Jessica Palmer was a standout soccer player who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction. She took her own life in 2012, at age 17, less than a year after leaving the Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado.
Jessica Palmer was a standout soccer player who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction. She took her own life in 2012, at age 17, less than a year after leaving the Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado.
Another civil suit involving a 14-year-old patient of AFIC, who is referred to only as "Baby Doe" because she is a minor, alleges: "Baby Doe was required to bend over and touch her toes while [staff members] stood behind her, evaluating her exposed buttocks and genitalia. Baby Doe was then told to squat and 'walk like a duck' across the floor."
The civil suit alleges the patient began to cry and was threatened with humiliation -- "she would be labeled as having [sexually transmitted diseases] ... and disallowed from participating in certain activities" -- if she did not allow the exam.
AFIC and staff members deny these allegations. Court documents show a settlement is pending.
Public records also show repeated complaints of verbal abuse made to the Colorado Department of Human Services as early as 1990 through 2012 that allege degrading, derogatory, humiliating, and at times racially charged rants directed at patients and family members.
A county social worker who attended a patient evaluation wrote to state regulators in 1998:
"I am concerned that the treatment my client recently received in a pre-placement interview ... was demeaning and humiliating to him and basically stripped away his dignity as a human being. ... In my opinion, they tore him to shreds. ... In the 20 years I've worked in the field of Human Services, I have never seen a professional treat a youngster in a way that totally disregards him as a human being with worth. ... Incarceration is more humane."
"We were just belittled and degraded and made to feel so small we could barely get up off the mat," said Aimee Donabedian, the plaintiff in another civil suit.
Donabedian said her son Chris, 16 years old at the time, was neglected and abused at AFIC in 2010. His family checked him into AFIC after a psychiatrist had diagnosed Chris with major depression with psychotic features, a precursor to schizophrenia, and had started him on medication.
"We were told that the next step would be to have him in residential care for a few weeks to get him acclimated to his medication," Donabedian told CNN.
The Donabedian lawsuit alleges AFIC discontinued Chris' medications abruptly and without tapering.
"My illness just progressively got worse when I was there," Chris Donabedian told CNN.
He said he started hallucinating, hearing voices and begged for his medication but was denied.
"I was way worse when I left. Just the voices were really bad," he said.
Chris Donabedian has been diagnosed with schizophrenia since leaving AFIC.
Aimee Donabedian described her son's treatment as abuse.
"The abuse of not being allowed to have his medications. The abuse of being told that he's basically, no good, just the scum of the earth, that he's just a liar and a manipulator and he's really not sick."
AFIC and staff members, named as defendants in the Donabedian civil suit, deny all of these allegations.
Donabedian said the civil suit was a result of months of research "because no normal person could wrap their head around what was going on at AFIC."
She discovered that Panio wasn't licensed to practice medicine or psychotherapy but was allegedly diagnosing and treating patients.
"What we experienced there was bait and switch," Donabedian said.
'Dr. Panio'
Panio got his doctorate in psychology in 1979 from a distance-learning school. Its accreditation at the time was not government-approved and it no longer offers PhDs in psychology, the school confirmed to CNN.
More of the same at link.....
This is another facet of the war on drugs where various tax-ticks suck the lifeblood from a faltering economy yet the Communist Newz Netwerk wants to focus their article on federal licensing....
Ex-patients, families say decades of abuse, fraud at Colorado facility ignored
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/09/us/colorado-treatment-center-lawsuits/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
How did an unlicensed professional, who led people to believe he was a medical doctor, run a facility for adolescents with mental illness and drug abuse problems for decades, despite complaint after complaint to state regulators alleging abuse?
That's the question that haunts some of the alleged victims of an inpatient treatment center that operated in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, for about 30 years.
A CNN investigation uncovered at least 15 civil suits and some two dozen complaints to state regulators against Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado, also known as AFIC. The allegations include verbal and sexual abuse, unauthorized discontinuance of psychotropic medication and fraud.
The man in charge, AFIC's president and founder, Alexander Panio Jr., was not a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist in the state of Colorado, yet he was allegedly treating patients, and participating in and enabling the abuse at his facility.
"It did the most incredible damage to our family," said Rick Palmer, who's filed a civil suit against AFIC, Panio and other staff members.
Rick and Sylvia Palmer turned to AFIC in 2011 to help their then-16-year-old daughter, Jessica, a star soccer player who was struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. But instead of getting help, the Palmers say, Jessica was harmed.
In their civil suit, the Palmers claim Jessica "was repeatedly told by AFIC staff that she was a 'bitch,' 'dumb,' and a [expletive]. She was told that her parents didn't love her and that she was the source of all their problems."
The Palmers also allege Jessica was cut off from her family, was abruptly taken off her bipolar medication without authorization, and was brainwashed into believing she was faking her mental illness.
"As a result of her experience at AFIC, Jessica Palmer became more depressed, suicidal and filled with self-loathing," according to the civil suit.
Jessica Palmer took her own life in 2012, less than a year after leaving AFIC.
In court documents, AFIC and staff deny all claims. The Palmers' suit is pending, but both sides tell CNN they have agreed on settlement terms.
Complaint after complaint
The Palmers are not alone.
Colorado public records obtained by CNN detail similar complaints and other alleged abuses that date back to the mid-1980s.
The allegations of abuse include sexual misconduct during physical exams, such as fondling and measuring genitalia.
Jessica Palmer was a standout soccer player who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction. She took her own life in 2012, at age 17, less than a year after leaving the Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado.
Jessica Palmer was a standout soccer player who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction. She took her own life in 2012, at age 17, less than a year after leaving the Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado.
Another civil suit involving a 14-year-old patient of AFIC, who is referred to only as "Baby Doe" because she is a minor, alleges: "Baby Doe was required to bend over and touch her toes while [staff members] stood behind her, evaluating her exposed buttocks and genitalia. Baby Doe was then told to squat and 'walk like a duck' across the floor."
The civil suit alleges the patient began to cry and was threatened with humiliation -- "she would be labeled as having [sexually transmitted diseases] ... and disallowed from participating in certain activities" -- if she did not allow the exam.
AFIC and staff members deny these allegations. Court documents show a settlement is pending.
Public records also show repeated complaints of verbal abuse made to the Colorado Department of Human Services as early as 1990 through 2012 that allege degrading, derogatory, humiliating, and at times racially charged rants directed at patients and family members.
A county social worker who attended a patient evaluation wrote to state regulators in 1998:
"I am concerned that the treatment my client recently received in a pre-placement interview ... was demeaning and humiliating to him and basically stripped away his dignity as a human being. ... In my opinion, they tore him to shreds. ... In the 20 years I've worked in the field of Human Services, I have never seen a professional treat a youngster in a way that totally disregards him as a human being with worth. ... Incarceration is more humane."
"We were just belittled and degraded and made to feel so small we could barely get up off the mat," said Aimee Donabedian, the plaintiff in another civil suit.
Donabedian said her son Chris, 16 years old at the time, was neglected and abused at AFIC in 2010. His family checked him into AFIC after a psychiatrist had diagnosed Chris with major depression with psychotic features, a precursor to schizophrenia, and had started him on medication.
"We were told that the next step would be to have him in residential care for a few weeks to get him acclimated to his medication," Donabedian told CNN.
The Donabedian lawsuit alleges AFIC discontinued Chris' medications abruptly and without tapering.
"My illness just progressively got worse when I was there," Chris Donabedian told CNN.
He said he started hallucinating, hearing voices and begged for his medication but was denied.
"I was way worse when I left. Just the voices were really bad," he said.
Chris Donabedian has been diagnosed with schizophrenia since leaving AFIC.
Aimee Donabedian described her son's treatment as abuse.
"The abuse of not being allowed to have his medications. The abuse of being told that he's basically, no good, just the scum of the earth, that he's just a liar and a manipulator and he's really not sick."
AFIC and staff members, named as defendants in the Donabedian civil suit, deny all of these allegations.
Donabedian said the civil suit was a result of months of research "because no normal person could wrap their head around what was going on at AFIC."
She discovered that Panio wasn't licensed to practice medicine or psychotherapy but was allegedly diagnosing and treating patients.
"What we experienced there was bait and switch," Donabedian said.
'Dr. Panio'
Panio got his doctorate in psychology in 1979 from a distance-learning school. Its accreditation at the time was not government-approved and it no longer offers PhDs in psychology, the school confirmed to CNN.
More of the same at link.....