Patient Suffers Severe Injuries at an Addiction Rehabilitation Center

I have over 20 years of experience in the alcohol treatment and therapy field, and I have extensive experience as a facility/rehabilitation director of both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers. As for the patient in this case, based on the alleged withdrawal symptoms noted, his mental health needed to have been part of the intake/bio-psychosocial assessment. A qualified mental health or clinical professional needs to assess the patient’s potential for self harm based on reporting, behavior, and history. The next step, upon analyzing and consulting on the assessment, is to determine the severity and legitimacy of the alleged hallucinations to determine the patient’s needs and subsequent level of care and supervision, all of which needs to be documented in the patient chart. As a facility director, I am astounded that this patient was allowed access to an unauthorized area. For a patient experiencing heightened symptoms of a psychotic nature to have access to any unsupervised or restricted area, or even access to a fire extinguisher, is highly irregular. Based on the assessment noted above, a clinically driven safety and care plan (Tx plan) is then established with clearly defined Interventions and objectives, denoting responsible staff (i.e. nursing department, clinical, medical, etc.) and specific time lines to the same. This plan need also list any risk variables (e.g. self harm, fall risk, absconding/flight risk, etc.) and a determination of the level of supervision required for the patient.