Kentucky Injury Law Blog

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office is investigating a Louisville psychiatric hospital to determine if criminal charges need to be filed because of the way staffers dealt with a 17-year-old patient. The probe comes following a report from the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services that found that Our Lady of Peace hospital failed to assure the girl’s safety.

The girl, who suffers from cerebral palsy, autism, and mental retardation, was reportedly allowed to strike her unprotected head against a hard floor over 120 times last year while she was observed by staff workers. The employees, among them a behavioral analyst, were reportedly trying to determine why the teenager engaged in behavior that caused self-injury.

The patient reportedly “appeared dazed” after the incident, but no one told a doctor for almost 24 hours. Medical help was finally sought when a staffer who was helping the teenager take a shower saw that a bald spot on her head had popped blood vessels and was swollen. The girl was released from the Louisville psychiatric hospital in August.

In order to qualify for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services funding, US hospitals must satisfy certain safety conditions and other requirements. Although Our Lady of Peace and parent company Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare were at risk of losing their federal funding following the incident, the hospital revised its procedures, including adding a new requirement that a doctor be involved in any assessments of a patient. Another change that has recently been implemented by the hospital is the appointment of Timothy Brady as the new CEO of Our Lady of Peace.

Psychiatric Malpractice
Psychiatric malpractice is one form of medical malpractice. Psychiatric care deals with the mental and emotional well-being of a patient. When a psychiatrist is negligent or neglects to provide a patient with a certain level of care and that patient suffers harm as a result, the injured party may have grounds for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Examples of psychiatric malpractice:

• Breach of privacy
• Wrong diagnosis
• Improper treatment
• Medication mistakes
• Mental abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Having sexual contact with a patient

Our Lady of Peace psychiatric hospital under state investigation, Courier-Journal.com

Related Web Resources:
Our Lady of Peace, Jewish Hospital and St Mary's HealthCare

What is psychiatric malpractice?, Power2u.org