On 2005-12-13 21:09:00, Licensed Medical Professional wrote:
"My experience with Hidden Lake Academy was also distressing.
In my opinion, and the opinions of the six other physicians in my practice who followed my HLA misadventure with me, HLA is a predator whose prey is the horrified parents of disturbed teens. It is an institution of opportunity, bringing home its bottom line at the expense of the desperate, frazzled families it exploits.
By the time most parents are introduced to HLA, they've already been through a costly and demoralizing gauntlet of police stations, court appearances, counselor visits, psychiatric evaluations...even hospital visits.
To say they are desperate is an understatement. They are trying to keep their families from self-destructing. In most cases, the only option is turning the child out onto the streets: most insurance policies won't cover mental health care, and even if a family is lucky enough to have good coverage, it is limited to short, individual events. Deeply needed inpatient care is rarely an option for most of these families.
So even considering a modality such as a therapeutic boarding school is a true extravagance. Actually sending the student may mean mortgaging a home, selling it, or even bancruptcy.
Enter Hidden Lake and its ilk.
I was asked by the parents of a young teen to evaluate HLA by its Web site. What stood out to me even more than the philosophy that medical therapy was discouraged were the many typographical errors and careless mistakes on nearly every page of the site. While my own writing is not perfect, I am not registered as a boarding school, responsible for the education of children, presumably overflowing with teachers more than capable of proofreading the very materials provided to the public for the purpose of attracting business.
When I brought my concerns to the attention to the school, they were received with, well, less than warm gratitude. My comments to HLA were meant to be constructive. I was gracious and self-effacing in my original letter because the last thing I wanted was to offend the school. Clearly such niceties were a waste of effort.
Given that the parents are expected to pay upwards of seven thousand dollars per month for the privilege of sending their child to a therapeutic boarding school, I actually expected a minimum of civility. None was evident.
My credentials were questioned?this from an institution whose methods are questionable, at best, from a medical (and psychiatric, I might add) point of view.
Fast forward a few months...and imagine how surprised I was to come across the story of the parent in the previous posts. Am I shocked HLA will not send the child's transcripts? Nope. They demonstrated their pettiness, immaturity, and curious vindictiveness to me, a peer and potential referral base a long time ago. Was I surprised that personal belongings, including necessary daily medications, were sent COD?by ground? Actually, yes.
Not only did that shock me, it caused me to pick up the phone and discuss this gross mismanagement of a patient's medications with a malpractice attorney, who recommends HLA check to be sure their insurance premiums are paid.
To the parent: my suggestion is that you alert your attorney to your experience. Gather all proof of your allegations, including the boxes the personal effects were sent in, the COD receipt(s), the condition of any damaged items, a list of missing items, if any, and proof of payments made to HLA. Regardless of any contract signed (as a previous Anonymous poster cryptically stated), a minimum level of responsibility to the patient's health is required by ANY institution. That minimum includes making reasonable arrangements for the patient to have access to their medications. COD shipping by ground is not, by any standard, "reasonable."
So guess what, parent? You may be getting a sizeable percentage of the "investment" HLA coerced you to pay them right back into your pocket.
I'll be cheering for you from this sideline."
Thank you for your well-thought and insightful post, Doc. My experience working at HLA at its inception is parallel to yours a decade later. It seems there hasn't been any positive change in HLA's policy or its administrators' demeanor.
Again, I must say I find it extremely ironic that, as an institution, HLA's behavior is contraindicative of its "mission statement."
Doc, can you provide any details about how HLA is currently licensed and some insight into how its practices compare to normal, accepted, ethical business and treatment practices?
Thank you in advance. I'll be checking for your reply.
