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State revokes licenses of Putnam mental-health facility

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Anonymous:
Using the royal "we" is a stupid troll trick used to imply the troll is the voice of many, you are a singular oddity.  "WE ARE LEGION', blah, blah, blah.  He's the voice of the industry.  The who has always used the same explanation for his troll "we".  The simple truth is that the who is a pathetic shill and a vacant cunt.

TheWho:

--- Quote from: "We the Troll" ---Using the royal "we" is a stupid troll trick used to imply the troll is the voice of many, you are a singular oddity.  "WE ARE LEGION', blah, blah, blah.  He's the voice of the industry.  The who has always used the same explanation for his troll "we".  The simple truth is that the who is a pathetic shill and a vacant cunt.
--- End quote ---

Boo Hoo Hoo, someone disagrees with me so they must be a troll or work for the industry.  I was forced to stay in my room and study until my grades improved and eat healthy food, exercise, couldnt drink or do drugs for a whole year, the staff didnt even let me order out for pizza!!  How abusive.  None of this was my fault, it was all my parents.  I swear, they are lousy parents, who cares that my brothers and sisters turned out fine, went to college, they were just lucky and succeeded in spite of my parents lack of skills.  Why should my parents interfere if I wanted to drop out of school at 14 and sit around doing drugs all day watching tv or stay out all night when I felt like it.  Its my life isnt it?  I can throw it away if I want and live on assistence the rest of my life.  Smarten up people, drop out of school, blame your parents and any schools you went to for your screwed up life.  Get on federal assistence, screw up somemore and then blame the system and get yourself a section 8 status which will bring you more cash.  Life doesnt get much better!!  Work the system brother.

Anonymous:

--- Quote from: "Reverend Grape" ---
--- Quote from: "We the Troll" ---Using the royal "we" is a stupid troll trick used to imply the troll is the voice of many, you are a singular oddity.  "WE ARE LEGION', blah, blah, blah.  He's the voice of the industry.  The who has always used the same explanation for his troll "we".  The simple truth is that the who is a pathetic shill and a vacant cunt.
--- End quote ---

Boo Hoo Hoo, someone disagrees with me so they must be a troll or work for the industry.  I was forced to stay in my room and study until my grades improved and eat healthy food, exercise, couldnt drink or do drugs for a whole year, the staff didnt even let me order out for pizza!!  How abusive.  None of this was my fault, it was all my parents.  I swear, they are lousy parents, who cares that my brothers and sisters turned out fine, went to college, they were just lucky and succeeded in spite of my parents lack of skills.  Why should my parents interfere if I wanted to drop out of school at 14 and sit around doing drugs all day watching tv or stay out all night when I felt like it.  Its my life isnt it?  I can throw it away if I want and live on assistence the rest of my life.  Smarten up people, drop out of school, blame your parents and any schools you went to for your screwed up life.  Get on federal assistence, screw up somemore and then blame the system and get yourself a section 8 status which will bring you more cash.  Life doesnt get much better!!  Work the system brother.
--- End quote ---

We think you're a douche nozzle.

Is grape your favorite KoolAid flavor?

Anonymous:
Reprehensible Actions
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? ... /newsfront

SLS Residential Inc., which runs residential treatment centers for young adults with psychiatric problems, operates two facilities in well-manicured, stately old Victorian homes in Brewster. From the outside, SLS properties look as if they belong to the ideal neighbor, but whatever went on behind those crisp facades is starting to sound like a Stephen King novel.

It was bad enough when SLS was accused of violating their patients' rights in a variety of demeaning ways, from using illegal restraints and physical holds, opening personal packages, conducting body and room searches, and forcing patients to submit urine samples while a staff member watched. This humiliating list of findings against SLS was upheld in June by the state commissioner of the Office of Mental Health, who heard an appeal of the charges and ordered the company to pay $110,000.
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But now a federal court judge in White Plains, hearing testimony in pre-trial hearings for a separate $225 million class-action suit brought against SLS by former patients, says that the for-profit health-care company did something unthinkable. Some therapists from SLS called their former patients and their families, and tried to prevent them from joining the lawsuit, according to the court. The therapists - whom the patients presumably turned to in their weakest moments, revealing their intimate thoughts and feelings - threatened that if the patients joined the suit against SLS, their medical records, including their troubled mental-health histories, would be made public in open court.

Such coercion is beyond unethical for therapists who, after all, are duty-bound to protect their patients, not their employers. It is manipulative, cynical and downright predatory.

As Journal News staff writer Terence Corcoran reported Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson said that no medical histories would be discussed in the trial, which was brought by two patients who chose to identify themselves, and many unnamed patients. "I have no doubt that inappropriate action took place here,'' the judge said, before demanding that SLS produce a list of every patient and family member called, as well as the names of those who made the calls and those who ordered the calls to be made.

If the tale unfolding in federal court now turns out to be half as bad as it sounds at this juncture, the Office of Mental Health should revoke SLS' license to operate. If found culpable, individuals working for SLS should be severely sanctioned. Any licensed therapists, psychologists, social workers or medical personnel found to have participated in the scheme should be investigated by the state Education Department, which licenses them.



"Federal Judge Blasts Putnam treatment Facility"
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? ... /newsfront

A federal judge yesterday blasted representatives of a for-profit mental-health company that treats young adults with psychiatric problems at two Putnam County facilities for lobbying former patients to opt out of a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit brought against the company.

U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson in White Plains said the actions by representatives of SLS, which runs two residential treatment centers in Southeast, might be the "most outrageous conduct" he's ever witnessed as a judge.
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Therapists from SLS contacted former patients who qualify for the class action and told them that if they didn't opt out, their medical records could be made public and discussed in open court. The patients had been sent a letter by the court, advising them that they needed to respond by next Monday to opt out.

Robinson said there was nothing to indicate that medical records would be revealed or individuals identified during a trial.

Family members of the patients were also called, and, in one case, an SLS representative contacted an attorney with Connecticut Legal Services to urge that clients who were treated at SLS opt out of the action.

"I have no doubt that inappropriate action took place here," Robinson said. "There's no question."

SLS began making the calls after the court sent the letters.

Goshen, N.Y., attorney Michael Sussman filed the class-action lawsuit last year against several companies affiliated with SLS, the principals of those companies and several employees. The defendants include SLS Residential Inc., SLS Health, SLS Wellness, Supervised Lifestyles Inc., Chairmen Alfred Bergman and Joseph Santoro, a psychologist and several SLS employees. The company has its headquarters on Route 6 in Southeast.

Sussman filed the lawsuit on behalf of former SLS patients Nicholas J. Romano and Deborah A. Morgan, both of New Jersey, and many unnamed patients. Romano and Morgan, in their mid-20s, allege that SLS violated their rights and others' rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The lawsuit seeks $75 million in compensatory damages, $150 million in punitive damages and an injunction to bar SLS from further violating patients' rights.

Sussman said he had heard from at least five potential plaintiffs who received calls from SLS.

Mark Lombardo, a psychologist at SLS, which runs residential treatment centers on North Brewster Road and off Putnam Avenue in Southeast, told Robinson that he and other therapists were given a list by a supervisor of patients to call who qualified for the class-action suit and their families.

Lombardo said that none of the therapists had legal training and that no lawyers were present when the supervisor ordered them to make the calls. He said that patients and family members were not told they could possibly benefit from joining the lawsuit. He said people who had problems with SLS were not called.

Robinson ordered SLS attorney Paul Callan of Manhattan to bring a list of every patient and family member SLS contacted, the time of the call, the person who called, and the person who gave the instructions to call. Robinson ordered that all who made the calls appear in court.

He noted that several former patients who had contacted Sussman to complain about the calls were not on the list provided by Callan. He called Callan's responses to his questions "misleading, deceptive and troubling to this court."

Callan took umbrage, saying that no one had questioned his ethics in his 35-year law career.

"Mark the date on your calendar," Robinson responded. "July 8, 2008. Mark it."

Robinson later ordered that new letters be sent to those who opted out, and those who didn't, after Monday's deadline. Those who opted out will also get a letter from SLS in which the company will explain the misinformation it gave patients and families in the phone calls.

In addition, Robinson said he would order SLS to pay any legal fees Sussman incurred in bringing the calls to the court's attention and would consider a financial sanction against SLS and, possibly, Callan's firm, Callan, Koster, Brady & Brennan.

Robinson also issued an order barring SLS from discussing the lawsuit with any current or former patients. The parties will return to court July 17.

Allegations in the lawsuit are similar to several violations for which the state Office of Mental Health fined SLS in 2006 after visiting its treatment centers. The state fined SLS $110,000 for eight violations that inspectors found during a visit on Nov. 17, 2006, and for three more violations found during a follow-up visit Nov. 28, 2006. Among the violations were that SLS used illegal restraints on patients and failed to conduct criminal background checks on new employees.

SLS fought the allegations in a hearing in the summer of 2007 before the state Office of Mental Health. A hearing officer found that SLS violated patients' rights on several occasions and broke the law. Then, last month, OMH Commissioner Michael F. Hogan upheld the state hearing officer's findings. However, SLS has yet to pay the fine and can still appeal in court.

Actual Revocation Order:
http://www.heal-online.org/slsshutdown.pdf

Anonymous:
This matter has received a dozen front page articles since the beginning and has not been a media blackout.  As for these anonymous posters above me - this is what former SLS patients had to deal with by staff.  Antagonistic and abusive.  Good riddance to all of you people who abuse the weak and vulnerable.

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