You may want to think twice before sending your loved one to the Dr. Drew Pinksy-endorsed rehab facility, the Aurora Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, CA.
This is the facility that’s oft mentioned in the VH1 reality TV series Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew. The doc is co-medical director of the chemical dependency department and is prominently featured on the hospital’s website.
The LA Times reports that in April, two patients who were both being treated for drug abuse in the chemical dependency unit, died of apparent drug overdoses.
And then this month, a patient in the NASH House, which treats substance abusers on the hospital grounds, hanged himself from a wooden beam, the Los Angeles County coroner found.
One day after his body was found a 14-year-old girl was raped by a 16-year-old patient as hospital staffers and the suspect’s probation officer slept nearby, according to two insiders.
So horrible!
Experts say it is rare to see so many patients at a psychiatric hospital die or be harmed in such a short period.
State health inspectors have investigated and faulted the hospital’s care in the first two deaths, which occurred within two days in April.
“Not a very good track record, especially at an expensive hospital like that. I don’t understand what’s going on there exactly,” said Taras Otus, the brother of the patient who hanged himself.
Shared rooms at the hospital cost $840 a night, while private rooms are $1,400 a night. It recently created a deluxe treatment center, offering concierge service, a “personal healthcare attendant” and access to a flat-screen high-definition TV. The hospital also advertises on its that patients have access to a tennis court, swimming pool and manicured garden.
Dr. Drew has said he played no direct role in any of the victim patients’ care:
“I had no direct knowledge and no direct participation in the recent care of the patients in question. Patient confidentiality laws prevent me from discussing these or any other patients who may have been admitted to the facility.”
Click here to read the rest of the LA Times’ troubling report.
[Image via WENN.]
