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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDark side of a Bain success
A for-profit health company bought by Bain -- that Romney profits from -- has exploded in size and tales of neglect
Clockwise from top left: Brendan Blum, Sergey Blashchishen, Matthew Meyer and Lindsey Poteet. Aspen Education already faced a wrongful death lawsuit over Meyer when Bain and CRC Health Group bought the company in 2006. Six deaths since the takeover, including Blum, Blashchishen and Poteet, have generated either lawsuits or complaints of neglect.
It seemed a world away from the executive suites of Bain Capital when Dana Blum, a recent widow living in Portland, Ore., made the fateful decision to send her son Brendan to Youth Care, a residential program for troubled teens located in the suburbs of Salt Lake City.
Brendan, a 14-year-old boy with Aspergers syndrome, had been extremely aggressive for years; he was even arrested a few times after attacking members of his family. Local therapists hadnt helped, and six months after her husband died, Dana was frantically casting about for solutions. A consultation with UCLAs neuropsychiatric unit convinced her that Youth Cares therapeutic and educational program would finally make a difference.
Four months into his stay there, Brendan had earned a reputation as a temper-prone student who tried to shirk his obligations. So on the afternoon of June 27, when he complained to medical staff that he felt very sick, as if something were crawling around in his stomach, his concerns were dismissed. After 11 p.m., he woke up, complaining of stomach pain, and defecated in his pants. The on-duty monitors took him to the Purple Room, a makeshift isolation room used to segregate misbehaving students. There, he suffered a long night of agony, howling in pain and repeatedly vomiting and soiling himself. According to court transcripts and police reports, the two poorly paid monitors on duty did little more than offer him water, Sprite and Pepto-Bismol. They never telephoned the on-call nurse and waited until nearly 2 a.m. to contact the on-call supervisor, only to leave a voicemail. There was little else they felt they could do Youth Cares protocol on emergency services meant they were too low on the totem pole to call 911 themselves.
They didnt trust our judgment in emergency situations, explains Josh Randall, a former Youth Care residential monitor, who wasnt on duty that night. If youre working for $9.50 an hour on the graveyard shift, you dont want to buck the system. At any rate, the monitors had little expertise in how to respond it was an entry-level job requiring only a GED, plus a CPR and safety course overseen by Youth Care itself.
more: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/18/dark_side_of_a_bain_success/singleton/
This article mentions the Government Accountability Office reports from 2007 to 2009. There are at least four of them, and here are the links:
GAO Investigation Documents/Video:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08146t.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08713t.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08696t.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09719t.pdf
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And here are a couple excerpts:
During 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved in incidents of abuse in residential programs. GAO could not identify a more concrete number of allegations because it could not locate a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data.
And in another report:
Nineteen states have no laws or regulations related to the use of seclusions or restraints in schools.
Omaha Steve
(99,055 posts)K&R!