Patient Abuse, Deaths In NJ Psych Hospitals Detailed In New Lawsuit

NEW JERSEY - Patients in New Jersey state psychiatric hospitals are being subjected to abusive conditions, inappropriately long stays and a lack of resources rising to the level of a constitutional violation, advocates said in a new federal lawsuit.

The 99-page lawsuit, filed in federal court last week by advocacy group Disability Rights New Jersey, names New Jersey Department of Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman, New Jersey Department of Health Acting Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, as well as the respective agencies and the state of New Jersey as defendants, alleging state leaders did not do their jobs adhering to federal discrimination laws while caring for 1,150 patients around the state.

“These abusive conditions involve patient-on-patient, staff-on-patient, and patient-on-staff violence resulting in serious injury, including death; unlawful restraint and seclusion practices; and retaliation resulting in emotional and physical harm,” the lawsuit reads.

The complaint names five Garden State psychiatric hospitals: Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton and Ewing, Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Parsippany and Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. Seven “unexpected” deaths were highlighted in the lawsuit, including the case of an Ancora patient who died in March 2019 after having a seizure that caused them to collapse on their face.

“Potentially life-saving measures like CPR were not administered for eight minutes after the patient collapsed, allegedly because no available staff member was trained in the appropriate procedure necessary to roll the patient onto the patient’s back,” the lawsuit reads.

In anther instance, a Greystone patient died in December 2021 while eating dinner in a socialization room; no staff was present in the room at the time of the death and emergency equipment wasn’t brought to the scene until seven minutes after the incident, the lawsuit says.

Greystone has been under court-ordered supervision following a settlement with the state in 2020.

Most recently, a 19-year-old Ancora patient died unexpectedly in June 2022 after telling staff they were not feeling well.

“The patient was only 19 years old, but the patient’s cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest,” the lawsuit reads.

Representatives for Adelman and Baston did not immediately respond to Patch’s request for comment. The New Jersey Department of Health declined to respond to a request for comment due to pending litigation.

Multiple patients from the hospitals told the advocacy group that they didn’t feel safe in the institutions and that the therapeutic activities provided, such as group therapy, don’t adequately provide them with the tools they need, per the lawsuit.

Individuals with mental health disabilities also reported being confined to state hospitals despite meeting the set requirements to leave and waiting months or years for housing, outpatient mental health services and discharge plans to come to fruition.

“These individuals have each suffered injuries, or will suffer such injuries, that would allow them to bring suit against defendants in their own right,” the lawsuit reads. “The reality on the ground is more akin to psychiatric incarceration.”

You can read the full lawsuit here.