DeSoto psych hospital to lose federal funds after inspectors report underage sex, safety lapses

Federal officials say a DeSoto psychiatric hospital will lose Medicare funding in two weeks for putting its patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm.

That federal designation for Dallas Behavioral Healthcare Hospital — based on a pair of inspections this year citing lapses in patient care and safety — is rare. The loss of funding threatens to further strain a North Texas mental health care system reeling from the February closure of Timberlawn psychiatric hospital and the shutdown this week of two hospitals from the Sundance chain.

The inspection reports detailed numerous allegations: underage patients having sex; a staff that didn’t know how to deal with potential sexual predators; patients left untreated for hours; and a 12-year-old boy injected with an anti-psychotic drug for “agitation” even while video showed he was just watching cartoons.

Administrators of the psychiatric hospital, a private facility with 116 beds, disputed many of the federal findings and say they have no plans to shut down. Medicare accounted for nearly 8 percent of the hospital’s $63 million in gross patient revenue last year, according to the American Hospital Directory database.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2018/12/21/desoto-psych-hospital-lose-federal-funds-after-inspectors-report-underage-sex-safety-lapses