"In several cases clients died, according to the report:
- At The Living Center, in Modesto, a marketing staff member admitted a man who was shaking, couldn't walk and whose skin was yellow. He was later sent to a hospital, where he died, the report says. The marketing employee who admitted the patient said that “unless a client fell down during time of admission, he would not see a need for medical attention,” the report says.
- The state medical board alleged that a 29-year-old woman who drowned in a bathtub was too sick to be properly treated at Bay Recovery in San Diego. Dr. Jerry Rand, who treated her, denied responsibility for her death. Another patient died before the state suspended the program's license.
- At A Better Tomorrow in Riverside County, a man who needed an oxygen tank was admitted to the program, but his oxygen was not supplied. He died one day later. It was the fourth death at that facility.
State officials eventually revoked the license of the facility, but A Better Tomorrow continues to run other homes.
Two former program staffers told Senate investigators that even after the fourth death, the program administrators “ ‘pushed people’ who appeared too sick to be in the program.”
One former staffer said a woman with a medical condition that required an adjustable bed was promised one and then given a normal twin bed. The program admitted another woman who was delusional and so lethargic that she nearly fell asleep in her food. Former program employees said the woman wound up later spending three days in an intensive care unit."
