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Two women have filed additional lawsuits against Options Behavioral Health System, a mental health and addiction treatment center in Indianapolis, and are alleging staff at the facility held them at the facility for longer than necessary and did not issue proper treatment to patients.
Six lawsuits were filed against the facility in 2024 arguing similar claims.
The most recent lawsuits were filed on March 5 and 7 in Marion County and name Options Behavioral Health System, Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., and Options Treatment Center Acquisition Corporation as defendants.
Representatives for the defendants did not respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment before Monday’s deadline.
Chad Bradford, who is representing the plaintiffs with CohenMalad, LLP, told The Lawyer, “Acadia Healthcare’s profit-driven practice of holding patients for unnecessary inpatient stays is well-documented, most notably in its recent $19.85 million settlement with the Department of Justice. These policies have clearly been implemented at Options Behavioral Health, one of Acadia’s facilities here in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, this combined with dangerously low levels of training and staffing have caused harm to Hoosiers from all over the state. The 10 victims on behalf of whom we have filed lawsuits to this point – and the dozens of others who have shared their stories with us – include men, women, and juvenile patients who suffered neglect, abuse, and medically unnecessary periods of detention at Options. Only by virtue of the additional victims and former employees continuing to come forward can Acadia and Options be held accountable for these practices and the harm they have caused.”
According to court records, plaintiff Melissa Tomes said she voluntarily admitted herself to Options on May 8, 2024, for a medical alcohol detox. But while there, Tomes said she was not given the proper medications for the detox, which resulted in her having a seizure.
Tomes said she didn’t receive therapy or behavioral health treatment for the first four days she was at Options, and she wasn’t discharged from the facility until May 15, days after she completed her medical detox.
Plaintiff Kassandra Botts said she was admitted to Options on Oct. 21, 2024, after being diagnosed with “[u]nspecified psychosis not due to a substance or known physiological condition” and there being no low stem bed available at the hospital she was originally admitted to.
During this time, Botts was placed on an emergency detention order because she couldn’t give consent.
While at Options, Botts said the facility never had a signed emergency detention order and held her against her will.
She claimed she was never given the regular medications that were prescribed to her by her regular therapist and that she never received an evaluation while at the facility.
Botts said she was held at Options against the expressed desires of her family and therapist until Oct. 27, 2024.
Both women are suing the defendants for medical negligence, violations of the Indiana Crime Victim’s Relief Act, infliction of emotional distress, and general negligence.
In addition, the women are suing defendants for racketeering activity, claiming the experience at Options reflects a broader systemic issue within the Acadia Healthcare Company.
The plaintiffs argued that defendants foster a culture of excessive work, forcing an unreasonable workload on staff and instructing staff to accept patients to Options that the facility doesn’t have the means to care for.
The plaintiffs also alleged Options and other facilities under Acadia across the county have exhibited patterns of using threats and coercion against patients so they’re compliant to stay at the facilities for longer.
The cases are Melissa Tomes v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., Options Behavioral Health System, 49D02-2503-CT-010595, and Kassandra Botts v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., Options Behavioral Health System, 49C01-2503-CT-011062.
This story has been updated.
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