NEWS

Delaware's Rockford Center sued over suicide

Margie Fishman
The News Journal

The sister of a man who hanged himself from a tree outside the Rockford Center last year is suing the psychiatric hospital for medical negligence.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Delaware Superior Court, alleges that Clay McInnis III, a 38-year-old with a history of bipolar disorder and suicide attempts, was denied admission to the Stanton facility last year and never evaluated by a psychiatrist.

McInnis was instructed to return the following day to begin an outpatient program, according to his medical record referenced in the suit. Instead, the Elkton, Maryland man spent hours walking in and out of the center's lobby, the suit said. The next morning at around 4 a.m., he was found hanging from a tree across from the 128-bed hospital's entrance, a belt wrapped around his throat.

RELATED: Elkton man commits suicide outside Rockford Center

"It was a breach in the standard of care for failing to either admit Mr. McInnis for in-patient care or to transfer him to another hospital for in-patient care," the suit says.

"We are filing the lawsuit because we want to know what happened," McInnis's older sister, Meghan McInnis-Dominguez, said in an interview, the first time she agreed to speak publicly following her brother's death.

Clay McInnis

"You don't want any other family to go through this," explained the assistant Spanish professor at the University of Delaware.

Wilmington attorney Randall Robbins, who is representing McInnis's estate, said the family is still trying to piece together why McInnis wasn't admitted to Rockford after he showed up to the 24-hour facility voluntarily. McInnis appeared to have insurance coverage, Robbins said.

The suit seeks unspecified wrongful death damages from Rockford's owner, Universal Health Services, which also operates Dover Behavioral Health.

For several years, the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based UHS has been the subject of a multi-agency federal government investigation into its Medicare and Medicaid billing practices, along with allegations of negligence and staff retaliation.

One of the largest behavioral health operators in the nation, UHS facilities have a history of violence, sexual assaults, lax security and patient deaths, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and other news media.

A Rockford Center spokesman declined comment on the McInnis lawsuit Tuesday, citing patient privacy.

"The management and staff of the Rockford Center remain dedicated and committed to providing high quality behavioral health treatment programs and services that improve the overall health and well-being of our patients and their families," Community Relations Director Mike Gavula wrote in an email.

In an interview last year with The News Journal, McInnis' friend, Mike Vanscoy, said he took McInnis to Rockford late in the afternoon on March 28, 2016, because it was "overwhelmingly obvious that he was in distress."

Rockford Center in Stanton. Several sources say an Elkton, Maryland, man committed suicide outside the center.

McInnis entered Rockford's lobby and signed a registration form that stated he was a “danger to self/others, extreme mania, bipolar," according to the lawsuit. A person who was not a doctor assessed him and documented that he was experiencing anxiety, depression and "possibly mania," the suit said.

McInnis requested Xanax, after admitting that he had previously abused cocaine and heroin. A UD history graduate, he had a criminal past, racking up robbery and drug charges in Delaware and Maryland, court records show.

That night, McInnis demonstrated poor judgment and insight, according to his intake record, and he had a history of bipolar disorder, violent behavior and previous suicide attempts. Previously, he had been treated at Rockford and at Union Hospital in Elkton, but he couldn't recall the dates. He reported that he was "done with treatment."

The psychiatrist on duty that night, Ayesha Silman, never saw McInnis, the lawsuit claims.

There were "reasons to doubt patient's credibility and reliability," according to the intake staffer's notes.

Rockford made no attempt to notify McInnis's family or to ensure that he had a ride home that night, according to the lawsuit.

After The News Journal began asking questions about the incident last year, Rockford officials notified the state three days after McInnis' death. Mental health facilities are not required to file reports unless a patient dies in seclusion or while placed in restraints, according to Delaware law.

By that time, state police had concluded their investigation and determined there was no foul play. Soon after, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asked the state to conduct its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding McInnis's death.

RELATED: Feds authorize state probe of suicide outside of Rockford

A state health department spokeswoman initially said the investigation could take a month or longer. It was concluded within a day.

State and federal health officials ruled that there was no evidence of regulatory breaches at Rockford.

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.