Lawsuits Against Child Abuse in Utah Based Troubled Teen Homes

This story trickled out last week, and has potential to be bigger news because of the connection to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. As reported here (full story with more political details at the link.)

[...] In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, 133 plaintiffs have alleged that Robert Lichfield, co-chairman of Romney’s Utah finance committee owned or operated residential boarding schools for troubled teenagers where students were “subjected to physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse.”

The complaint, which plaintiffs amended and resubmitted to the court last week, alleges children attending schools operated by Lichfield suffered abuses such as unsanitary living conditions; denial of adequate food; exposure to extreme temperatures; beatings; confinement in dog cages; and sexual fondling.

A second lawsuit filed by more than 25 plaintiffs in July in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York alleges that Lichfield and several partners entered into a scheme to defraud them by operating an unlicensed boarding school in upstate New York. The suit does not allege physical or emotional abuse.

These are two active lawsuits against Lichfield. Several others suits have alleged child abuse on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs, but judges have thrown out the suits for procedural reasons. As a result, the merits of the allegations have not been weighed. In some suits, plaintiffs have settled their cases for undisclosed amounts of money.

The allegations could force Romney to re-examine his relationship with his Utah finance co-chairman or put pressure on him to give away the contributions Lichfield helped raise.

[...]

Plaintiffs represented by the Dallas-based Turley Law Firm claim Lichfield and WWASPS helped to run boarding schools where staff abused students and “acted in concert” to “fraudulently conceal the extent and nature of the physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse occurring at its [member] schools,” their complaint states.

The plaintiffs include former boarding school students and their parents.

The president of WWASPS, Ken Kay, said in an interview the lawsuits are a ploy to get money and dismissed the credibility of former students making allegations.

[...]

The legal disputes shine light on the obscure world of boarding schools for troubled teens.

Years ago, parents set their troublesome teenagers to military schools. In recent years, boot-camp boarding schools, where staff emphasize discipline, have become popular. The schools affiliated with Lichfield and WWASPS fit this mold.

The parents suing Lichfield sent their kids to WWASPS-affiliated schools such as Cross Creek Center for Boys in LaVerkin, Utah; Majestic Ranch Academy in Randolph, Utah; and The Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg after they got into trouble for insubordination, drug use or petty theft.

The parents learned of the boarding schools through Teen Help, a business owned by Lichfield that matched parents and their children with boarding schools around the country and in Mexico, Costa Rica, and American Samoa. Lichfield had consulting relationships with nearly all the schools, according to Kay. In some instances Lichfield rented property to the schools, said Kay, who did not name the properties specifically.

Plaintiffs have alleged that Lichfield made millions from the schools.

Former students allege they were transported against their will — sometimes in handcuffs — by operators such as Clean and Sober Solutions and Teen Escort Services to far-away locations.

Once at the boarding schools, they say they were subject to harsh treatment. Some students say they never attended classes and simply received books to read on their own without supervision. Others allege that staff at the schools threatened them with cattle prods and punished severely violations of school rules. Several students alleged in legal complaints that they were forced to lie face down on the floor for hours at a time, forbidden from moving their arms or legs.

Kay said WWASPS worked only with the schools and never had direct contact with the students. He also said only a very small percentage of former students have brought complaints.

Kay also said that the vast majority of former students never alleged abusive treatment.

A survey by The Hill found at least nine lawsuits filed in the last nine years against specialty boarding schools affiliated with Lichfield. Judges threw out more than half of the complaints because of procedural objections.

For example, a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2005 on behalf of more than 20 plaintiffs was dismissed by a judge who found California did not have jurisdiction over the matter, according to Henry Bushkin, the plaintiffs’ attorney. Bushkin said he would gather more evidence to show a California court could hear the suit.

One of the lawyers making allegations against Lichfield is Thomas M. Burton, by his own account, a relative of Romney through marriage and a one-time friend of the ex-governor’s late father, George Romney.

Burton said he has filed six unsuccessful suits against Lichfield. He said judges have thrown out his complaints because of various procedural difficulties.

Citing an example, Burton said one case could not proceed because his client, Clayton Bowman, a resident of the state of Washington, could not bear the psychological anguish of testifying about his experience at one of the WWASP-affiliated schools.

Utah sues drug maker on behalf of Medicaid patients

A story from the Salt Lake Tribune, from earlier this month.

Some 1,500 Utah adults with insurance coverage through Medicaid have developed diabetes because they took the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, Utah's attorney general estimates.

The state has filed a lawsuit against Zyprexa's manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co., charging that the company improperly promoted the drug and failed to warn patients of adverse side effects that include diabetes, severe weight gain and pancreatitis.

About 100 Utah patients have already individually sued Eli Lilly, according to David Stallard, assistant attorney general. Others "may not have any idea that Zyprexa had anything to do with them developing diabetes," he said.

Utah accuses Eli Lilly of pushing doctors to prescribe the drug to Utah Medicaid patients to treat "off-label" conditions like Tourette's syndrome, Alzheimer's and anorexia.

The federal Food & Drug Administration approved Zyprexa for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. While doctors can prescribe drugs for a variety of illnesses, pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from marketing their drugs uses not approved by the FDA.

Because the off-label prescriptions were subsidized by Medicaid, the state is seeking damages from Eli Lilly.

Utah is the eighth state to file such a Medicaid lawsuit against the company, Stallard said.

Eli Lilly spokesman Phil Belt said he was unfamiliar with the lawsuit and could not comment on it specifically. He said the company has training and compliance programs to ensure that all its products are marketed appropriately.

Utah has paid $65 million for the 12,000 Medicaid patients prescribed Zyprexa since 1996, said Stallard, who works in the attorney general's Medicaid fraud control unit.

"By dollar volume, Utah Medicaid paid more for Zyprexa than any other drug since 2001," he said. "They've used it much more broadly than it was ever intended. Because of the risks, it shouldn't have been used that broadly."

Of the 250,000 prescriptions written for the drug among Utah Medicaid patients, it's unknown how many of those were for off-label uses. The state is studying the Medicaid database to find out. Other states have reported off-label use at up to 70 percent.

"Utah has paid millions of dollars for inappropriate and medically unnecessary doses of Zyprexa. As a result, Lilly has been illegally enriched at the expense of the state," the 3rd District Court lawsuit said.

Utah is seeking civil damages and penalties, including $5,000 to $10,000 for each prescription that was "not medically necessary."

Utah Anti-Ritalin Bill signed - Law bars schools from strong-arming parents to put kids on psychotropics

As reported in the Salt Lake Tribune

The fourth time was the charm for the so-called "Ritalin bill," signed into law Friday by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

The new law bars schools from forcing parents to put their kids on psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin. The law is the first of its kind in the nation, said Madeline Kriescher, a health policy associate at the National Conference for State Legislatures.

"Utah is pretty much on the forefront of doing that sort of thing," she said. "But New York has a bill right now that's similar in language."

Huntsman had vetoed similar legislation in 2005 and the 2002 and 2006 versions never made it to the governor's desk. This year's measure was virtually identical to the 2006 version, which had added language to clarify topics teachers may discuss with parents, and eliminated phrases banning school personnel from recommending psychological evaluations.

The Utah Board of Education opposed the legislation and urged Huntsman to veto the bill. Members said the board already has a rule prohibiting teachers from pushing medications and worry that replicating it with a law singling out psychiatric drugs would chill communication between teachers and parents.

It was those concerns that drove Huntsman's 2005 veto.

"This is a great bill. There are way too many kids on psychotropic drugs," said the Senate sponsor, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan.

The reason for the bill's success this year is simple, Buttars said. "The governor told us the problems he had with the bill and we corrected them and he signed it."

More than 100 lines of text in the new law outline what teachers may and may not say to parents regarding children's behavior and possible psychiatric solutions. It says school personnel can't keep kids out of school or report parents for child abuse simply because parents refuse psychotropic medications.

No teacher who reads the law, Buttars maintains, would fear repercussions from discussing a student's needs with parents. Buttars said the law allows teachers to recommend a professional evaluation for a child, but not medication. "They can't say, 'We think he should be on Ritalin.' ”

Though supporters of the law cite anecdotes of school personnel strong-arming parents to drug their kids, numerous state and national officials say they've not heard a single such case.

Utah wilderness therapy deaths

The Salt Lake Tribune has an interesting collection of stories on a local widerness therapy program that has resulted in the deaths of children, and which has come under heavy scrutiny.

• A wilderness therapy program heads to court (7/14/2003)
  
• Therapy victim's mom seeks accountability for deaths (7/14/2003)
  
• A Deadly Path (7/13/2003)
  
• Utah wilderness therapy deaths (7/13/2003)
  

A widely circulated list of "wilderness therapy program" deaths includes the names of more than 30 teens who have died in other states. Research by The Salt Lake Tribune shows some teens were in wilderness programs, while others were in boot camps, therapeutic boarding schools or centers and correction facilities.

This type of facility has attracted strong criticism See also this Open Letter to the American Psychological Association opposing corporal punishment (and by implication, programs using corporal punishment) on the basis of the damage such punishment does to young and growing minds.