License revoked for Landmark rehab center as 9 patients sue. Where will patients go?

MISHAWAKA — The state has revoked the license for the Praxis all-male addictions rehab center that was under investigation for three patients’ deaths early this month.

This comes just days after nine patients filed a lawsuit against Praxis’s parent company, Landmark Recovery, claiming severe injuries.

Landmark said it may appeal the state’s action to revoke the license for the Mishawaka site at 60257 Bodnar Blvd. as well as its sites in Bluffton and Carmel, saying that the decision was based on “misinformation.”

All three facilities have until Aug. 17 to transfer or discharge any of its current patients to "adequate levels of treatment," the public affairs director for Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration told The Tribune. New patient admissions at all three sites have been stopped and permanently suspended as of July 27.

July 14, 2023: After 3 deaths in a week, St. Joseph County police ask state to shut down Landmark Recovery center

Attorney Trevor Crossen of Carmel is representing the nine men in the lawsuit, whose four counts claim endangerment, medical malpractice, negligence and punitive damages. He described them as “vulnerable” men who left their families to seek help, only to enter an "unhealthy, hazardous environment.”

They lacked steady access to psychiatrists, doctors and mental health counselors, he alleged.

“They were demeaned," Crossen told The Tribune. "They were humiliated. They lost trust in the staff.”

The nine men in the lawsuit are from cities scattered across Indiana, with the closest being from LaPorte.

The lawsuit itself uses general language but does mention, among other things, that staff allegedly left “human wastewater” in hallways and didn’t properly feed patients, disburse medications and regularly check on their safety. One patient was allegedly denied access to a working toilet for 24 hours, it states.

Crossen feels this was a result of a lack of staff and poorly trained staff who were stretched thin. In what he called a "tragic" event at the center, he said, staff allegedly onceordered all of the residents to their rooms — without any special care for them — while staff dealt with the situation.

As a result, Crossen said, some of his clients are in other rehab centers, and some are dealing with PTSD or nightmares and flashbacks from overdoses that they’d seen in the facility.

But, if Praxis shuts down, Crossen said, it would be “horrible news for my clients because they would have nowhere to go.”

Crossen said it was a promising sign when Landmark made abrupt leadership changes after the deaths and inquiries in July.

July 17, 2023: Landmark Recovery says 2 leaders are out, admissions are paused at addictions rehab

Landmark fired the executive director and the director of nursing for the Praxis site in Mishawaka, with their duties instead going to five members of Landmark's senior management team. Officials have said in a prior statement that they won't admit new patients until staff at the 160-bed Praxis facility meet the company's health care standards.

“It appeared they were taking steps in a positive direction,” Crossen said, noting that the lawsuit’s claims still stand because his clients suffered harm in the past.

Landmark issued this written statement on Thursday: “Landmark Recovery is disappointed to announce that the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Mental Health and Addiction has revoked our license at three of our facilities. We respectfully disagree with this decision and believe it is based on misinformation. We are working with our legal counsel to explore the next steps including an appeal. In the meantime, we are committed to the well-being of our patients and staff and will work to ensure a safe environment for everyone involved. We appreciate your continued support during this time.”

In response to the lawsuit, Landmark also said, “We have received the complaint and are looking into the allegations.”

St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman made a formal complaint to state regulators earlier this month asking that Praxis be shut down.

The facility had generated hundreds of calls to police since its opening in August 2022, putting an undue strain on department resources, Redman’s complaint alleged. Police say more than two dozen incidents have included overdoses, sexual assaults and a stabbing.

Problems escalated in July when three patients died in a week. After that, two more overdosed, but police revived them with naloxone. At least one more patient died in November.

Meanwhile, WNDU this week interviewed former employees, one of whom said her supervisor discouraged staff from calling 911 when patients had an emergency — instead suggesting that there was an “unwritten rule” to simply alert management of the issue.

And Landmark’s former digital marketer, Jason Brown, told WNDU that company credit cards were declined when he tried to pay for web link services. Brown said his boss used personal credit cards, which Brown alleged was a sign that the company struggled to pay bills while it pushed to fill more beds.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Praxis Landmark rehab center Mishawaka license revoked as lawsuit filed