Wheatridge Teen Treatment Center Lied to Patients
The Denver Post
A 14-year-old rape victim was ordered to
strip and touch her toes while three people stared at her from behind
for no apparent medical reason.
When the girl resisted, the
staff at Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado threatened to tell
other teens at the treatment center that she had a sexually transmitted
disease — even though she didn't. She then submitted to the
"humiliating" exam, a lawsuit alleges.
The girl is one of four
teens who, with their parents, have sued the Wheat Ridge facility in
Jefferson County District Court. A parent of a fifth former resident has
filed a separate lawsuit.
Former residents of the home that was
created to address psychological and behavioral issues of unruly teens
allege a laundry list of recurring issues.
They claim agency
officials took them off medications for diagnosed medical and
psychological conditions without justification; ordered them to lie,
including claiming they wanted to kill relatives, to justify treatment;
and isolated parents from children and fostered familial rifts,
sometimes by claiming incestuous relationships that didn't exist.
AFIC's
attorney Michael Drew released a statement saying that the allegations
in the lawsuit against the agency are false and misleading. The agency
will contest the claims in court, not in the media, he said.
Drew
said the facility has been accredited by t
he Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations
since 1984 and licensed by the Department of Human Services' Child Care
Division and the Division of Behavioral Health's mental-health office.
"Through
its years of experience and dedication, AFIC has pursued its mission of
caring for adolescents with difficult and complex behavioral health
problems," Drew's statement said.
Request for damages
The
latest lawsuits seek injunctive relief to stop AFIC from abusive
conduct because "defendants' conduct is capable of repetition."
Plaintiffs in both lawsuits seek more than $100,000 in damages.
Between
1990 and 2000, several civil suits were filed against AFIC, according
to court records and a news report. Robert Rouse, a father of a former
AFIC resident, said he settled a 1991 lawsuit against AFIC.
AFIC
is led by president Alexander Panio, an unlicensed therapist who
obtained his doctorate from California Coast University, a
distance-learning program that has been described as a diploma mill by
federal regulators.
"AFIC is essentially the alter ego of Panio,"
according to the lawsuit filed by Denver attorneys Jerome M. Reinan and
Jordana Griff Gingrass.
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