And Then There Were Four

Three Other Arbour Facilities Now Target of Investigations 

On April 9, 2016, Chris Burrell of the Patriot Ledger reported more on the problems and violations discovered at psych facility Pembroke Hospital, owned by Arbour Health System.

However, I didn’t expect that three additional Arbour psychiatric facilities have also become the target of investigations.

Along with Pembroke Hospital, Arbour facilities Westwood Lodge, Arbour Hospital in Jamaica Plain, and The Quincy Center have all been ordered to “take immediate steps to correct ‘urgent patient care and life safety violations.’”



I would like to digress for a minute.

What about the patients who were and continue to be in residence for treatment? How do they factor into the scenario?

In my humble-yet-fervent opinion, realizing the deplorability of Arbour Health System and knowing what we now know, could it be possible that not one patient received care? 

The Ledger reports: “The four facilities have a combined 363 psychiatric beds, representing more than a third of the state’s staffed beds in psychiatric hospitals, according to the State Center for Health Information and Analysis.”

Since Arbour is a for-profit company and the state’s largest provider of mental health services, shouldn’t the patients’ private and insurance-provided payments be taken out of the hands of Arbour, and refunded to the payors?

How does something like this perpetuate? And equally important, how can consumers, professionals, referrers and payors regain faith this facility?

As a nurse, I would be hard-pressed to send a patient to any Arbour facility for treatment, and I find it disgraceful that these clinics continue to be open and operational, with patients in residence.

Sheila Wilson R.N. BSN MPH
President
Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org

Source:
Patriot Ledger