A wrongful death suit has been filed against a Georgia drug treatment center. The family of the victim has filed the wrongful death suit after he died from a fatal accident of overdosing on drugs and alcohol while under the care of the treatment center.
The man who died arrived at the center after a judge ordered him into residential treatment. He had been convicted of possession of cocaine and was given the alternative to enter the treatment center instead of going to jail. His family claims that it paid more than $30,000 for his treatment at a center that it believed was a supervised, residential facility. Family members said they only had 72 hours to choose a treatment center and chose the one they did based on the information available to them at the time.
However, the drug treatment center asserts that it is not an inpatient center and that clients sign acknowledgments of this understanding. However, the victim’s family rejects this contention and claims that the center operated leasing apartments to patients.
The victim’s family’s complaint says that the patients were left in dangerous conditions when they were allowed to live together and were not monitored by counselors. The claim did not specify an amount of damages being sought by the family.
When a property owner fails to maintain a safe environment, family members can file a wrongful death suit when the negligence of the property owner is a possible cause for a person’s death. In this case, it may be that the treatment center misrepresented not only its success rate but its mission as an outpatient facility.
Source: The Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Norcross drug facility under new scrutiny,” Christian Boone, Oct. 7, 2012