Paige Dufour wanted to go home, but they wouldn’t let her.
Instead, staff at Options Behavioral Health Hospital handed the 39-year-old a sheet of paper, some crayons and instructions to draw her feelings. Dufour drew a crying face, one that matched her own.
Later, she said a mental health technician came into her room and tore up the drawing, sprinkling the shreds into the trash.
“They’re watching everything that you do,” Dufour recalled him saying. “If you keep crying and making things like this, they’re going to keep you longer.”
It was Dufour’s second full day at the Lawrence mental health facility, where she said she was held against her will for nearly six days in March.
She had voluntarily checked herself in after experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. But she soon grew concerned about the facility’s practices. She said staff berated her, threatened her when she tried to leave and coerced her to strip naked for photos.
“It was a kennel for vulnerable people,” Dufour said.
These are just some of the details Dufour shared in an interview with Mirror Indy. Dufour has obtained attorneys and is now pursuing damages against Acadia Healthcare, which operates 50 psychiatric hospitals across the country, including Options Behavioral Health Hospital and two other locations in the Indianapolis area.
Out of Options: A Mirror Indy Investigation
Dufour is not alone. An investigation this month by The New York Times detailed a disturbing pattern of the company detaining patients like Dufour when it wasn’t medically necessary — only to release them once their insurance ran out. The investigation found dozens of reports of people under Acadia’s care being raped, assaulted, denied medications or held against their will. The Times also reported that Acadia is being investigated by the Department of Justice.
“It’s really important to me that the people of Marion County understand this place exists to prey on them,” Dufour said. “They don’t exist to help people. They are there to generate value for shareholders.”
Dufour and her husband filed a complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance on Sept. 11. They are seeking civil damages for physical injuries and emotional distress.
Tim Blair, a spokesperson for Acadia, said its Lawrence facility has not been served with any legal documents. He declined to comment on Dufour’s allegations, citing patient privacy laws.
“Our commitment to the highest standards of care and integrity remains steadfast,” Blair wrote in an email to Mirror Indy.
But Dufour said that was not her experience.
‘I was really scared’
Dufour’s nightmare began on March 18.
While experiencing a mental health crisis, she drove from her Noblesville home to IU Health North Hospital in Carmel. She said the emergency department referred her to Options Behavioral Health in Lawrence.
Dufour voluntarily agreed to stay for up to three days, she said, saying goodbye to her husband and two young sons. She hoped to come back to them in a better headspace.
Doctors can hold people against their will to stabilize them when they are a threat to themselves and others. But Dufour, who has received treatment for anxiety and depression in the past, said she never saw a psychiatrist during her time at the facility and was not evaluated.
A nurse practitioner also recommended that Options release Dufour earlier, according to the complaint.
“I was not a danger to myself at that point,” Dufour said. “I was really scared.”
She had already verbally requested to leave multiple times. When she began filling out a form to document her request, a staff member said the facility would seek a two-week court order to keep her there, according to the complaint. Dufour felt threatened and rescinded her request.
Meanwhile, Options was able to bill Dufour’s insurance for a five-day stay at the facility, her lawyers said, totaling $15,000.
IU Health declined to answer questions posed by Mirror Indy, including whether the hospital chain is continuing to refer patients to Acadia facilities.
Dufour also reported her experience to the Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits thousands of health care organizations, including Options Behavioral Health. Records show the nonprofit evaluated the facility in April — in the month after Dufour’s stay — and found that Options was at risk of losing accreditation because it did not comply with standards required by the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. Blair, the spokesperson for Acadia Healthcare, said another visit from the commission in June found the Lawrence facility was in compliance and it remains accredited.
Patients fear assault and going hungry
Dufour had no idea seeking help would lead to more trauma.
She described going hungry most days because staff did not accommodate the dietary restrictions that her doctor had previously ordered. She tried to read the romance novel her husband left with her, but couldn’t process the words under the fluorescent lights.
Patients were forced to keep the doors to their room open at all times, she said, even though it was a mixed gender floor and there was not a call-button for emergencies.
Dufour stayed awake, afraid someone would enter her room and assault her — especially after the violating photos from her first day.
Justin Kuhn, a Cohen & Malad LLP attorney who is representing Dufour, said the photos were especially concerning because the facility did not return them with Dufour’s medical records and could not tell her where they were.
“I have never seen photos, certainly not naked photos of a patient, taken for no medical reason and not to document a specific medical issue,” Kuhn told Mirror Indy.
Kuhn and Chad Bradford, another of the firm’s medical malpractice attorneys, said they have heard from other people whose stories mirror Dufour’s, including three others in Indianapolis, as well as people from Missouri, Texas and Arkansas.
“It takes a lot of courage to seek out mental health care in the first place,” Bradford said. “When (patients) step out and take this leap of faith to get help and this is what they’re put through, it’s very hard, if not impossible, to take the steps to get care next time.”
What would happen to them?
Dufour finally left the facility on March 23. It was the fifth full day — the exact amount of time that her insurance company had agreed to pay to Options.
Her husband came to pick her up. Her two boys hugged her and that’s when she knew she wanted to burn her clothes: “I don’t want anything from this place to touch you.”
She washed her hair over and over again in the shower.
Her sons crawled into bed with her, channel surfing until they found “101 Dalmatians.” They clung to her, but she didn’t sleep.
She said there were other people at the facility who were more vulnerable. She’d met them. Some wouldn’t have jobs or a home after being detained for weeks. She watched as their mental health, already on the edge, worsened under Options’ care. Someone’s child, sibling, partner, best friend was still locked away.
What would happen to them?
This article was updated the afternoon of Sept. 18 to note the Lawrence facility was found to be in compliance with accreditation after a follow-up visit. An Acadia Healthcare spokesperson answered a Mirror Indy question about that soon after this article first published.
How we reported this series
People experiencing a mental health crisis need help. Many go to local emergency rooms, where they’re referred to facilities such as Options Behavioral Health Hospital for further care. But a place meant for healing can quickly become a nightmare.
Mary Claire started reporting this story in September when a former patient alleged she was held against her will at the Lawrence facility. Her story opened the floodgates: Six other former patients told Mirror Indy about being detained for insurance money, assaulted by staff, coerced into taking naked photos or threatened with court orders when they tried to leave.
Our reporting led us to publish two articles in September and October. After seeing former patients come forward, several former employees decided to speak out, too. One nurse shared daily notes about the facility’s problems. On pages, she documented how Options failed to protect a woman from another patient who was a registered sex offender — even though facility leadership knew about his past behavior.
That pushed Mary Claire to find out what else had been reported at Options. She examined more than 100 pages of police reports and court documents that detailed widespread allegations of sex abuse at the facility. She also spoke to five other former employees about other problems they witnessed, including understaffing and allegations that the company detained patients when it wasn’t medically necessary.
The stories of former employees and patients have already sparked change. After being sent a list of allegations by Mirror Indy, the facility’s clinical director resigned this month. She said she did not want to be a “scapegoat.”
Additionally, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears pledged to further investigate Options and its parent company, Acadia Healthcare.
Mary Claire contacted an Acadia spokesperson about every allegation. Most of the time, the company either declined to comment or answer specific questions. The spokesperson noted the Lawrence facility remains accredited after 11 inspections from state and federal authorities in the past two years.
This article is part of a series. Mary Claire will continue reporting on Options and other mental health facilities in Indianapolis. If you have tips, comments or complaints, you can reach her at the contact information below.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
