Suit Faults Psych Services Provider

On the night of Aug. 20, at the state’s residential treatment center for violent and mentally ill young men, a resident began punching himself forcefully in the face. But, according to a whistle-blower protection lawsuit, the psychiatrist in charge refused to allow staff to intervene.

The incident so troubled staff members at Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center, the lawsuit contends they called a supervisor because they “felt negligent by allowing the resident to hurt himself.”

None of the staff was willing to report the incident to the state’s child abuse hotline, according to the lawsuit filed last week by former center manager, Lea Zukowski.

But Zukowski did.

And now she is alleging she was fired by the Department of Health for reporting that and other instances of alleged “public malfeasance” involving the health and safety of the staff and residents of Sequoyah, which is located in Albuquerque.

The lawsuit, filed against DOH, contends she also reported violations of state licensing standards at the center, which resulted in a “sanction” and directives from the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department in an effort to protect Sequoyah residents.

A DOH spokesman last week said his agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

Zukowski was responsible for supervising the majority of direct care staff of the inpatient treatment program for seriously mentally ill and violent adolescent males up to age 21.

The residents are there for treatment rather than incarceration and must be amenable to treatment, according to a center brochure.

Prior to the events leading up to her dismissal, Zukowski says her 14-year work record was free of discipline and her performance evaluations showed she met or exceeded expectations.

But she became concerned about the care of patients after the state hired Roswell-based New Mexico Psychiatric Services to handle as needed care of patients at Sequoyah. A health department spokesman said two of the company’s staff are working at the center under a $166,920 contract that runs through June.

Within weeks of the private contractor arriving at the treatment center, the medical director who was responsible for psychiatric care of the majority of residents was placed on paid leave.

Dr. Kenneth Crumley has not returned to work, but in his absence the psychiatrists from NMPS “took over all the psychiatric care” and made dramatic changes in residents’ medications, the lawsuit alleges.

The residents’ legal guardians or therapists weren’t consulted beforehand, which was a violation of state law, Zukowski’s lawsuit claims.

There were also orders to physically restrain a resident so he could be given an injection of medication, and later that resident was allegedly put in mechanical restraints.

Since it appeared there was no justification for using such restraints, because the resident wasn’t harming himself or others, Zukowski tried to clarify the incident by speaking with the doctor, who advised her not to challenge him ever again, her lawsuit states. She believed the use of restraints and injected medication were “in direct violation” of the center’s rules and policies.

Zukowski also took issue with the lack of what she contended was proper training for the new psychiatric staff and questioned whether there had been improper discharges of residents.

Her complaints to the director of the center, Anita Westbrook, resulted in Westbrook’s instruction that staff “follow the NMPS’s doctors’ orders without complaint,” the lawsuit states.

One doctor allegedly told her that “Santa Fe” would back him up and said she would be in trouble with “Santa Fe” for questioning him. He wasn’t identified in the lawsuit.

By Aug. 20, Zukowski had been issued a letter of reprimand, and four days later began to discuss with staff the idea of “writing a petition” to Westbrook “regarding the staff’s concerns,” her lawsuit stated. More than 50 signatures appear on the petition.

Zukowski was placed on leave Aug. 30 and was fired effective Nov. 7. Her dismissal notice stated that she was “fired for her role in creating and supporting a ‘memo of concern’ and for insubordination, her lawsuit said.

Meanwhile, a CYFD licensing official filed a preliminary report in late August that listed deficiencies at Sequoyah in the areas of client discharges, restraints and seclusion, and medication errors. The six-page handwritten notice didn’t give specifics or name names but ordered corrective action.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Psychiatric Services is facing a Medicaid fraud inquiry by the state Attorney General’s Office for billings related to behavioral health services provided to clients of the state Human Services Department.

Dr. Babak Mirin, president of New Mexico Psychiatric Services, meanwhile, has been named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a representative for the family of a woman killed by her 21-year-old son in 2009.

The son, Christopher Paiz, had been receiving treatment from Mirin and New Mexico Psychiatric Services, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges that Mirin and his company were negligent in discharging Paiz from the Sunrise Mental Health Center at the Eastern New Mexico Health Center in Roswell in June 2009.

Paiz had been committed for inpatient treatment, the lawsuit stated, and had made threats against his mother, Mary Jane Paiz, while there.

The lawsuit alleges that Mirin and another NMPS physician who treated him had a duty to warn Paiz’s mother that her son intended to “do her great bodily harm and that he was being released from Sunrise.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the two NMPS physicians “failed to advise” the New Mexico Behavioral Institute in Las Vegas about the threat after Paiz was transferred there before his release.

The institute released Paiz on June 27, 2009, “and the same day he went to her home and stabbed her in the neck with a knife,” the lawsuit states. Mary Jane Paiz was 43.

Mirin hasn’t filed an answer to the lawsuit’s allegations, according to court records.

His attorney didn’t respond to Journal questions last week about that lawsuit or Zukowski’s allegations.

The Paiz lawsuit also names New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas and Sunrise Mental Health Center as defendants.

In their response, lawyers for the two facilities contend that there was no breach of duties and that Paiz suffered from schizophrenia and violent outbursts and routinely threatened violence against his family, in particular, his mother.

Mirin is a psychiatrist who has had additional training in geriatric psychiatry, according to his firms’ website.

His attorney, David H. Johnson, told the Journal that Mirin’s residency studies at State University of New York at Brooklyn included adolescent psychiatry.

Having that specialty isn’t a requirement for providing services at Sequoyah, Johnson added.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal