After a young woman unexpectedly died of a drug overdose, while living in a Narconon rehabilitation facility in Arrowhead, Oklahoma, her parents decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit naming the facility for negligence, as reported by News On 6 and several other media outlets.
Allegedly, it is not the first time a patient seeking rehabilitation has died in the Narconon facility; it's the third this year.
S.M., 20, died while being treated for an addiction to heroin. Her mother, T.W., claims that they believed that their daughter was in safe hands. However, according to T.W., the last time she "hugged her and I had no idea that would be the last time I would be able to hug her."
T.W. added, "I just couldn't believe it, I just kept screaming, 'No, no, this can't be,' and I just kept screaming and crying over and over" once she received the news of her daughter's overdose.
S.M. went to Narconon willingly, in an effort to combat her addiction.
The facility is known for using the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard – the founder of the Church of Scientology – to treat addicts.
According to T.W., her daughter had been in the facility for just over seven weeks when she said she was so homesick that she would leave the program altogether. The facility acquiesced as they allegedly saw no other way to avoid S.M.'s threat.
T.W. said, "I think that they probably granted her the leave, because they were worried about her leaving and they wanted her to stay."
During that one day trip back home S.M. allegedly was able to get drugs and then smuggle them back into the facility when she returned. Within hours of re-entering Narconon, she had overdosed.
Attorney Gary Richardson, in representing T.W., said, "Seems to me, that the need to take care of her would have been heightened after being gone for twenty-four hours, and I get chills when I think about what they didn't do."
R.W., S.M.'s father, said that both he and his wife were under the assumption that there was a doctor always on site at the facility, in fact, they had been guaranteed it. Employees, according to R.W., were also well aware that S.M. was at risk for an overdose.
Instead, R.W. claimed, the staff did nothing to assist S.M.
R.W. said, "Somebody wouldn't have the common sense, knowing someone is in an OD situation, to pick up a phone and call 911, or have a doctor come there immediately, or some trained staff member that can recognize an OD situation and take appropriate actions."
R.W. added, "Nobody should go through this. People need a safe place to go, period."
The CEO of Narconon, G.S., would not address the suit's allegations. He said that it will be handled in court, and not in public.
G.S. did tell reporters that Narconon employed a nurse, as well as 24-hour staff in the withdrawal unit.
Loosing a loved one, under any circumstances, is fraught with turmoil. If you have been doubly hurt, with the knowledge that your loved one lost their life due to someone else's negligence, click here for our directory to contact a personal injury lawyer!