Acadia, UHS scrutinized on psychiatric hospital joint ventures

C“If we don’t get back soon, our patients are at risk,” said a Columbus police sergeant. A psychiatric hospital on the city’s east side has warned Ohio regulators it may have to close.

The officer, who served with the police department for 27 years, February Letter It was an unusual act, but the meeting with hospital leadership had stalled, and he was at a loss. He outlined 911 calls from the hospital — more than 20 in a six-month period. It was a gruesome list: Rape. Beatings to the head. Nurses attacked with razors. Patients running onto the highway. Death.

That’s a shocking level of violence for any hospital, but it seems especially unlikely for one with a low-rise, gray facade bearing the maroon “Mount Carmel” logo of the local Catholic health system founded by nuns in the 19th century. Impossible to tell from the street or from its website, Mount Carmel Behavioral Health is run by Acadia Healthcare, a huge, publicly traded chain that has been widely criticized for understaffing its psychiatric hospitals and poorly training its employees to the point of compromising the safety of patients and staff.