Massachusetts Luxury Rehab Admissions Shut Down After State Investigation

With the opiate crisis in full-swing, some people have seen the drug rehabilitation industry as a means of making a lot of money. The fortunate side of this is that there are more treatment centers opening up that can help those in need. On the other hand, some treatment centers have been opened up with their sole purpose being to line the pockets of the owners. There are many different treatment options available to people who need help getting off of drugs. There are free and state-funded facilities, inpatient, outpatient, short-term, long-term, and 5-star luxury centers. At the end of the day, treatment centers are supposed to save lives. But when the primary goal becomes making as much money as possible, the fall-out from that can be catastrophic. One luxury rehab center in Massachusetts has recently had its admissions shut down due to safety concerns caused by under-staffing and sub par treatment delivered to its patients.

One of the self-proclaimed “fastest growing” drug treatment providers has started to see some trouble at one of its Massachusetts locations. They offer opulent, 5-star, luxury centers, that provide everything from equine therapy to martial arts to yoga and everything else in between. With a $25,000 a month price tag, you’d think if you sent your loved one there, they would get top-notch treatment, but you couldn’t be more wrong. The Department of Public Health in Massachusetts has closed down the admissions lines at one of their locations in Danvers.

The facility has been under scrutiny since reports came out about the facility being understaffed and delivering substandard treatment. Additionally, the staff have reported their own concerns with being able to keep their patients safe while in treatment. One ex-staff member recounts how patients were mostly unmonitored and would trade their medication for money and “physical favors.” State regulators visited the facility and found that regular counseling was not being provided, staff training was lacking, the facility did not have enough staff to handle the workload, and the patients weren’t properly supervised. State investigators also found that patients were roaming freely around the facility and taking an elevator up to the roof to smoke and have sex.

When it comes to one of the deaths in the facility, a fired staff member wrote a letter to the state, saying, “At times it was observed that he was nodding out and appeared over medicated. We were told that he and his family had an endless supply of money and we were to do whatever we had to to keep him in the facility.”

This is one of the most absurd and criminal things I have heard in a while. If you’re going to go into the business of drug rehabilitation, you go into it because you want to help people and not have making money as your primary concern. Too often, greedy entrepreneurs want to get into what they see as a budding industry and, in this case, the results were awful. These for-profit treatment centers make the hard work and dedication of non-profit centers that only want to help, that much harder because situations like this put a permanent blemish on drug rehabilitation.

If you or a loved one needs help with an addiction and wants actual help, find a non-profit center that has a good track record of not only getting people sober, but keeping them sober. Find a program that actually works and keep your hard-earned money out of the bank accounts of treatment centers that promise the world, but under deliver in the end.

Sources Used:

https://www.statnews.com/2017/08/25/mass-treatment-center/

https://www.statnews.com/2017/08/25/recovery-centers-of-america-addiction/