February 18, 2001 By Judith VandeWater St. Louis Post-Dispatch SouthPointe Hospital in St. Louis is under investigation by state and federal authorities because of numerous incidents that threatened the safety, health and privacy of its psychiatric patients. A scathing report prepared by state and federal regulators and obtained by the Post-Dispatch last week found that although no patients were seriously harmed in the incidents last year and this year, some were placed in "immediate jeopardy." The regulators have put the hospital on notice that it is at immediate risk of being shut down unless managers rectify the situation. State and federal officials suggested that poor training of temporary employees and inadequate staffing contributed to a lack of supervision and care of psychiatric patients at SouthPointe. Tenet ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 12:39 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Aug 6, 2000 New York Times By KATHLEEN SHARP AS he built the nation's second-largest hospital chain and achieved stellar profits in a battered industry, Jeffrey C. Barbakow, the chief executive of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation, has taken a lot of heat. Over the last seven years, people from Philadelphia to Los Angeles have watched Tenet buy their community hospitals, streamline operations and cut back on staff. Labor relations have suffered. Union leaders and some public health advocates question whether Mr. Barbakow's economizing will harm patient care, especially for the poor. Mr. Barbakow says the financial skills he honed in a career outside the hospital business have let him improve Tenet's performance for shareholders and patients alike. But his mission now ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 7:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Star-Ledger Date: 1994/06/30 ROBERT COHEN - WASHINGTON One of the nation's largest psychiatric hospital chains yesterday pleaded guilty to kickback and health care fraud charges and agreed to pay a record $379 million in penalties for illegal conduct in hospitals in New Jersey and 29 other states. Attorney General Janet Reno said National Medical Enterprises, which owned Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, pleaded guilty to six counts of making illegal payments to induce doctors and other professionals to refer Medicare and Medicaid patients to their hospitals for psychiatric and substance abuse treatment. The government said the illegal payments also were used to induce the doctors to unnecessarily prolong the hospital stay of patients. The corporation, in addition, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:39 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

DATE 2-Aug-97 Economist, U.K. NEW YORK Led by Columbia/HCA, a handful of huge for-profit hospital chains have transformed the economics of America's health-care business. Have they also transformed its ethics? A HEARTWARMING passage in the latest annual report from the world's biggest for-profit health-care and hospital company, Columbia/ HCA Healthcare, describes how Richard Scott, its chairman and chief executive, was approached in a hardware shop by a woman who lavishly praised him for the care her mother had received in a Columbia hospital. These days Mr Scott might do well to avoid hardware shops. On July 25th, in the wake of a widening probe by federal investigators into Columbia's business practices, Mr Scott quit, as did David Vandewater, the firm's president and ... (more...)

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61 sue NME over past psychiatric treatment Company cites changes, new management By Tracy Everbach / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News Published 10-18-1994 Sixty-one plaintiffs sued National Medical Enterprises Inc. on Monday, alleging that they were "lured or forced" to its psychiatric treatment centers as part of a fraudulent scheme. The suit, filed in state District Court in Dallas, alleges that the company and several of its subsidiaries and former psychiatric hospitals subjected the plaintiffs - most of them children - to confinement, restraints, strip searches and unwanted sexual advances and harassment. The defendants, according to the suit, "were motivated not by a desire to provide competent and appropriate psychiatric care to plaintiffs, but by greed." National Medical has sold or closed most of ... (more...)

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$362.7 million fine would set record By Bill Lodge / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News Published 06-29-1994 A division of National Medical Enterprises will plead guilty to charges of Medicare fraud and conspiracy and pay a record fine of $362.7 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation, company officials said Tuesday. The settlement with the Santa Monica, Calif.-based hospital firm, expected to be announced Wednesday, surpasses any previous fine in a U.S. fraud case involving the health care or defense industries. One day earlier, a former Dallas executive for National Medical' s psychiatric division admitted making at least $20 million in bribes to referring physicians and other health care professionals. Peter Alexis, former "administrator of the year" for Psychiatric Institutes of ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:39 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

By Bill Lodge / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News Published 06-28-1994 A former Dallas hospital executive confessed Monday that he bought patients with at least $20 million in bribes to referring physicians and other health care professionals. The federal government reimbursed the executive's company, which billed Medicare for between $20 million and $40 million in bribes that were disguised as salaries, the executive admitted. Peter Alexis, former "administrator of the year" for Psychiatric Institutes of America, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and false-statement charges before U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall in Dallas. He said he helped bribe more than 50 physicians across the nation. Mr. Alexis agreed to become a prosecution witness in a nationwide investigation, and prosecutors agreed not to seek additional charges ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:39 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

New York Times Aug 8, 1997 By BARRY MEIER A decade has passed since Kelly Stafford walked through the doors of the Brookhaven Psychiatric Pavillion here. But for her, the nightmarish days that followed are fixed forever. She had agreed as a 17-year-old to enter the hospital, expecting a brief respite from troubled family relationships. But once the doors closed, Ms. Stafford said, she remained inside for 309 days, many of them behind blackened windows in cruel darkness. At Brookhaven and other psychiatric hospitals operated by National Medical Enterprises, patients like Ms. Stafford said they had their arms or legs strapped down for months at a time. Others said they were forced to sit motionless and silent for 12-hour stretches. And ... (more...)

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Ontario sues U.S. medical company The Edmonton Sun News Tuesday, April 7, 1998 25 An American medical company whose employees called the Ontario health plan "the Canadian gravy train" is being sued by the province for $175 million US. A statement of claim filed by the government states the company went trolling for Ontario psychiatric patients to ship to their facilities in Wisconsin and kept them there until their OHIP benefits ran out. "There were headhunters that encouraged people to come to the United States for treatment; there was inappropriate treatment provided; people were unnecessarily detained," Health Minister Liz Witmer said yesterday. "So we do believe that we need to do whatever's possible to recover money that is owed to the Ontario taxpayers." The ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:39 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

These records come from a search of public records. After searching four states, I got tired and stopped. These records reflect lawsuits filed against Tenet in California, Missouri, New Jersey and Texas. They do not necessarily represent suits filed against individual hospitals. 9. TENET appears as a defendant in a suit filed on 08-06-1998 in LOS ANGELES County, CA. First plaintiff is EVINS GLORIA JEAN. 10. TENET appears as a defendant in a suit filed on 05-15-1996 in ORANGE County, CA. First plaintiff is HERNDIER WILLIAM. 11. TENET CALIF HEALTH SYS appears as a defendant in a suit filed on 02-16-2000 in LOS ANGELES County, CA. First plaintiff is KREITZMAN JACKIE. 12. TENET CALIF HEALTH SYS appears as a defendant in a suit filed on 05-28-1999 in LOS ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:39 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Terrence J. O' Toole One Metropolitan Square 211 N. Broadway, Suite 3600 St. Louis, Missouri 63102-2750 September 12, 2000 Dear Mr. O' Toole: Thank you for your interest in ect.org. In your email dated September 7, 2000, you demanded that I remove information from the ect.org website which you allege contains false, defamatory and misleading statements. You further allege that medical information exists that violates a patient's right to privacy. I am unclear as to specifics. Could you communicate with me your specific allegations and how you would propose that I correct them to your satisfaction? Thank you, Juli Anne Lawrence www.ect.org

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Dear Ms. Lawrence: September 26, 2000 This is in response to your e-mail to me of September 12, 2000, requesting that my client, Tenet Healthcare Corporation and Des Peres Hospital, furnish you with specifics concerning the defamatory report, dated August 24, 2000, published on your website "ect.org" regarding the treatment of Kathleen Garrett. Tenet's obligation to uphold the privacy rights of its patients precludes Tenet from releasing information about the patient's treatment absent competent authorization by the patient. In consequence of that obligation, we cannot furnish additional information about the inaccuracy of your reports. Sincerely, Terrence J. O'Toole Bryan Cave LLP

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Tenet Healthcare Corporation, via their attorneys at Bryan Cave in St. Louis have *demanded* that ect.org do what they say or else they'll pursue legal action. It's not the first time that Tenet has used our justice system to silence its critics. And I'm sure it won't be the last time. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and begin the journey into the story that is: TENET HEALTHCARE CORPORATION! Read all about Kathleen Garrett's experience with forced electroshock....and speak out! Tell us what you think!

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

By Juli Lawrence The court of world opinion was swift and angry when the media broadcast images of a grieving Russian mother being tranquilized after speaking her mind. Her son was one of those killed in the Kursk submarine disaster in August. Media immediately latched onto the story, outraged that a grieving mother would be injected without her consent. Where were the media two days before, when Kathleen Garrett was being forcibly electroshocked? Initially, St. Louis media showed a great amount of interest. However, they were quickly stifled after talking to representatives of the corporation that played a large part in Mrs. Garrett's plight, Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Whether they honestly fell for Tenet's line of "There is no story here," or whether they ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

www.MindFreedom.org DENDRITE -- August 23, 2000 COPY & POST to appropriate places on & off Internet: ALERT: human rights & "mental health system." A free project of Support Coalition International. http://www.MindFreedom.org email: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIXTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD MOTHER IS BEING ELECTROSHOCKED **RIGHT NOW** AGAINST HER WILL! SHE RECEIVED FORCED ELECTROSHOCK MONDAY, AND TODAY. "TEN TO TWELVE MORE PROCEDURES ARE PLANNED." YOU CAN E-MAIL TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE HOSPITAL TO FIGHT FOR KATHLEEN GARRETT'S HUMAN RIGHTS! ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI -- A 66-year-old woman is currently undergoing forced electroshock, against her own wishes and those of her family. Kathleen Garrett received involuntary electroshock on Monday, August 21, 2000 and today, August 23, 2000. Between ten to twelve more forced shocks are planned. Kathleen Garrett has endured a lot in the last year -- two cancer surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Depressed, she voluntarily checked herself ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print