Silver Golub & Teitell Files Lawsuit Against High Focus Centers Over Suicide Due to Inadequate Psychiatric Care

Silver Golub & Teitell has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of Stephen Henry LaSala, Jr., a 60-year-old man who died by suicide after the medical team at his private equity-owned medical provider failed to give appropriate psychiatric care.

 

Mr. LaSala had been treated successfully for anxiety and depression for many years, going back to 1996. When his psychiatrist retired in 2021, his condition began to deteriorate, leading to a suicide attempt in 2022 -- his first significant episode in 25 years. After one month in the hospital, he was discharged to the outpatient care of the High Focus Treatment Center in Norwalk, Connecticut. Within two weeks, Mr. LaSala jumped from his fifth-floor apartment balcony and died as the result of his injuries on November 29, 2022.

 

High Focus, which was treating Mr. LaSala with lithium, had known from a recent blood test that his blood lithium level was below the therapeutic level required to sufficiently manage his life-threatening condition. The team treating Mr. LaSala also knew that he had only been recently discharged from a month-long inpatient hospitalization, that he recently had attempted suicide and that his family was sufficiently concerned about Mr. LaSala to cut short a family trip.

 

On Sunday, November 13, 2022, Mr. LaSala’s wife, Marianne, reported to High Focus that Mr. LaSala was exhibiting concerning symptoms including not sleeping, paranoia and irrational behavior. High Focus failed to recommend that Mr. LaSala be taken to a hospital emergency room for immediate treatment.

 

“The High Focus team were required to provide a level of care, skill and treatment that would be recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers, and they failed to do so,” said Silver Golub & Teitell partner Peter Dreyer, who represents the family along with partner Sarah Russell.

 

High Focus held itself out as able to provide appropriate care for people with suicidal ideations by claiming to have a ‘Partial Hospitalization’ program, according to the lawsuit. “‘Partial Hospitalization,’ however, was merely a marketing term used by High Focus to describe outpatient care,” the lawsuit said.

 

High Focus Centers, located in several states across the United States, are funded by private equity firms whose goals are maximizing profit rather than maximizing the quality of patient care, according to the lawsuit, which names Pyramid Healthcare Inc., American Day CD Centers LLC and Clearview Pyramid Acquisition Company as defendants.