MDHHS Sued For $ 100 Million Over Hawthorn Center Patient Beating

This lawsuit arises from a patient-on-patient beating which the plaintiff alleges was the result of a 'fight club' mentality at the Hawthorn Center in Northville Township:

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/investigations/2024/04/23/2nd-lawsuit-filed-against-michigan-over-brutal-assault-at-state-run-hospital/

2nd lawsuit filed against Michigan over brutal assault at state-run hospital
Lawsuit centers around beating of 10-year-old boy
WDIV - April 23, 2024

WESTLAND, Mich. – Michigan has been hit with another lawsuit over the Hawthorn Center, the only state-run psychiatric hospital for children.

A 10-year-old boy was brutally beaten at the Hawthorn Center in October and now the family of the teenage girl who beat him is suing the state.

Video of the incident is difficult to watch. Surveillance cameras captured a 10-year-old boy as he was chased down and then stomped and kicked by a 15-year-old girl. Both children were residential patients under the care of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services at the Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital, which houses the Hawthorn facility.

The state’s juvenile psych patients were moved to the Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital in Westland while a new state facility for children is being built.

Older and younger children are separated by locked security doors, but on Oct. 18, 2023, employees opened a door, which allowed the older girl into the younger children’s area where she attacked the boy.

“For several seconds, she stomps, and stomps, and beats Princeton,” said attorney Arnold Reed. “She knocks his tooth up into his gum, Princeton has some brain damage behind this, based on a brain-imaging study.”

Reed filed a lawsuit against the state in February on behalf of the boy’s family.

Another lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of the girl’s family. The legal complaint claims Hawthorn employees knew about the teen girl’s history of aggression, yet they “instigated, encouraged, and allowed the girl to engage in a physical altercation” with the younger boy. The complaint goes on to say that the Oct. 18 incident was “not the first time” the girl was used as “security for staff,” “abusing their position of power and exploiting the girl’s emotional instability and mental health condition.”

The lawsuit is seeking an undisclosed sum of “multiple millions of dollars,” according to attorney Arnold Reed.

The girl’s mother told Local 4 that state employees would often manipulate her daughter into the role of an “enforcer” with the other children. She described the hospital as a “miniature fight club,” where her daughter was used “as a pawn” and that after two years, her daughter came out of Hawthorn Center more traumatized than when she was admitted to the hospital.

The mother said her daughter feels terrible about the beating and that she’s since apologized to the boy. She’s now being treated in a different facility. The boy continues to receive treatment for his injuries, according to the family’s attorney.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released the following statement regarding the incident:

“The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services takes the health and safety of our patients very seriously. An investigation involving an incident on Oct. 18, 2023, was completed by the State Hospital Administration and Office of Recipient Rights. As a result, one employee was dismissed, one resigned before they could be dismissed and another was suspended and has returned to work. As we just received this litigation and are reviewing it, MDHHS cannot comment on this lawsuit at this time.”

MDHHS

The video of the incident can be seen at the hyperlink, above.