A woman is suing Universal Health Services, alleging she was sexually abused by a staff member while she was a patient at its Spring Mountain facility.
The complaint filed in District Court last week alleges that the healthcare operator “knowingly enabled, concealed and tolerated a culture of abuse and exploitation” within its facilities, including the Spring Mountain subsidiary it operates in Nevada.
Spring Mountain is a Las Vegas residential facility offering mental health, substance use and behavioral treatment for adolescents and adults.
The company, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, owns at least 32 facilities in Nevada, including hospitals, freestanding emergency rooms, urgent care centers, specialty clinics and behavioral health centers such as Spring Mountain.
A Universal Health Services spokesperson said in an email Friday that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
‘One more tragic example’
The woman, identified in the complaint by the initials F.D., was 16 when she was admitted to the Spring Mountain facility for treatment in 2004, according to the lawsuit.
Her attorneys with the firm Claggett & Sykes said that she remained there for about a year, during which she was repeatedly assaulted by a staff member, who entered her room at night while she was sleeping.
The lawsuit alleges that F.D. did not consent and that the staff member threatened to disrupt her treatment schedule and prolong her stay if she reported the abuse.
“The abuse and exploitation were not unforeseeable, unavoidable, or unprecedented,” the lawsuit said. “It was one more tragic example of abuse at Spring Mountain and other UHSI-owned facilities across the country that occurred because of UHSI’s and the UHSI Subsidiaries’ institutional and systemic pattern and practice of prioritizing profits over child safety and care.”
The suit alleges negligent hiring, training, and supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress and battery, among other claims.
Claggett & Sykes attorneys also accused Universal Health Services of profiting from the “troubled teen industry,” a network of often underregulated programs for at-risk youth.
“The formula is straightforward: put and keep more heads in beds while cutting costs, even if patient care and patient safety suffer,” attorneys said in the lawsuit. “Maximize profits by … driving up admissions, occupancy, and lengths of stay while simultaneously cutting costs by reducing staffing, training, supervision, compliance, safety measures, and quality of care.”
William Sykes, one of the attorneys on the case, said that in many instances, children with already difficult upbringings go to these facilities for care and are further victimized by staff or other residents.
Sykes said he was unaware whether F.D.’s abuser had faced criminal charges.
Other cases
Last year, Claggett & Sykes filed a separate lawsuit against Universal Health Services on behalf of a woman identified as “C.S.”
The complaint alleges that she was a minor and resident at Spring Mountain when a doctor coerced her into sexual acts by offering additional medication in exchange for compliance.
Court records indicate the case is scheduled for trial in October 2027.
The Department of Justice previously concluded a years-long investigation into Universal Health Services, reaching a settlement after finding the company engaged in patient safety and billing misconduct for roughly a decade.
Federal officials said in 2020 that the company billed for medically unnecessary inpatient behavioral health services and failed to provide adequate care.
Universal Health Services was ordered to pay $117 million to resolve the allegations.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
