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A 20-Year-Old Went to Rehab and Came Home in a Body Bag
November 4, 2014
Wilbert L. Cooper
Senior Editor VICE
Ted Jacques enrolled his son, Brandon, in what he thought was the "best treatment center money could buy"--A Sober Way Home in Prescott, Arizona--in February 2011, not long after Brandon's mother, Kim, discovered the 20-year-old sprawled out and unconscious on the bathroom floor. He had just sucked down a red Solo cup filled to the brim with Crown Royal, and the booze sent him reeling to the ground. It didn't help that Brandon's belly was likely empty from forced vomiting. Kim rapidly unlocked the door after hearing the sound of her son's body smack the linoleum. The shower was still running, Brandon's eyes had rolled into the back of his head, and blood was trickling out of his mouth. It was a horrifying wake-up call, but just one of the many wrenching episodes related to Brandon's years of bulimia and alcoholism.
For $14,500, A Sober Way Home assured the family that it could treat Brandon's dual disorders. His particular condition required a high level of care and monitoring because of the debilitating effects of purging, which can cause the body to have an imbalance of essential electrolytes that can impair the functions of the heart. Substance abuse like alcoholism, which affects about 50 percent of all people with eating disorders, and binging and purging can be a fatal combination.
Despite A Sober Way's assurance that it could care for Brandon, his vomiting continued, and his drinking was just barely kept at bay while he was in its care. After he spent a month at A Sober Way, the organization admitted to the Jacqueses that it could not properly treat their son's eating disorder. Instead of recommending that he get medical care at a hospital, A Sober Way officials beseeched the Jacques family to send their son to another residential rehab facility in Newport Beach, California.
The second facility, called Morningside Recovery, barred Brandon's parents from communicating with him. While Brandon was there, his binging and purging got even worse, and he was caught secretly drinking booze. Toward the end of his stay, and without his parents' knowledge or consent, Morningside officials moved him out of their inpatient facility and into a small non medical detox center on the other side of town called First House. Here, Brandon went into cardiac arrest on April 2, 2011, and died. Because of the lack of communication, his parents had no idea that he'd even been transferred to a different rehab center--much less that Morningside passed patients like Brandon to First House with the added bonus of kickback cash.
continued here http://www.vice.com/read/dying-for-treatment-0000499-v21n11
November 4, 2014
Wilbert L. Cooper
Senior Editor VICE
Ted Jacques enrolled his son, Brandon, in what he thought was the "best treatment center money could buy"--A Sober Way Home in Prescott, Arizona--in February 2011, not long after Brandon's mother, Kim, discovered the 20-year-old sprawled out and unconscious on the bathroom floor. He had just sucked down a red Solo cup filled to the brim with Crown Royal, and the booze sent him reeling to the ground. It didn't help that Brandon's belly was likely empty from forced vomiting. Kim rapidly unlocked the door after hearing the sound of her son's body smack the linoleum. The shower was still running, Brandon's eyes had rolled into the back of his head, and blood was trickling out of his mouth. It was a horrifying wake-up call, but just one of the many wrenching episodes related to Brandon's years of bulimia and alcoholism.
For $14,500, A Sober Way Home assured the family that it could treat Brandon's dual disorders. His particular condition required a high level of care and monitoring because of the debilitating effects of purging, which can cause the body to have an imbalance of essential electrolytes that can impair the functions of the heart. Substance abuse like alcoholism, which affects about 50 percent of all people with eating disorders, and binging and purging can be a fatal combination.
Despite A Sober Way's assurance that it could care for Brandon, his vomiting continued, and his drinking was just barely kept at bay while he was in its care. After he spent a month at A Sober Way, the organization admitted to the Jacqueses that it could not properly treat their son's eating disorder. Instead of recommending that he get medical care at a hospital, A Sober Way officials beseeched the Jacques family to send their son to another residential rehab facility in Newport Beach, California.
The second facility, called Morningside Recovery, barred Brandon's parents from communicating with him. While Brandon was there, his binging and purging got even worse, and he was caught secretly drinking booze. Toward the end of his stay, and without his parents' knowledge or consent, Morningside officials moved him out of their inpatient facility and into a small non medical detox center on the other side of town called First House. Here, Brandon went into cardiac arrest on April 2, 2011, and died. Because of the lack of communication, his parents had no idea that he'd even been transferred to a different rehab center--much less that Morningside passed patients like Brandon to First House with the added bonus of kickback cash.
continued here http://www.vice.com/read/dying-for-treatment-0000499-v21n11