A special education teacher with a bipolar disorder has settled her long running lawsuit against a Cerritos psychiatric hospital, in which she alleged she was discharged in 2017 with little ability to care for herself despite staff promises to her mother to hold the plaintiff there until she arrived.
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Norwalk Superior Court lawsuit she brought against College Hospital Cerritos, alleging dependent adult abuse, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. She was 34 years old when she brought the suit in May 2019.
On Friday, Judge Lee W. Tsao vacated Tuesday’s scheduled start of trial in light of the accord reached Jan. 7. No terms were revealed.
In their previous court papers, hospital attorneys denied Doe’s allegations.
“Prior to discharge, plaintiff was educated and instructed regarding discharge orders and available post-discharge care and treatment options,” the defense attorneys stated in their pleadings. “She declined the latter and left CHC on her own volition.”
But according to the suit, the facility discharged, “an unstable, paranoid, bipolar and medicated woman in an unfamiliar location, abandoning and dumping Jane Doe to join the ranks of the homeless, all at great risk to plaintiff’s safety and well-being.”
Since 2008, Doe had a psychiatric history of manic depression and generalized anxiety, with recurrent mania psychosis, the suit stated. She usually is able to treat her disorders and has been under regular psychiatric care with doctors at the USC, the suit stated.
In April 2017, Doe, who worked as a special education teacher, went missing from her Canoga Park home, leaving her cellphone, identification, and her dog, the suit stated.
Doe was arrested shortly thereafter by Huntington Beach police, for speeding and evading a peace officer, and given a citation, the suit stated. She was later released by the HBPD, and subsequently was reported missing by her mother, according to the suit.
Doe was found by Fountain Valley police in May 2017, and told them she was homeless, the suit stated.
The Crisis Stabilization Unit of the Orange County Health Care Agency placed Doe at College Hospital Cerritos, the suit stated. While Doe was a patient at College Hospital, the staff failed to obtain an accurate patient history, and neglected to provide adequate treatment and post-discharge care, the suit alleged.
Doe’s mother learned of her daughter’s whereabouts and was promised by a staff member that Doe would not be discharged before she got there, the suit stated.
However, as Doe’s mother left the administration building of the hospital with two College Hospital supervisors, she saw her daughter walking through the parking lot by herself, leaving the hospital, the suit stated.
Doe, “began to run and disappeared into the streets of Cerritos,” the suit stated.
Following her discharge from College Hospital, Doe spent nearly two weeks homeless on the streets without warm clothing, money, identification, or medication, the suit stated.
During her ordeal, Doe “was injured and suffered greatly,” according to the complaint.