Luke Mullins documented alarming conditions inside Psychiatric Institute of Washington (PIW), which is a key part Washington, D.C.’s mental health safety net. For an investigation in the Washingtonian with support from the Fund, Mullins drew from lawsuits, regulatory documents obtained through FIOA, and interviews with former patients and staff members. He found a violently charged environment that was linked to PIW’s failure to provide basic necessities to vulnerable patients. Mullins explored the connection between the conditions inside PIW and the perceived priorities of its owner, Universal Health Services (UHS), a for-profit conglomerate that runs more than 300 such facilities around the world. According to a class-action lawsuit filed by former PIW patients, UHS “has employed and continues to employ a brazen corporate strategy of involuntarily hospitalizing PIW patients without cause or indication [and] prolonging patients’ hospitalizations unnecessarily and without cause or indication. . . . These illegal actions have been and continue to be driven by a focus on profit at the expense of patient care, safety, and treatment.”
Grantee uncovers troubling conditions at DC’s corporate-owned psychiatric hospital
