Strapped down: A Times investigation into the high use of restraints at L.A. General Medical Center
Hospitals are forbidden under federal law from restraining psychiatric patients except to prevent them from harming themselves or others. Restraints can be used only when other steps have failed and are widely discouraged by psychiatric professionals, who see them as a measure of last resort that frays trust and can traumatize patients.
At Los Angeles General Medical Center — a public hospital formerly known as L.A. County-USC Medical Center that serves some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the nation’s largest county — the inpatient psychiatric unit has restrained patients at a higher rate than in any other in California, a Times analysis has found.
Federal records show that over a recent four-year period, L.A. General’s Augustus F. Hawkins Mental Health Center has reported a restraint rate more than 50 times higher than the national average for inpatient psychiatric facilities, ranking it among the highest in the country.
A Times investigation dug into what is driving the high use of restraints at the hospital.
L.A. General’s inpatient psychiatric unit has restrained patients at a higher rate than in any other in California, a Times analysis has found.
High rates of restraining psychiatric inpatients do not automatically spur action by regulators, The Times found.
Marcelus Laidler was strapped down for at least 300 hours at L.A.
If you want to learn more about how regularly a local hospital uses restraint on psychiatric patients, and how those restraint rates compare with state and national averages, here’s where to look.
The Times analyzed restraint data for psychiatric inpatient facilities that have been collected by the federal government since 2013.
