Five former patients at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital and their families are suing the facility in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court alleging abuse by either fellow patients or staff while they were treated there.
Among the allegations, that the patients were sexually assaulted and physically abused.
The five separate lawsuits, filed Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, assert negligence against Southwood and Kim Lira, its chief executive officer.
Two of the complaints also name former chief executive officer Steve Quigley, as a defendant, as well as several unidentified staff members and medical directors.
Messages left with Southwood and its attorneys were not returned.
The lawsuits were filed by attorney Amy Mathieu in Pittsburgh, as well as lawyers with Kline & Specter in Philadelphia. At least two others have been filed against Southwood in the past.
“When our clients entered Southwood, there was an obvious power imbalance at play,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement. “They left the facility worse off and are still grappling with the lifelong effects of the trauma they were forced to endure there.”
All five complaints allege abuse — some physical, some sexual. In two instances, the abuse was allegedly caused by staff members.
The lawsuits assert that Southwood had a documented history of uncorrected abuse of its patients. Twice, in 2009 and 2010, the complaints said, the facility reached agreements with the federal government and state regarding its use of face-down restraints.
Wednesday’s lawsuits include allegations dating to late 2014.
According to one complaint, a 10-year-old boy admitted to Southwood for aggression in either late 2014 or early 2015 was left alone in an isolated room for so long, he was forced to urinate and defecate there.
During that same stay, the lawsuit continued, the boy was lured into a bathroom by a fellow patient who sexually assaulted him.
When the boy’s mother contacted Upper St. Clair police, she was told “there was nothing they could do,” the lawsuit said.
In another lawsuit, a 17-year-old boy said he was admitted to Southwood in 2016 after demonstrating aggression and punching a window.
According to his complaint, the boy had his own room. On several occasions at night — after the teen had taken his medication which made him drowsy — a male staff member would enter his room.
At first, the man asked invasive questions about the teen’s sexual history, the complaint said. Then his behavior escalated, the lawsuit continued, and on at least three visits, he physically restrained the boy and raped him.
Three of the lawsuits include claims from 2022.
In February 2022, according to one, a 15-year-old boy became a patient at Southwood’s Intellectual Developmental Disability/Autism Spectrum Disorder residential treatment program.
The lawsuit asserts that a female staff member assigned to his care physically assaulted him in response to his autistic behaviors.
Another lawsuit, stemming from June 2022, alleges that a 10-year-old boy, admitted for aggression and threats of self harm, was sexually assaulted by a fellow patient.
Upper St. Clair police contacted the boy’s foster mother to report the sexual assault, the lawsuit said, but Southwood refused to allow her or her husband to visit the boy.
Also in October 2022, a 10-year-old girl admitted to Southwood for 15 days for depression and self-injurious behavior said she was sexually assaulted several times by her roommate.
When the girl revealed the abuse to her father two months later, the lawsuit said, Southwood officials told him “nothing could be done because the roommate was also a minor.”