The latest UN human rights report urges an end to forced psychiatric treatment as U.S. mental health hospitals face allegations of coercion, fraud, and sexual abuse
By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
February 28, 2025
- UN Report Condemns Psychiatric Abuses: A United Nations Human Rights Commissioner report highlights widespread violations in psychiatric facilities, including forced hospitalization, and the need to end coercive psychiatric practices.
- Coercion and Profit Motives Drive U.S. Psychiatric System: For-profit psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. exemplify this abuse, having been accused of detaining patients against their will to maximize insurance billing and profits.
- Widespread Sexual Abuse and Fraud: Lawsuits and investigations reveal systemic patient abuse in major for-profit psychiatric hospital chains like Universal Health Services (UHS) and Acadia Healthcare, with settlements reaching hundreds of millions.
- Urgent Need for Change: The UN calls for stronger legal safeguards, accountability, and reparative justice for survivors, urging systemic changes to protect mental health patients from coercion and exploitation.
A new report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Mental Health and Human Rights has reiterated international calls for an end to coercive psychiatric practices, highlighting widespread human rights violations within psychiatric institutions. The report exposes the mistreatment of individuals subjected to involuntary hospitalization, often in inhumane conditions, including cases where patients are physically restrained or chained. The lack of independent oversight and accountability is exacerbating violations of basic human rights in psychiatric treatment, across the globe, according to the report.
Coercive practices like forced hospitalization continue to flourish despite international human rights frameworks, including the US-endorsed Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Other Degrading Treatment, and the American Convention on Human Rights. The US Convention outlines the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Yet, the UN and other agencies have determined that forced hospitalization strips individuals of their autonomy, often subjecting them to degrading conditions, physical restraints, forced drugging, and electroshock treatment against their will. Despite this, approximately 54% of psychiatric admissions in the country are involuntary, demonstrating a blatant disregard for human rights.”[1]
Evidence shows that forced hospitalization may also constitute a life-threatening risk. A study published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior found that involuntary hospitalization is associated with an increased risk of suicide after psychiatric care.[2]
The UN report calls for broader efforts in civil law reforms to ensure free and informed consent and for legislation to provide safeguards and prevent coercion and potential abuses in the use of specific interventions.[3]
For-Profit Psychiatric Hospitals Face Lawsuits Over Coercion and Patient Exploitation, Sexual Abuse
Beyond forced hospitalization, the profit-driven exploitation of patients is another growing concern. Many private, for-profit psychiatric facilities hold voluntary patients against their will to maximize insurance reimbursements. Two major for-profit psychiatric hospital chains, Universal Health Services (UHS) and Acadia Healthcare, have been embroiled in numerous cases of exploitation, coercion, and abuse.
In February, Washington, D.C., UHS and its Psychiatric Institute of Washington in D.C. were sued over an unidentified patient alleging she was held at the facility for four days and physicians allegedly falsified her mental health records. She was committed involuntarily after only a five-minute conversation with a doctor—despite the psychiatrist noting she was calm, cooperative, and possessed good judgment. Her medical records, however, falsely reflected the need for an involuntary stay, ensuring the hospital could bill insurance for the maximum amount. She was only released when on the fourth day in the hospital, she used a hospital worker’s phone to call a public defender and secure a judge’s order to end her commitment after securing a judge’s intervention.[4]
In 2020, UHS paid a $122 million federal settlement for billing for medically unnecessary inpatient services.[5]
CCHR has also documented shocking levels of abuse within U.S. for-profit psychiatric facilities.
- Sexual abuse is rampant in some hospitals. UHS’s Brynn Marr psychiatric hospital in North Carolina faced 129 allegations of sexual assault between 2019 and 2023.[6]
- UHS shut down Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital in Texas in 2018 following allegations that a 13-year-old girl was raped at the facility.[7]
- California’s for-profit psychiatric hospitals have seen widespread reports of neglect and violence. A San Francisco Chronicle investigation uncovered hundreds of cases of patients being beaten or sexually assaulted, with at least 17 deaths linked to deficient care in the past six years. “Incidents of violence, neglect and patient self-harm are rampant within many of California’s for-profit psychiatric hospitals, the majority of which are run by just four companies,” which includes Acadia Healthcare, UHS, and Signature Healthcare Services.[8]
- In recent years, lawsuits alleging sexual and physical abuse have led to hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for victims.[9] In a chilling case in Illinois, in 2024, a jury awarded $535 million in damages against UHS’s Pavilion Behavioral Health Center to a 13-year-old sexually assaulted and raped at the facility by a 16-year-old male patient.[10] In October 2024 the punitive damages were reduced from $475 million to $120 million, for a total payout of $180 million.[11]
- In December 2024, a man sued UHS’ Hartgrove Hospital in Chicago, IL, alleging he was sexually assaulted there as a child. His attorneys represent nearly 100 former UHS patients across Illinois who claim they were abused by staff. “We’re seeing the same names come up. That tells us there were serial predators… preying on the most vulnerable kids,” said Martin Gould, founding partner of Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley.[12]
- In October 2024, a Richmond civil court jury ruled in favor of three young women who alleged they were sexually abused while patients at UHS’s subsidiary, Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents in Virginia, awarding them $360 million.[13]
Acadia Healthcare: More Human Rights Abuses
Similarly, Acadia Healthcare has faced multiple allegations of systemic abuse and fraud. In 2024, a New York Times investigation found similar unscrupulous practices at Acadia found in UHS behavioral hospitals. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation led Acadia to settle for $19.85 million after the company was found to have defrauded Medicaid and Medicare by admitting patients who did not require hospitalization and prolonging stays for profit.[14]
- Acadia has also been implicated in multiple cases of sexual abuse in its facilities. For example, in 2023, a jury in New Mexico awarded $405 million in damages to a plaintiff who accused the company of child sexual abuse at one of its facilities.[15]
- In 2024, Acadia closed its Highland Ridge Hospital in Utah after state regulators investigated reports of dozens of rapes and assaults., with investigators and employees even referring to the facility as “The Rape Hospital” due to the frequency of sexual violence that was reported.[16]
- In May 2019, Acadia also agreed to pay the federal government $17 million to settle allegations it defrauded Medicaid in West Virginia.[17]
These patterns of fraud and abuse are indicative of a broader issue in for-profit psychiatric institutions: prioritizing corporate expansion and profits over patient safety and well-being.
The Need for Systemic Change
Children have died due to gross negligence. In February 2025, in testimony before the Utah Senate Judiciary Committee, attorney Alan Mortensen highlighted the deaths of two children in for-profit psychiatric facilities after their serious health concerns were ignored. He was supporting a critical piece of legislation (Senate Bill 297), that will bring long-overdue oversight and accountability to such hospitals.[18]
CCHR International also presented written testimony to this hearing (see below).
Attorney Drew LaFramboise, who is representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, points out the fundamental issue at play: “Behind this is a massive corporate enterprise that is continuing to expand rapidly and has made no bones about the fact that they are interested in nothing more than expansion and increasing occupancy in these facilities.”[19]
The UN Calls for Reparative Justice—CCHR Demands Action
The pursuit of corporate profits, combined with weak regulation and oversight of coercive psychiatric practices that fuel those profits, creates an environment ripe for abuse.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report emphasizes the need for “reparative justice mechanisms” for survivors of coercive psychiatric practices, calling for financial compensation, public apologies, and community-led oversight.[20]
Past harms and human rights abuses, it says, “need to be acknowledged and meaningful steps should be taken towards recognition and reparations.”[21]
CCHR echoes this sentiment.
The UN findings, along with widespread cases of abuse CCHR has documented, paint a grim picture of psychiatric treatment in the U.S. The continued use of forced hospitalization, coerced treatment, and the profit-driven exploitation of vulnerable patients must end.
It is time for comprehensive reform to prohibit coercive practices, enforce meaningful oversight, and prioritize the human rights of mental health consumers. Legislators must act now to ensure that no individual is subjected to the kind of abuse and inhumane treatment reported in these institutions. A commitment to reparative justice for those harmed by the psychiatric system, alongside policies that uphold the dignity and autonomy of all patients, is essential for a health system that should truly serve the well-being of individuals, not corporate interests.
The reforms called for must be implemented at both the federal and state levels to protect the rights and safety of individuals in the psychiatric system.
CCHR’s Testimony in Support of Utah Senate Bill 297
Dear Members of the Legislature,
I write in strong support of Senate Bill 297 to strengthen oversight of Utah’s troubled-teen treatment industry. For 46 years, I have fought for the rights of mental health patients, and I have seen firsthand the devastating impact of unchecked abuse in psychiatric-behavioral facilities. This legislation is not just about reform—it is about ending a shameful cycle of harm and ensuring that no child suffers the same fate as those before them.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, with a chapter in Utah, has been monitoring Utah’s facilities since the 1990s, when we first uncovered widespread abuse in psychiatric institutions owned by National Medical Enterprises (NME). Patients were stripped of their rights, subjected to life-altering trauma, and exploited for profit. In 1994 NME pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks for patient referrals and sold its hospitals to Charter Behavioral Health—one of which was Provo Canyon Behavioral Hospital. Many know Paris Hilton’s harrowing account of the abuse she endured there, while owned by Charter. But she was far from the only victim.
In 1999, we provided information to 60 Minutes exposing how Charter kidnapped and institutionalized patients for insurance payouts. After Charter’s bankruptcy in 2000, Provo Canyon was sold to Universal Health Services (UHS), yet the abuses continued—ownership changed, but the suffering remained.
The last two decades have seen repeated violations:
- 2011-2015: Provo Canyon faced scrutiny over runaway cases, multiple incidents of staff injuring children during restraints, and multiple sanctions.
- 2020: A staff member was charged with first-degree felony sexual abuse of a 12-year-old.
- 2021: A 14-year-old was secluded and restrained nearly 30 times in three months
And since legislative protections enacted in 2021:
- 2025: Utah’s Office of Licensing sanctioned Provo Canyon again for repeated failures to protect children—its seventh violation in two years. Yet the facility remains open.
The abuse extends beyond Provo Canyon.
- 2024: Benchmark Behavioral Health (UHS) in Utah: More child assault cases than any similar facility in Utah, with 61 reports of assault and 36 of sexual assault since 2019.
- 2024: Highland Ridge Hospital (Acadia Healthcare): Dubbed “The Rape Hospital,” it was shut down after dozens of rapes and assaults. Acadia is now under federal investigation for prioritizing profit over patient care.
History is repeating itself. The same abuses that occurred under NME and Charter are happening today under UHS and Acadia. If stronger oversight and penalties had been enacted decades ago, countless children could have been spared unimaginable trauma. Senate Bill 297 is our chance to help put an end to this cycle.
The strongest possible protections are needed. The children in these facilities have no voice—let this be the moment we speak for them.
Thank you.
Jan Eastgate
President
Citizens Commission on Human Rights
International
www.cchrint.org
References:
[1] “Involuntary Commitments: Billing Patients for Forced Psychiatric Care,” The American Journ. of Psychiatry, 1 Dec. 2020, https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20030319
[2] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/01/23/involuntary-commitment-forced-mental-health-treatment-violate-human-rights/; Jordan, J. T., & McNiel, D. E. “Perceived coercion during admission into psychiatric hospitalization increases risk of suicide attempts after discharge,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, EPub, 4 June 2019, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31162700/
[3] “Mental health and human rights,” Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 Jan. 2025, Section III, Point 39, Page 10, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/38
[4] “D.C. psych hospital committed patients to boost profits, lawsuit says,” Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/24/psychiatric-institute-washington-lawsuit-medical-neglect/; Mariah Taylor, “Universal Health Services hospital accused of boosting profits with involuntary commitment practices,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 24 Feb. 2025, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/universal-health-services-hospital-accused-of-boosting-profits-with-involuntary-commitment-practices.html
[5] “D.C. psych hospital committed patients to boost profits, lawsuit says,” Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/24/psychiatric-institute-washington-lawsuit-medical-neglect/; Mariah Taylor, ”Universal Health Services hospital accused of boosting profits with involuntary commitment practices,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 24 Feb. 2025, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/universal-health-services-hospital-accused-of-boosting-profits-with-involuntary-commitment-practices.html
[6] “Former employees say short-staffed NC psych hospital rife with violence, abuse,” NC Health News, 6 May 2024, https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/06/former-employees-say-short-staffed-nc-psych-hospital-rife-with-violence-abuse/
[7] https://www.cchrint.org/2019/08/13/multi-million-dollar-fines-insufficient-to-curb-fraud-patient-sexual-other-abuses/; Sue Ambrose, Sarah Mervosh, Miles Moffeit, “Timberlawn psychiatric hospital to close Feb. 16 after safety violations,” 18 Jan. 2018, Dallas Morning News, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2018/01/18/dmn-investigates-troubled-timberlawn-psychiatric-hospital-closing-before-state-can-shut
[8] “Violence, understaffing and neglect in California’s for-profit psychiatric hospitals: Key takeaways from our investigation,” San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Feb. 2025, https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/california-psychiatric-hospitals-jazmin-pellegrini-death/
[9] https://simonlawpc.com/results/illinois-jury-awards-535m-sexual-assault-at-uhs-psychiatric-facility/; “Jury delivers $360 million verdict in trial against Cumberland Hospital, former medical director,” WTVR CBS 6 News, 1 Oct. 2024; Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, “Acadia Hospitals Reach $20 Million Settlement With Justice Dept.” The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/health/acadia-doj-settlement-fbi.html; “Acadia Healthcare Company Inc. to Pay $19.85M to Settle Allegations Relating to Medically Unnecessary Inpatient Behavioral Health Services,” U.S. Department of Justice, 26 Sept. 2024, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/acadia-healthcare-company-inc-pay-1985m-settle-allegations-relating-medically-unnecessary
[10] https://simonlawpc.com/results/illinois-jury-awards-535m-sexual-assault-at-uhs-psychiatric-facility/
[11] “Judge reduces verdict by $355M in UHS subsidiary’s negligence case,” Becker’s Behavioral Health, 14 Oct. 2024, https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-health-news/judge-reduces-verdict-by-355m-in-uhs-subsidiarys-negligence-case.html
[12] Michelle Gallardo, “Man files lawsuit, speaks out about alleged child sex abuse at former Hartgrove Hospital in Chicago,” ABC 7 Eyewitness News, 12 Dec. 2024, https://abc7chicago.com/post/man-files-lawsuit-speaks-alleged-child-sex-abuse-former-universal-health-services-facility-hartgrove-hospital-chicago/15648335/
[13] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/04/cchr-demands-justice-for-victims-of-psychiatric-fraud-and-patient-sexual-abuse/; “Jury delivers $360 million verdict in trial against Cumberland Hospital, former medical director,” WTVR CBS 6 News, 1 Oct. 2024, (CBS 6 Investigative Reporter Laura French was inside the courtroom when the verdict was announced and has been investigating Cumberland Hospital for five years), https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/jury-reaches-verdict-in-cumberland-hospital-trial-sept-27-2024
[14] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/04/cchr-demands-justice-for-victims-of-psychiatric-fraud-and-patient-sexual-abuse/; Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, “Acadia Hospitals Reach $20 Million Settlement With Justice Dept.” The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/health/acadia-doj-settlement-fbi.html; “Acadia Healthcare Company Inc. to Pay $19.85M to Settle Allegations Relating to Medically Unnecessary Inpatient Behavioral Health Services,” U.S. Department of Justice, 26 Sept. 2024, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/acadia-healthcare-company-inc-pay-1985m-settle-allegations-relating-medically-unnecessary
[15] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/10/04/cchr-demands-justice-for-victims-of-psychiatric-fraud-and-patient-sexual-abuse/; Morgan Gonzales “UHS Ordered to Pay $535M in Legal Case,” Behavioral Health Business, 1 Apr. 2024, https://bhbusiness.com/2024/04/01/uhs-to-pay-535m-in-sexual-assault-suit/
[16] Adam Herbets, “Utah psychiatric hospital to shut down after years of safety concerns exposed by FOX 13 Investigates,” Fox 13 News, Salt Lake City, 8 Apr. 2024, https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/watch-the-fox-13-investigations-leading-up-to-shutdown-of-highland-ridge-hospital#google_vignette
[17] https://www.cchrint.org/2019/08/13/multi-million-dollar-fines-insufficient-to-curb-fraud-patient-sexual-other-abuses/ citing “United States Attorney Announces $17 Million Healthcare Fraud Settlement,” Press Release, Attorney’s Office Southern District of West Virginia, 6 May 2019, https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/united-states-attorney-announces-17-million-healthcare-fraud-settlement
[18] “Alan Testifies for Senate Bill 297,” Mortensen & Milne law firm, https://www.mortmilnelaw.com/news/senate-bill-297
[19] “D.C. psych hospital committed patients to boost profits, lawsuit says,” Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/24/psychiatric-institute-washington-lawsuit-medical-neglect/; Mariah Taylor, “Universal Health Services hospital accused of boosting profits with involuntary commitment practices,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 24 Feb. 2025, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/universal-health-services-hospital-accused-of-boosting-profits-with-involuntary-commitment-practices.html
[20] “Mental health and human rights,” Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 Jan.2025, Section V: Recommendations, Point 75 i, Page 18, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/38
[21] “Mental health and human rights,” Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 Jan. 2025, Point B. 20, Page 6, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/38
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