As with other opioids, fentanyl is highly addictive and potent. Even seemingly small doses can kill fentanyl users.
Unfortunately, enrolling in a rehab facility does not guarantee that patients won’t be able to access fentanyl and other drugs. Those within the grip of fentanyl while in treatment can die from overdoses and suicide at the facility. How such patients accessed or can access fentanyl, alcohol, or other substances in a rehab center calls into question whether a loved one or estate may sue the center for someone’s act of smuggling.
Ways That People May Sneak Fentanyl Into a Rehab Center
Patients, employees, and visitors to rehab centers have employed or could employ many devices to smuggle opioids such as fentanyl. These methods include:
- Shampoo or body wash containers
- Drink bottles and cans
- Luggage or overnight clothing and toiletry bags
- Pockets in clothing
- Stuffing within underwear or socks
- Envelopes
Staff members may be complicit in the sneaking through observing the drugs but not seizing them or reporting the smugglers to supervisors. In some cases, the employees themselves supply the drugs.
Even where an employee does not conspire or participate with the patient, treatment centers may not have sufficient security measures. Necessary safeguards may consist of:
- Prohibiting outside containers, backpacks, and luggage, or restricting containers to clear, plastic ones
- Inspecting all containers before allowing anyone to bring them into the facility
- Opening mail before delivering to patients
- Limiting access of residents and guests to common areas or the patient’s room
- Requiring guests and other entrants to sign in at the entrance, providing name and reason for entry
- Monitoring of hallways, lobbies, and outside grounds by video or security personnel
- Drug testing, either randomly or by a frequent schedule such as weekly
- Conducting body searches of new patients upon arrival at the facility
What Are Signs That Someone Has Smuggled Fentanyl Into a Facility?
Foreseeability lies as an essential element of any negligence claim. The rehabilitation center may contend that the smuggling was beyond the center’s control or that it was unaware that people snuck items into the facility.
Initially, a drug rehab center should anticipate that its patients and residents will attempt to get fentanyl or other drugs while in treatment. Addiction brought the patient, whether there voluntarily or by court order, to treatment in the first place. Patients using drugs while undergoing residential or in-facility treatment should not surprise owners and operators. Statistics tell us:
- One death of an inpatient receiving care occurs on average every two weeks
- Reports abound of the smuggling of drugs into correctional facilities
Moreover, a wrongful death plaintiff may find evidence that the treatment center was on notice that fentanyl or other drugs had made their way into the center. As signs of smuggling, the plaintiff might look to evidence that non-public entrances had been left open or were accessible, residents previously overdosed from drugs while in the facility, and drugs had previously been found and were reported to staff or supervisors. If you’re suing for wrongful death, you or your lawyer might seek or obtain evidence of the sneaking in of fentanyl and other drugs from sources such as:
- Security system footage
- Police reports or 911 call logs
- Incident reports or records created by facility staff
- Eyewitnesses to smuggling or prior use of fentanyl or drugs by residents or others in the facility
Suing the Center When Staff Members Sneak in Fentanyl
If a loved one dies because the center’s employee smuggled or provided the fentanyl, a wrongful death claim may proceed against the center under negligent hiring and supervision theory. A negligent hiring claim requires allegations and proof that:
- The rehab center or other entity hired the employee
- The employee lacked the fitness or competence to perform the work at the time of hiring the employee or became unfit or incompetent after being employed
- The rehab center or other employer knew or should have known about the employee’s unfitness or incompetence
- The patient suffered harm or died because of the employee’s incompetence or unfitness; and
- The negligent hiring or supervision represented a substantial factor in causing the patient’s death or other harm
As a general rule, employers must perform reasonable pre-employment screenings. Criminal record checks play a significant role in a facility’s diligence in hiring staff. The duty to pull a criminal record does not necessarily mean that the law would deem any convict unfit to work in a treatment center. Usually, the plaintiff must establish a connection between the offense involved in the conviction and the employee’s wrongful act or harm to the resident.
To that end, a rehabilitation center may face liability for hiring those convicted of drug offenses, especially those involving selling, manufacturing, or distributing controlled substances. Such may show the employee’s propensity to sneak or provide drugs to a patient. Even if not related to smuggling, a record of convictions for serious crimes such as larceny, robbery, assaults, and other violent crimes may demonstrate a lack of moral turpitude to refrain from giving drugs to a patient.
Negligent hiring claims do not end merely with evidence that the rehab center pulled criminal records. The employer’s duty to be diligent extends to examining the employment history and inquiring as to why the employee is changing jobs or stopped working for previous employers. A wrongful death plaintiff might learn that the employee who snuck fentanyl to the patient was terminated from other centers or jobs for wrongfully supplying drugs or breaching protocols to check patients for drugs.
Another potential ground for negligent hiring, supervision, or retention claim may come from hiring or keeping an employee who falsified information, such as education, employment history, and convictions on a job application or resume. Evidence of false statements indicates that the employee may not follow ethical standards against supplying fentanyl or other substances to residents in the rehab center.
While negligent hiring focuses on giving the job to an unfit employee, plaintiffs raise negligent retention when the rehab center fails to fire the employee who becomes unfit or is discovered later to be unfit. A negligent supervision claim may involve the failure or refusal of the rehab center to instruct, correct, or reassign the employee who allowed fentanyl to be smuggled.
