If you’re a patient in a California drug rehab facility, you’re probably not thinking about what could happen if fentanyl makes its way into the building and you overdose. But the facility is required to think about it. When they’re not ready or don’t follow their own rules, bad things can happen. Maison Law’s team of California drug rehab facility negligence lawyers can answer your questions about what comes next. Set up a free consultation today.
Do Drug Rehab Facilities Have to Keep Naloxone On-Site in California?
Naloxone—often called Narcan—is a medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose. And because this is a pretty foreseeable thing in a California drug rehab facility, they’re required to have it on-site.
Officially, the law says that every licensed drug rehab facility has to have at least:
- Two doses of naloxone or any other opioid overdose reversal drug on the premises.
With this law, keeping naloxone available isn’t just a recommendation or an extra safety step. It’s part of the basic responsibility a rehab facility has to the people staying there. When a facility doesn’t have it on-site or isn’t prepared to use it, it brings up obvious questions and issues.
When is a Facility Negligent For Not Having Naloxone?
It’s pretty easy to see what can happen if a drug rehab facility doesn’t have naloxone on site, doesn’t know how to use it, or fails to keep it stocked. The most direct threat is an overdose, but the details also matter.
Here’s when a drug rehab facility could be considered negligent when they don’t have naloxone on site:
- The facility never stocked naloxone. This is one of the clearest safety failures. If a licensed rehab facility doesn’t have naloxone available at all, it may be violating state requirements and putting patients at risk.
- Naloxone is available, but staff aren’t trained to use it. Simply having the medication on-site isn’t enough. Staff should know the warning signs of an overdose and how to administer naloxone quickly when those signs appear.
- Staff don’t respond to obvious overdose symptoms. Slow breathing, blue lips, unconsciousness, or pinpoint pupils are common signs of an opioid overdose. If these symptoms appear and no one administers naloxone, it may point to a serious breakdown in the facility’s emergency response.
- Emergency procedures aren’t followed. Most rehab centers have written protocols for overdose response. If those procedures aren’t followed—or if they were never clearly put in place—it can signal deeper safety issues within the facility.
An overdose in a rehab setting isn’t some unpredictable accident. Treatment centers know the risks involved in opioid addiction. That’s exactly why naloxone is expected to be available and why staff should be ready to use it.
How Can Maison Law Help Me After an Overdose in a California Drug Rehab Facility?
When an overdose happens inside a California drug rehab facility, it leaves you and your family with the same questions: What went wrong? and Why did this happen?
In this situation, the answer usually rests on whether the facility was prepared to respond to the emergency. That’s why rehabs are supposed to keep naloxone ready—and have staff trained to know how to use it. When that doesn’t happen, you and your family could be facing serious injuries or even death.
That’s where our California drug rehab facility negligence lawyers at Maison Law can help you understand how to hold the facility accountable. We will:
- Help review why the overdose happened and why the facility failed to respond
- Gather and examine the facility’s records to see if they had naloxone
- Explain whether a wrongful death or injury claim may be possible
- Guide you and your family through the process if a claim makes sense
No family expects to deal with an overdose inside a place that’s supposed to help people recover. Unfortunately, situations like this happen more often than many people realize. If you lost a loved one—or someone suffered serious harm—after an overdose in a California drug rehab facility where naloxone wasn’t available or wasn’t used, set up a free consultation today.
