Reveal
A Mountain of Misconduct
This month we team up with New Hampshire Public Radio health and science reporter Jack Rodolico to unveil 40 years of alleged abuse and neglect of people with disabilities at specialty rehab centers across the US.
By Al Letson • • 1 min readImage: Anna Vignet for Reveal
EXPOSING ABUSE AND NEGLECT ON THE MOUNTAIN
Reporter Jack Rodolico spent a year uncovering allegations of patient abuse and fraudulent billing practices at Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center – like charging Medicaid for changing channels on a TV. Along the way, he encountered a crusading mother who made secret recordings of state regulators in a desperate attempt to get someone to help her daughter.
During Ryan Libbey's roughly one-month stay at Lakeview in 2011, his mother,
Jennifer Cote, found unexplained bruises all over her son's body.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cote
INAPPROPRIATE LOVE TRIANGLE BLOSSOMS AT REHAB
We travel back to the late 1990s with the story of another Lakeview patient, Amy Mueller, then a teenager, and her romantic relationship with at least one staff member.
Mueller's family later sued the facility for billing for services that never were provided and putting her in danger.
Amy Mueller's mother, Jackie, sued Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center for
ethical and financial violations during the time her daughter was there.
Photo: Jack Rodolico/New Hampshire Public Radio
THE FAMILY BEHIND THE NEURO REHAB RACKET
Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center originally was part of a national chain of brain injury rehab centers called New Medico, owned by Charles Brennick of Boston. Nursing-home abuse investigator Sue Bessette teamed up with former New Medico patient Lucy Gwin in the early 90's to uncover fraud and abuse across a $10 billion industry – leading to an FBI investigation.
We look for answers about why and how the Brennicks are still in business, heading to the swamps of Wauchula, Florida, to visit with Charles' son, Joseph, at his brain injury rehab center, the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation.
Timeline: The endless cycle of abuse at neurorehab centers
Reveal is produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, check out Reveal's website to delve deeper into these stories, andsubscribe to its podcast on iTunes so you never miss a beat. More of a social type? Follow Reveal onTwitter andFacebook.