Investigation finds more than 100 preventable deaths in Calif. psych wards

More than 100 preventable deaths have occurred across psychiatric wards in California over the last 10 years, according to a new investigation by the Los Angeles Times, in the first public count of deaths at the state’s mental health facilities. These deaths ranged across all ages, racial backgrounds, and social classes, the report found. In one case, staff were not properly trained on restraining patients, and one patient in 2018 stopped breathing and died as staff tried to restrain him. In another instance, facility officials failed to check on suicidal patients every 15 minutes, allowing one patient to hang himself. The state does not publicly release its investigations, and the Times filed more than 100 public record requests to obtain death certificates, coroner’s reports, and hospital inspection records from across 50 county and state agencies