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Deaths at rehab hospital in Pasadena draw scrutiny

Las Encinas, where 'Loveline' doctor has a key role, is faulted by the state in two fatal overdoses in April.

August 21, 2008|Rong-Gong Lin II and Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writers

On July 31, the hospital called the family, saying Otus was missing, the brother said. The next morning, hospital employees found his body hanging from the beam of a dilapidated shed on the hospital campus, the brother said.

Otus hanged himself using a white plastic bag, a coroner's report said.


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The shed "really should've been torn down 50 years ago," Taras Otus said.

"You'd think there is some kind of moral responsibility to call the family, reach out and say, 'I'm sorry.' But apparently they don't do that at this hospital," the brother said. "They gave us two garbage bags of his stuff, which I guess is what happens."

The parents of Alex Clyburn say they are pursuing legal action.

As a teenager, Clyburn was an Eagle Scout and two-time pitcher of the year at Thousand Oaks High School.

He was recruited to play baseball at Chapman University in Orange County and later transferred to Cal State Northridge, where he studied communications.

In 2006, after Clyburn suffered painful injuries in an auto accident, he became addicted to the painkiller OxyContin, said Burke, the Clyburns' lawyer.

"He was already in rigor mortis when he was found," Burke said. "He had gone for several hours without being checked . . . so it looks like they certainly weren't doing what they said they were going to do."

Contacted last week, Greg Hearn, the father of Jeffrey Hearn, said he had seen no reason to fault the hospital's care. He knew Dr. Pinsky, and had given the hospital a donation "because they took care of my son."

Then he learned from a reporter about the inspection report stating that another patient apparently gave his son the drugs on which he overdosed.

"Wow. I didn't know. It's stuff I didn't know. . . .

"It's so sad . . . I lost my only son."

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ron.lin@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

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Times researcher Vicki Gallay contributed to this report.

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