Aurora Las Encinas Hospitals

A high-end psychiatric hospital in Pasadena where four patients died and one was raped in recent years is facing renewed scrutiny after inspectors learned of several recent escapes and near suicides. Aurora Las Encinas Hospital has been notified that it risks losing federal financial support after the latest incidents, one of which involved a woman known to be suicidal who was able to remove a battery from a TV remote-control device and swallow it. Several days after that, she broke a mirror and swallowed glass.

An Aurora Las Encinas Hospital employee has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the owners of the Pasadena mental hospital, alleging that top company officials have defrauded the federal government by providing "minimal, substandard care" to patients. The lawsuit, filed last year under seal in U.S. District Court, recently was made public. The suit marks the latest in a series of complaints about care at the psychiatric hospital known for decades as a destination for wealthy and famous patients seeking mental health help and treatment for alcohol and drug abuse.

Former employees of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Pasadena, filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the owner alleging that chronic understaffing has compromised patient care. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of four former employees, says understaffing forced Las Encinas staff to work past the ends of their shifts, with no overtime pay, to complete work obligations.

Troubling events Timeline of events at Aurora Las Encinas Hospital: December 2006: A 26-year-old patient who sought treatment for addiction, Leo Grassini, dies after staff members fail to check on him for 24 hours, despite a doctor's order that he be monitored very closely. November 2007: Grassini's father, Lawrence, alerts state and federal regulators, urging an investigation to prevent "future predictable deaths." April 2008: Jeffrey Hearn, 28, admitted for treatment of drug addiction, dies of an overdose of contraband prescription medications smuggled in by another patient.

Troubling events Timeline of events at Aurora Las Encinas Hospital: December 2006: A 26-year-old patient who sought treatment for addiction, Leo Grassini, dies after staff members fail to check on him for 24 hours, despite a doctor's order that he be monitored very closely. November 2007: Grassini's father, Lawrence, alerts state and federal regulators, urging an investigation to prevent "future predictable deaths." April 2008: Jeffrey Hearn, 28, admitted for treatment of drug addiction, dies of an overdose of contraband prescription medications smuggled in by another patient.

Former employees of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Pasadena, filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the owner alleging that chronic understaffing has compromised patient care. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of four former employees, says understaffing forced Las Encinas staff to work past the ends of their shifts, with no overtime pay, to complete work obligations.