FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Legal Newsline) - Lawsuits are rolling in against a prominent Arkansas psychiatrist accused of essentially holding patients hostage until their insurance ran out.
Dr. Brian Hyatt had patients hospitalized at Northwest Medical Center - Springdale Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit to bleed insurers like Medicaid dry, a recent spat of lawsuits alleges. Hyatt recently stepped down as chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board following the reveal of a search warrant.
A whistleblower at the hospital alerted the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in April 2022, according to an affidavit by investigator Mary Bowen. Her findings show Hyatt far and away charges the most to Medicaid for hospital care in the state.
"Dr. Hyatt is a clear outlier, and his claims are so high they skew the averages on certain codes for the entire Medicaid program in Arkansas," Bowen wrote. "There are many issues with Dr. Hyatt's claims, his supporting documentation, and his supervision of non-physician provider."
Three separate codes for treatment indicate the patient is (1) stable and improving, (2)responding inadequately to therapy or has developed a minor complication, and (3) unstable or has developed a significant complication.
Investigators were alarmed at the frequency of the most severe code, with Bowen writing "according to the claims submitted by Dr. Hyatt and the non-physician providers working under his supervision, no patient being treated in the behavioral unit located at Northwest Medical Center ever got better, at least not before the day of the patient's release."
Though he does not face criminal charges yet, former patients started suing him over the allegations on March 24 in Washington County Circuit Court. The five suits are filed by Odom Law Firm and Herrera Law Group.
The first case following Bowen's affidavit is filed on behalf of a man who was taken to the emergency room on March 24, 2022, while suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. The next day, he was transferred to Hyatt's hospital and stayed there for four days, when a court order forced his release.
"Plaintiff never had his rights as a patient explained to him by Dr. Hyatt or any other provider, staff member administrator or other employee or agent of the defendants," the lawsuit says.
"He was never informed that, as a voluntary admission, he had the right to leave the Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit whenever he wanted unless he was deemed to be a danger to himself or others and placed on an involuntary 72-hour hold."
The cases allege false imprisonment, assault, battery, fraud and deceit, medical malpractice, institutional negligence, outrage and civil conspiracy.
A patient at Northwest Medical Center went to court last year to be released, claiming to be coerced into a signing consent to be admitted while under the influence of a sedative.
She said when she tried to leave, she was threatened with an additional three days in the facility. She hired a lawyer who earned a court order mandating her release on Jan. 21, 2022, but it took deputy sheriffs to actually get the woman out of the hospital after a dispute.
More than four hours passed from the time Hyatt was emailed the order and when deputies finally got the woman out.
"Our facility is in receipt of your silly demands and libelous commentary regarding someone you claim to represent who is purportedly within our facility," Hyatt wrote back.
Attorney Aaron Cash wrote back to say any delays in releasing his client would force him to file a motion for contempt.
Hyatt went on to belittle Cash's college, then wrote "PS - I really like the repurposed dentist's office you're working out of."
A few months before Hyatt resigned and the investigator's affidavit became known, Cash sued Hyatt on behalf of the same client, alleging false imprisonment. A new allegation in that suit says Hyatt threatened the woman with 45 days in the facility through court order and told her to have her lawyer "drop everything."
"Immediately after Dr. Hyatt finished his threats, two staff members entered her room and told (the plaintiff) to come with them," the suit says. "(The plaintiff) thought she was leaving the hospital, but they took her to another floor of the hospital, and a nurse gave her an injection to sedate her and said that if she resisted that she would be restrained."