National Alliance on Mental Illness
page printed from http://www.nami.org/
(800) 950-NAMI; info@nami.org
©2013
What Should You Do If You Experience Restraint And Seclusion Abuse?
If you or your family member has experienced abuse of R/S in a treatment facility, you should take the following action.
- Contact your state’s Protection and Advocacy program. For the phone number of your state’s program, call the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) at 202-408-9514. If a P & A does not assist you, let NAMI know by contacting Ron Honberg at 703-516-7972 or by email at ronh@nami.org.
- File a complaint with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) hotline at 1-800-994-6610 and/or complaint@jcaho.org
- File a complaint with your state’s health and hospital-licensing agency.
- File a complaint with your U.S.Center for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) regional office. There are 10 regional offices in the United States. To find yours, call the CMS Medicare Hotline, 1-800-638-6833. You can also call the CMS Office of Medicare Customer Assistance, 410-786-7413.
- Consider sharing your story with your local media.
- Consider retaining an attorney if you believe your legal rights have been violated.