The following reporters contributed to this investigation: Alayna Wilkening, Andrew Miller, Chloe Oden, Deshna Venkatachalam, Ella Curlin, Emerson Elledge, Grace Fridy, Jack Forrest, Jonathan Frey, Mia Hilkowitz, Mia Lehmkuhl, Natalia Nelson
Bloomington Meadows Hospital is one of the largest acute mental health facilities in southern Indiana. But former patients allege they experienced lapses in care that jeopardized their safety and health at the inpatient facility.
The Indiana Daily Student spoke with eight former patients, a former employee and three parents who sent their young children to Bloomington Meadows Hospital during its six-month-long investigation into conditions at the facility. Many of these patients and parents allege they witnessed constant fights and assaults on both patients and staff. They also allege they did not receive the quality of care needed for their well-being.
Many of the deficiencies alleged by patients are echoed in 29 federal inspection reports from 2016 to 2024. While the most recent report from December 2024 found the mental health facility was in compliance with applicable federal regulations, patients and their parents told the IDS they’ve experienced lapses in care and conduct more recently and the problems in the facility are far from solved.
A representative for Universal Health Services, the healthcare management company that owns Meadows, declined an interview request with the IDS for this story. Meadows and UHS did not respond to other requests for comment from the IDS, including a detailed three-page list of questions.
As one of Bloomington’s major mental healthcare facilities — with 78 beds — the quality of care and safety standards for patients at Meadows deserve scrutiny. But these lapses are not necessarily unique to Meadows. Universal Health Services and three other acute mental health providers were the subjects of a U.S. Senate investigation in 2022 for allegations of abuse and neglect of children at their facilities across the country. Meadows is not listed in the investigation’s final report.
Still, several patients said they had positive experiences.
Ryan Nunley was 16 when he was admitted to the hospital, after he said he was experiencing psychosis and was an active suicide risk. He spent around six months in the facility, where he said he made “good memories.”
“We always were kind of like a family,” Nunley said. “Like people usually did not have huge issues with each other. It was the Meadows Fam.”
Kara Felton, now 40, was a patient at Meadows for five days in October 2022. They were experiencing suicidal thoughts before going into the facility, and walked out of Meadows realizing they had “so much to live for.”
“(Meadows staff) always treated us like we were people,” Felton said. “They didn’t forget that we were just exactly like them, but going through something.”
The IDS took a closer look at Meadows in part because the hospital also has institutional connections to Indiana University. Meadows is a "clinical practice partner” with IU’s School of Nursing, which means university students can work there. It came under this designation in October 2015.
Asked about the allegations of safety and patient care issues at Meadows, nursing school marketing director Michael Jackson said in a statement: “Violence against healthcare workers is a serious and widespread issue facing the profession nationwide, and it requires systemic attention beyond any single institution. To support student safety, the School of Nursing conducts annual reviews with its partner facilities, provides significant education and training for students, and creates robust mechanisms for students to report concerns and incidents.”
Violence prevention against nurses in the workplace is discussed in introductory courses, Jackson said, focused on “ethical prevention and de-escalation.” Reviews of the School of Nursing’s partners include student evaluations after clinical experience, and agency and practitioner feedback. If there are documented concerns with a site “related to patient safety, student safety, or the quality of learning experiences,” Jackson said, faculty evaluations are conducted more frequently.
The school also incorporates several preventative measures, including orientations and lectures regarding professional boundaries, personal safety and reporting expectations. Jackson said the school has “clear reporting mechanisms for students to report concerns, including access to university Title IX and misconduct reporting systems.”
The IDS reached out to 12 experts and local mental health organizations for this story. The Indiana Department of Health also declined to make a representative available for an interview.
Tina Frayer, investigations coordinator at Indiana Disability Rights, a state protection and advocacy system, said many of the issues that the IDS described at Meadows were consistent with other acute care facilities across the state. Frayer said she could not disclose details or if her agency had investigated the Bloomington facility or what investigations found, but spoke more broadly.
“There may be one facility that does a really good job with one or the other, or both, and others that aren’t quite as good or maybe really lack some of those components,” Frayer said. “But I wouldn’t say that I can consistently say this is a bad hospital (or) this is not a bad hospital, because it kind of depends on the people who are involved and cooperation from the person, the family. There’s a lot of things that play into it.”
But one parent who sent their child to Meadows five times told the IDS it’s important for people, specifically parents, to know about the conditions inside the facility.
“You’re blindsided, and your kid’s in trouble,” she said. “So you don’t really know, and they don’t really walk you through it that well…. I would urge parents to educate themselves.”
Read the two-part investigation here:
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