PASADENA – An upscale Pasadena psychiatric hospital where celebrity rehab specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky is a director has had three patients die in the past five months, health officials said.
Aurora Las Encinas Hospital, which boasts of giving “the finest care in the finest setting” on its Web site and is popular with actors and rock stars, saw two patients die of overdoses and another hang himself, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.
Pinsky, host of radio's “Love Line” and VH1's “Celebrity Rehab,” is co-medical director of the chemical-dependency department. He said he had no direct role in any of the patients' care.
The first two deaths in consecutive days in April resulted in an investigation from state health inspectors.
Jeffrey Hearn, 29, was found unresponsive in his room April 11 and was declared dead a day later after a transfer to Huntington Memorial Hospital, the coroner said.
The next day, Alex Clyburn, 23, was checked in by his family after taking large doses of the painkiller OxyContin and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax.
The hospital gave him other medications, the state report said, and assigned a mental health worker to check on him every 15 minutes. But the worker did not conduct the required checks and falsified reports to suggest otherwise, the report said.
This month, Timur Otus, 43, hanged himself.
