(ThyBlackMan.com) More and more, companies and private medical professionals are being held accountable for the things that happen to patients within their care. When serious negligence or mistreatment is suspected, criminal charges of murder can even be raised against staff and companies. As you might expect, this can have a massive impact on a company’s position on the stock market, and general confidence in their business.
Such is the situation currently being seen with a company called AAC Holdings, whose primary business is operating alcohol and drug rehabilitation facilities. AAC had been one of the most prosperous stocks on the New York Stock Exchange this year, and the way they did things really seemed to be inspiring market confidence. However, in July 2015 came a shocking murder indictment relating to a patient death at one of their facilities – A Better Tomorrow treatment center in Murrieta, CA – back in July 2010.
Death of a Patient at A Better Tomorrow Rehab Center
The A Better Tomorrow drug and alcohol treatment center is one of seven similar facilities operated across the country by a company named American Addiction Centers. American Addiction Centers is itself the main operating unit of AAC Holdings, a company coffered publicly on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2014, which had previously been operating as an incorporated company named Forterus.
In 2010, a patient in the care of A Better Tomorrow died the day after being admitted to the center for treatment for an unspecified problem. Gary Benefield, the patient in question, was a 52 year old man (though the day of his death at A Better Tomorrow was also his 
53rd birthday) from Springerville, Arizona, who had flown to Los Angeles in order to go on to Murietta where the treatment facility is located.
Gary Benefield had several pre-existing health conditions when he flew from Arizona to California for treatment. He had recently left hospital following a bout of pneumonia, and was a long term emphysema sufferer who also had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was on oxygen, but his tank was emptied at the airport.
At A Better Tomorrow rehab center, Gary Benefield was not given the further oxygen that someone in his condition would usually be administered. Instead, staff at the rehab facility gave Mr Benefield a combination of anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants, which are commonly used for patients with addiction issues.
Gary Benefield was then given a room, but was left there with nobody checking in on his condition from midnight until the next morning. A 2012 investigation into this and several other incidents by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes reported that staff were asleep.
Gary Benefield died that day, leaving behind a wife and stepchildren.
Indictment for Murder
While the case had indeed been explored in 2012 by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes, it was not until July this year when an indictment for murder was unsealed by California prosecutors. AAC president Jerrod Nathan Menz was one of the people indicted, along with three other employees.
Jerrod Nathan Menz stepped down as president immediately after news of the indictment – a filing by the company stating that while he was planning to continue working closely with the business, he felt it most appropriate to resign from its board. Another of those indicted, Mignon Dean, is still with AAC, however the two other employees – staff who were working at A Better Tomorrow drug and alcohol treatment center when Gary Benefield was admitted, had already moved on from the company in the five years since Mr Benefield’s death.
The Market Reaction
Murder indictments never look good, even though AAC deny liability for Gary Benefield. The market responded swiftly to news of the charges, and in the days that followed AAC’s stock took a formidable nosedive. Where AAC had been regarded as one of the hottest shares on the stock exchange, having seen 150% growth since going public in October, in just one day in August it dropped 53%.
This story really demonstrates how incidents of negligence against vulnerable people are now taken extremely seriously by the law.
Staff Writer; George Hilton
