Springdale, Arkansas — The former head of the Arkansas State Medical Board has been indicted on charges of drugging and kidnapping patients at a psychiatric facility in order to get more money from health care reimbursements, according to an indictment released Monday.
Dr. Brian Hyatt was indicted by an Arkansas grand jury in early March on charges that he gave several patients powerful mind-altering painkillers in order to keep them in the facility without medical justification. He is charged with two federal counts of kidnapping and distributing controlled substances that he allegedly used to subdue patients.
Seven mental health care workers, administrative staff and nurses who worked at Hyatt in early March were also charged. Some were accused of allegedly not intervening to avoid being fired, the indictment said. They are accused of neglecting to document patients’ actual conditions in medical records, and instead using general notes to conceal patients’ conditions and conceal the lack of treatment provided to them.
The other accused employees are accused of directly participating in the misconduct. At least one employee was accused of breaking a patient’s collarbone in order to physically restrain her and force her to accept unnecessary treatment. Others used threats, coercion and intimidation to force patients to accept unnecessary medical treatments, and also used physical assault to prevent alleged victims from reporting their actions, the indictment said.
The crimes allegedly occurred at Northwest Medical Center’s behavioral health unit in Springdale, where Hyatt Medical was contracted to provide psychiatric services between 2018 and 2022.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison with up to five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
There was no attorney of record for Hyatt or the seven employees Monday night. The Arkansas State Medical Board did not respond to an email request for comment.