EAST ST. LOUIS - Mental health professionals at Choate Center in Anna diagnosed Leslie Potter’s strokes as schizophrenia and damaged him with treatments, according to his mother Michelle Potter of Texas and grandmother Elaine Dohman of Illinois.
Their counsel Randolph Kretchmar of Chicago alleged due process violations in a complaint at U.S. district court on Jan. 30.
According to the lawsuit, Leslie resided with Dohman prior to the state’s intervention.
The suit claims that Leslie requires nursing home care at age 36 and remains heavily medicated with mind numbing tranquilizers.
The defendants allegedly gave Leslie a speculative and inaccurate diagnosis to justify his involuntary admission.
They also allegedly drastically reduced the family’s chances of functioning and participating in society or looking forward to future generations.
“Defendants and their employers are reasonably believed to have obtained thousands of dollars of income in exchange for their involuntary custody of Leslie Potter," the suit claims.
Defendants include Illinois health secretary Dulce Quintano and statewide medical directors Brad Hughes and Yutende Johnson as defendants.
Choate medical director Jonathan Colen, doctor Joel Vercide, administrator Lori Gray, administrator Tonya Piephoff and her deputy Sara Wright are defendants.
Social workers Meredith Woods of Choate and Eric Price of local clinic Arrowleaf are also named in the suit..
The suit claims that Price requested a court order to forcibly detain Leslie and transport him to Choate.
It claims that Arrowleaf had a clear policy against that procedure.
The court order allegedly precipitated a chain of events.
Defendants allegedly asserted a medically useless diagnosis, locked Leslie in a unit and completely neglected him.
The suit claims that science hasn’t proven schizophrenia as a disease and it serves only as an epithet for undesirable behavior.
It also claims that it was impossible for Leslie to prove he didn’t have a disease that doesn’t exist.
“The facility actively refused to transport the plaintiff for two separate appointments to obtain medical imaging," the suit claims.
Gray allegedly personally prohibited transportation and Colen, Piephoff, Vercide, Wright, Woods, Quintano, Hughes and Johnson confirmed it.
“This harmed him for the benefit of the facility and the defendants," the suit claims.
Woods allegedly directly interfered with communication among the plaintiffs and their relations with each other.
The suit claims that Choate’s policies and procedures treat refusal to comply with prescriptions as evidence of a lack of insight or a delusion.
“Thus Leslie Potter was in fact required or coerced to give evidence against himself," the suit claims.
He claimed Leslie’s mother and grandmother insisted on standard tests and doctors belatedly realized he suffered from strokes.
“Choate dropped Leslie Potter like a hot potato," the suit claims.
The suit claims that he was discharged to a local nursing home where he remains, “mostly unable to walk, speak intelligibly, or safely feed himself.”
The suit claims that the extent of Leslie’s emotional damage has not been fully ascertained.
The suit seeks damages for distress and loss of companionship plus punitive damages.
The court clerk randomly assigned District Judge Stephen McGlynn.