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Show Man claims he was beaten, held against will at youth center By JUDY JENSEN Managing Editor A Centerville man who claims he was held against his will and nearly died due to lack of medical attention atten-tion at a youth treatment program, hopes the state's decision that his claims have merit will help to put an end to his three-year nightmare. Paul Madsen recently told the Division of Occupational and Professional Pro-fessional Licensing panel at a pielitigation hearing his bizarre story of being held prisoner by a youth treatment program in Salt Lake. The panel unanimously agreed that his rights had been violated and found four specific breaches of Cthe standard of care for adolescent knd young adult drug treatment programs,' said the report. Madsen has now filed suit against Kids of Greater Salt Lake, a non-profit Utah corporation, aka Life-Line. Kids of Greater Salt Lake has left Utah and is now operating in New Jersey. Life-Line is still operating at the Kids of Greater Salt Lake location. Director Vern Utley said Life-Line Life-Line uses some of the philosophy of Kids, but it is administered in a different way. He said there have been no lawsuits filed against Life-Line Life-Line since it began operation under that name in 1990. Madsen 's bizarre story began Dec. 7, 1989. An Eagle Scout, Madsen said his life had been deteriorating de-teriorating due to his alcohol abuse and he had decided to try to find help. He and his family went to Kids of Greater Salt Lake for help. "From the moment I signed the papers to be admitted, I was held prisoner," said Madsen. He told of being strip-searched by the counselors, which included a body cavity search. 'I can't believe what they did to me. They assaulted me. They beat me up and held me against my will. I could have died said Madsen. Madsen explained he wanted to leave the program from the first day he entered. As an adult who had admitted himself, he felt that it should have been his choice. Madsen claimed "Kids' wouldn't let him go. "They said I had to put it 4i writing so I did. They still refused to let me go," said Madsen. SEE PAUL ON A-3 4 I O Paul CONTINUED FROM A-l He began to plan his escape. "Night Rap" was a time when all of the clients met as a group. "Everyone would swing their arms wildly above their heads and the one who acted the most crazy would be called on to tell his story," saidMadsen. 'I had played soccer for years. I knew if I could get a jump on them they would never catch me. And I knew if I ran when the arms were in the air, they might not see me. ' ' His plan nearly worked. Madsen waited for the right moment and bolted toward the door. He ran down a long hallway toward a door which he claimed was supposed to be open during business hours. It was 6:30 p.m. and the center closed at 9 p.m. Madsen hit the doors striker bar running at full speed. The doors were locked. The force of his body hitting the doors shattered the glass and Madsen was catapulted outside. "I was just getting up to run and they were on me," he said. Bleeding and wounded, Madsen said he was led back to the group where he was subjected to ridicule from the counselors and the other students. 'I was bleeding really bad. I kept my hand on my right wrist because I was losing a lot of blood there. More than from my left. I asked for a doctor. They said they had called a doctor but no one came," said Madsen. He said he was told he would not get medical help until group meeting ended That was to be his punishment. Madsen said he was growing very weak. "I went into shock from the loss of blood and fell out of my chair and hit my head." He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital at 9:20 p.m. There his wounds were sutured and he was given medication for pain and released. "They (the counselors) told them not to give me anything for pain because I was in a treatment center. The nurse said they didn't do stitches stit-ches without pain medication," said , Madsen. He said he was refused the - - follow up treatment prescribed by the doctor. "I was supposed to go back, but they said 'forget it." From that point on Madsen made getting out of "Kids" his top priority- "I made a written request every day," said Madsen. None of those requests were answered. "Every day I saw more and more things happening to kids. They didn't treat the girls any different from the boys. We had to raise our hands to speak and make signs to go to the bathroom. We were like prisoners." Madsen said when any of the kids got "out of line," they were restrained. "They would push the kid down to the floor on his back and a counselor would kneel on each of his arms and legs and a fifth guy would put his head between his knees and squeeze. This stuff about men not crying is crap. I cried like a baby the two times it happened to me," said Madsen. During the restraint of another an-other student, Madsen said the rest were to keep their eyes forward and their hands on their knees or they too would be restrained. "If there weren't enough counselors to do it, they would have some of the kids kneel on an arm or leg. You couldn't refuse," saidMadsen. "It was like Vietnam. I was told you will not leave until we say you can leave. I said 'I'm an adult. I can leave when I want to. They said no." On Dec. 23, 17 days after Madsen entered the program, he was once again called into the counselors' office. "They had the stack of written requests I'd given them. They told me I was too much trouble and they were going to let me go. They warned me that even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't comeback," saidMadsen. He said he literally ran to the door and continued running for six blocks before stopping to look back. "I was afraid they were after me. I still have nightmares of being locked in there,' ' he said. Those recurring nightmares led to Madsen's decision to file suit against Kids of Greater Salt Lake. "If they are still in business doing the same things to kids, they need to be stopped," he said. Anthony Thurber, Madsen's attorney, at-torney, agrees. "I had never seen anything like this. It was so bizarre it was hard to believe," he said. Thurber said his investigation has included testimony from several former Kids clients who have substantiated Madsen's story. "He has some pretty significant psychological injury as a result of his treatment there. We can't just ignore it," said Thurber. He said Kids has denied any negligence neg-ligence or wrongdoing in the case, but he is confident the facts will prove differently. Thurber said his investigation is continuing and he expects to have a resolution soon. Madsen said he cannot wait until the ordeal is over. "I just want to get on with my life. I need to put this behind me and begin the healing heal-ing process. I've overcome my drinking problem which was never as serious as my so-called treatment," treat-ment," he said. Madsen said he hopes his story will help parents be more aware of what goes on in some treatment programs. "I want kids who are in trouble to find help, but not at any cost. We found the least expensive program, but in the end it cost me a lot," he said. Madsen said he is now looking for work in the computer field and continuing his studies. "I'm anxious anx-ious to start over now," he said. |
