Cleveland Clinic’s Mental Health Practices Under Fire as Court Dismisses Lawsuit

March 22, 2025

A recent court decision has put Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital’s mental health practices in the spotlight. The Florida appeals court backed the hospital’s request to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit, but this legal victory has raised more questions than it answered about how the hospital handles mental health emergencies.

The lawsuit stemmed from a tragic incident in March 2022, when 29-year-old Zachary Anderson was fatally shot by deputies while being treated for a mental health crisis at the hospital. While the court’s decision focused on legal technicalities, it has sparked a broader debate about the hospital’s approach to psychiatric care and medication management.

One major concern that has come to light is the apparent lack of reporting to the FDA’s MEDWATCH system. This system is designed to flag dangerous drug reactions, but there’s no evidence that Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital uses it for mental health patients. This is worrying, especially considering the hospital’s large-scale psychiatric care operations. They recently took on 2,600 patients needing psychiatric medications after another clinic closed, and they often use strong treatments like electroconvulsive therapy for patients, which is inhumane and has no scientific evidence of curing anything, but scrambles the brain.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains a contentious and potentially devastating mental health treatment. Despite being banned entirely in Slovenia and Luxembourg and restricted in places like Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, it continues to inflict permanent brain damage and memory loss on vulnerable patients. In the U.S., while not banned, its use is limited, with judicial orders often ignored or circumvented in many states for involuntary administration. However, enforcement of these judicial requirements varies widely, raising concerns about patient protection. ECT can erase years of a person’s life, destroying memories and cognitive abilities, raising serious ethical concerns about informed consent and medical harm.  Its continued practice, despite bans in parts of the world and lack of curative effects, highlights a troubling disregard for patient safety and dignity in psychiatric care.

The hospital also frequently uses Florida’s Baker Act to involuntarily commit patients in crisis. This raises an important question: How many of these patients, like Zachary Anderson, were already on psychiatric medications before their crisis? Without proper reporting, it’s hard to know if the medications themselves might be causing problems.

Money is another issue. The Hospital District gave $7.3 million to mental health services in 2020-2021, but it’s unclear how much of this goes towards monitoring medication side effects versus just buying more medications.

Critics argue that the hospital’s approach focuses too much on quick fixes and medications, rather than comprehensive care and safety monitoring. They worry that harmful drug reactions might be missed or mistaken for symptoms of mental illness.

This is especially concerning given the high rates of mental health issues in Indian River County. The area has higher suicide rates than state and national averages, and a lot of people are hospitalized for mental disorders.

The dismissal of the wrongful death lawsuit doesn’t address these underlying problems. Instead, it highlights the need for a thorough review of how the hospital handles mental health crises, especially in the emergency room.

Moving forward, there are several steps Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital could take to improve:

1. Start using the MEDWATCH system to report drug side effects.
2. Be more open about how staff are trained to recognize medication problems.
3. Rethink the balance between using drugs and other types of therapy, ban the use of ECT
4. Create clear ways to track how public money is spent on mental health programs and breakdown how much is being spend on psychiatric drugs and which ones.

Until these issues are addressed, patients in Indian River County may be at risk in a system that overlooks important safety information. The court’s decision may have settled legal questions, but it has only increased the need for a careful look at mental health practices at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital.

The community deserves a mental health care system that puts patient safety and well-being first, rather than relying on quick fixes. It’s time for the hospital to take a hard look at its practices and make necessary changes to better serve those in need of mental health care.

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