Sovereign Health of California
Sovereign health unethical marketing practices & negligent patient care practices

I am compelled to enter a voice on behalf of the patients I know who
have been wronged by Sovereign Health of CA. I worked for this place
for a very short while and had to quit because I just couldn't stand
behind the unethical practices with regard to marketing, meds, and treatment.
I know of others who were patients who probably would want to start a class action
law suit against Sovereign.

I saw too much and it broke my heart each time I would see a patient
leave with more anxiety and problems than when they came, all because of
the hard nosed business of greed! One of the patients I worked with was attacked by
another patient who was clearly a threat to the other patients and even
lunged at a staff psychologist and scared her so much that she called
the police. She allowed him back into the house, and I told my boss
clearly that it was NOT a good idea that he be allowed back, as he
needed a higher level of care and needed to be in a psych hospital
setting. I told her it was a problem waiting to happen. The next weekend
after he was allowed to come back he attacked another young patient in
his sleep and broke the cartilage in his nose and bruised his collar
bone and chest area, gave him a black eye and hit him in the head a few
times. The way Sovereign management handled it was appalling to me, as
this young man had no one to advocate for him. He was a victim of a
violent crime. He was suffering from PTSD waking up in the middle of the
night if he heard a sound. They tried to make light of everything and
acted like it was not a big deal. It sickened me as to the way they
treated this young man. When Mr. Sharma (I don't call him a Dr.) was told by
another patient about the assault, his comment was, "I didn't know of it
and it's of no concern to me". This is the guy who runs the place
using other people's licenses and had to leave the UK because he lost
his license to practice! The young man that assaulted him can't be
blamed as he was delusional, highly anxious and absolutely should not
have been in a house setting! The victim requested to be seen by a
doctor and was seen by Dr. Snyder who is a medical doctor who works for
Sovereign, who, in my opinion has sold out. Dr. Snyder didn't even
document his findings, but he told the young man that he had a broken
nose and needed surgery.

Upon leaving, I subsequently wrote a good
letter to Ruth Lewis, who is the Director of Operations there and
Sharma's right hand person, and I told her exactly what happened in
certain instances and what I thought of their unethical practices. She's
as cold as they come and tries to come off so caring, but she was
constantly at odds with the director of the house managers (who once was
compassionate and caring, who is now acts like she doesn't care),
coming down on her all the time, when half the time Ruth wasn't even
there. The meds problem is on going and no one seems to care. They are
always making excuses for the meds issues, which are grave mistakes that
could cost someone their life! Sharma hires interns because he can get
them cheaply, and I know there are only two people who are actually
licensed who work at the clinic, the rest they contract out so they
don't have to pay for insurance, etc. The patients would report to me that
the group sessions are redundant & boring and most of the time they get nothing
out of them.

Vickie Hartman was very much to blame for lying to patients to get them there
and I would listen to their complaints on a regular basis when they got there and it
was nothing like they were told or even what is described on their web site. I saw the
results of her lying firsthand. When I complained I was told that I was getting
too emotionally involved with the patients. This was not the case. I was a caring and
conscientious mental health worker who had a responsibility to be a support to my
patients, and in the scope of my duties, to care for them with compassion and
understanding. Sovereign is chaotic and the right hand didn't know what the left hand
was doing most of the time I was there! There is no communication among the clinicians and
other staff members at the clinic.

I hope and pray they are shut down soon and Sharma is kicked out of the
US, along with Ruth Lewis. They should go back to the UK where they
belong. They are lining their pockets with money taken from unsuspecting
families who are in desperate need of care for their loved ones. They
billed insurance companies for visits to the psychiatrist that never
took place, blood panels that were not taken, etc. I hope the
state gets back there to investigate them thoroughly!

Company: Sovereign Health of California
Country: USA
State: California
City: San Clemente
Address: 209 Avenida Fabricante, #100
Phone: 9499409141

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