State sanctions Corpus Christi psychiatric facility

June 22, 2012

CORPUS CHRISTI — A private Corpus Christi psychiatric hospital has been sanctioned by the state for incomplete medical records and failing to provide a qualified dietitian.

The Department of State Health Services found the violations after a June 2011 investigation into Padre Behavioral Hospital following a complaint.

The hospital, which was purchased by Corpus Christi Medical Center in December and renamed Bayview Behavioral Hospital, paid the state an administrative penalty of $3,500, according to action made public in May.

The 68-bed hospital on Wooldridge Road offers psychiatric services for children and adults.

Raeann Wielgot, who oversaw the hospital at the time and to whom the Jan. 2 notice of violation was addressed, could not be reached for comment. She is now the hospital's director of nursing and ancillary services.

Corpus Christi Medical Center declined to answer questions.

"Please contact the previous owner of Padre Behavioral Hospital for information regarding your request," spokeswoman Lisa Robertson said in an email.

Records obtained from the state show the hospital paid a $1,000 penalty for not having a dietitian as required by state rule. The dietitian suspended service at the hospital in early June and the service was still suspended when investigators visited around June 22, according to the state's notice of violation.

The remaining $2,500 was assessed after the state found problems among the 215 medical charts reviewed, including no psychiatric evaluation completed during one patient's one-month stay and 44 cases of psychiatric evaluations that weren't done within 60 hours of admission.

In the past year, seven private psychiatric hospitals statewide have been sanctioned by the Department of State Health Services, with administrative penalties reaching as high as $117,000 in one case.

Source: Rhiannon Meyers, "State sanctions private Corpus Christi psychiatric hospital," Corpus Christi Caller, June 1, 2012.