Mom sues after 24-year-old daughter fatally overdoses in CA rehab. ‘She wanted help’

Melissa Bauman was excited about getting clean, her mother said.

In July, the 24-year-old had just relapsed after more than a year-and-a-half without drug use, and she was ready for treatment, her mother, Karri Ryder, told McClatchy News.

“She wanted help,” she said, “and she needed help.”

Ryder dropped her daughter off at Arlington Recovery Community & Sobering Center in Riverside on July 24.

Two days later, she was dead.

Ryder is now suing Riverside County and MFI Recovery Center, the corporation that owns the Arlington Recovery Community & Sobering Center.

Staff failed to properly monitor Bauman while she was in detox and didn’t provide potentially life-saving measures, such as NARCAN, when she was overdosing, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 8. Staff also falsified the facility’s detox observation log after Bauman’s death, according to the lawsuit.

Representatives of MFI Recovery, which has three other California locations, did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

California Department of Health Care Services officials temporarily closed the residential treatment portion of the Riverside facility in December, according to The Press-Enterprise.

A phone call to the facility was not answered and there was no ability to leave a voicemail.

A spokesperson for Riverside County told KTLA that a state health official cited MFI Recovery for deficiencies at the Riverside facility and revoked its provisional license.

A spokesperson for Riverside County did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

“She was willing to get help”

When Ryder picked her daughter up at a restaurant in Riverside Plaza at around 10:30 p.m. on July 24, she saw that Bauman really wanted to get sober.

“She was emotional,” Ryder said. “She was excited about getting clean. You could tell that she was done. She was ready.”

Bauman had suffered from addiction for the previous six years, although she spent a 19-month stint drug-free and participated in Narcotics Anonymous, her mother said.

Bauman loved her family and was extremely close with her mother and two sisters. They liked to hang out together, play video games and go out for bubble tea.

“Me and my kids, we spent every holiday, every birthday, every important occasion together, no matter how old they got,” said Ryder, whose other two daughters are now 26 and 16.

“My whole entire world shattered”

Just before 8 a.m. on July 26, a friend whom Bauman had authorized on her release of medical information went to Ryder’s house and told her Bauman had died of a fentanyl overdose.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Ryder said. “She was in treatment. I was confused.

“I think I just kept saying, ‘What? She’s in treatment.’ Then, of course, my whole entire world shattered.”

Bauman had been found unresponsive in her dorm at the treatment center just before 6 a.m. and was pronounced dead at around 6:30 a.m., according to the lawsuit.

Law enforcement opened an investigation into the facility and found that video surveillance of staff activity did not match the facility’s observation log, the lawsuit says.

“Despite logs indicating MFI Recovery Center employees checked on (Bauman) at 3:38 a.m. and 4:59 a.m., video evidence clearly showed this to be false,” the complaint says.

According to the California Department of Health Care Services, patients in residential detoxification programs should be checked face-to-face every 30 minutes.

On more than 20 occasions, staff at MFI Recovery Center were late in performing check-ups, according to the lawsuit.

“They put her in a room, and then they ignored her,” Elan Zektser, the attorney representing Ryder, told McClatchy News. “You can’t do that to people.”

“Melissa should be here”

Ever since Bauman’s death, Ryder said her family has been struggling.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “It’s hard for me to bring them any comfort because no one can bring me any comfort.”

Her youngest daughter, who used to get good grades, has been having difficulty at school.

“She has a hard time making it through the days,” she said. “She’s breaking down at school in the bathroom.

“Basically, we’re all like one piece,” Ryder said of herself and her three daughters. “And now ... it’s not even like a missing piece, we’re all just shattered.”

Ryder remembers Bauman for her strong sense of faith and ability to make an impression on everyone she met.

“Melissa is the type of person that you remember if you meet her once or twice,” she said. “She’s the person that in the grocery store tells the lady in front of her that her hair looks nice.”

The lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $10 million. But Ryder and her lawyer also want to change the standards for treatment facilities so that they will take better care of their patients.

“I hope that treatment facilities and mental health facilities will open their eyes and know that they can’t just take people in and not take care of them,” Ryder said.

For Ryder, people with addiction should be treated with the same respect as anyone seeking medical care.

“I just want people to know that Melissa should be here,” she said, “and that addicts matter, and they deserve honest treatment.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Mom sues after 24-year-old daughter fatally overdoses in CA rehab. ‘She wanted help’."