Phoenixville Hospital staff gave man a ‘lethal dose’ of medication during mental-health crisis, his family says

The last time Jenni Broadwell saw Matthew Dougherty, her longtime boyfriend, they shared dinner in his room at Phoenixville Hospital, where he had been admitted after a mental-health crisis, and they were looking forward to his discharge the next day.

But later that evening, an alarm went off in a nearby room and triggered panic in Dougherty, who had schizophrenia, and he barricaded himself in his room, his family said. He ignored commands from staffers who tried to calm him and eventually called police to help restrain him, and medical staff gave him what turned out to be a lethal dose of antipsychotic medication, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit his family filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Broadwell, who had been summoned back to the hospital, said she was asked to wait in the hallway outside the room as staff tried — and failed — to revive him.

“They just came out and told me ‘We’re so sorry to inform you that he’s passed away,’” Broadwell said in an interview.

She said she didn’t learn how Dougherty died until weeks later, after his family requested and reviewed hospital records that detailed his final moments.

Now, his family is reeling. They said hospital staff denied Dougherty the daily medication he took to treat his schizophrenia, a decision that baffles them. And they’re outraged that the hospital called in police, who used a Taser to try to subdue him, according to the lawsuit.

“When you take a person to the hospital, they’re supposed to get better,” Dougherty’s sister, Marijo Marchiafava, said. “It’s not a prison. You’re supposed to treat them kindly. You’re supposed to help them.”

Dougherty, 51, a prolific artist and former teacher in the Philadelphia School District, had been admitted to the hospital in May after getting injured during a scuffle with police at his home in Phoenixville. Broadwell’s daughter called officers for help after Dougherty locked himself in the home in what his family described as a state of paranoia.

Attorneys for Tower Health, the company that operates Phoenixville Hospital, did not respond to requests for comment, and had not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Monday.

Jordan Strokovsky, the Center City attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Dougherty’s family, said the case makes clear that the hospital was ill-equipped to deal with the effects of his mental illness.

“Mental health care should be treated with the same seriousness and access as physical health care,” he said. “Matt did not deserve this, and hopefully there will be major reforms from the hospital as a result of this tragedy.”

Dougherty was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, his family said. At the time, he was a graduate student living in Manhattan, and often passed through the World Trade Center on his daily commute, they said. On the morning of the attacks, Dougherty was running late, missed his train and narrowly avoided the death and destruction of the day.

In the years that followed, Dougherty developed paranoia and experienced hallucinations, telling his family the police were trying to arrest him. His delusions were controlled by medication, according to the lawsuit, and he was able to thrive as an artist and teacher, building a life for himself as he got married and had a son who remained close to him even after a divorce.

Dougherty was active in the arts community in West Chester, according to Charlot Barker, the director of the Ginkgo Arts center.

“Matt just breathed life into the place,” Barker said. “If anyone came in to admire other artists’ works, he became their biggest cheerleader.”

Before he was admitted to Phoenixville Hospital, Dougherty had spent the day at Gingko Arts, helping prepare for an upcoming festival. Broadwell believes the pressure of that responsibility, as well as higher-than-usual foot traffic outside their house for an event in downtown Phoenixville, triggered Dougherty’s delusions that people were trying to kidnap him.

When he came home, Broadwell said, he locked her out of the house and refused to open the door. She said she called a crisis line for help, but was told that unless Dougherty had harmed himself or another person, they wouldn’t be able to provide assistance.

Frustrated and unsure what to do, Dougherty’s family called Phoenixville police, who were able to force the door open. Dougherty, already paranoid that someone was trying to capture him, fought with the officers in a melee that overturned furniture and damaged the home’s kitchen, the lawsuit said.

The officers used a Taser on him, and injuries from the fight landed him in the hospital, where doctors decided to keep him until he was medically cleared to transfer to a psychiatric facility.

While he was at Phoenixville Hospital, doctors stopped giving Dougherty the medications prescribed by his psychiatrist, a decision that the lawsuit described as “highly improper.”

“There’s no world where Matt should be gone,” Broadwell said. “I feel like [the hospital staff] didn’t take him seriously and didn’t care for him. And we can’t let this happen to another family.”

The day before his scheduled release, when an alarm went off in a nearby room, Dougherty barricaded himself in his room with chairs, threatened staff members, and refused commands to calm down.

Security staff called police, whose appearance in Dougherty’s hospital room was a “major trigger” for him, the suit said.

The officers used a Taser on Dougherty to help restrain him, and then nurses gave him two doses of Geodon, a drug used to treat schizophrenia — 40mg, a dose the lawsuit equated to administering poison.

Minutes later, the suit said, Dougherty went into cardiac arrest.