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Sen. Creigh Deeds settles wrongful death lawsuit in son's suicide
Donny Ferguson 🗽 Retweeted:Sen. @CreighDeeds settles $6 million lawsuit against a former employee of a local mental health agency that he blames for 2013 death of his son. It was settled for $950,000.
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Sen. Creigh Deeds settles wrongful death lawsuit in son's suicide
By Alison Graham [email protected] 540-981-3324 17 hrs ago
State Sen. Creigh Deeds has settled a $6 million lawsuit against a former employee of a local mental health agency that he blames for the 2013 death of his son. ... Deeds and his family settled the wrongful death lawsuit for $950,000 on Oct. 10 in Bath County Circuit Court against Michael Gentry, a former mental health evaluator with the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board.
The lawsuit was filed in 2016, three years after Deeds’ son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, 24, attacked his father at their Bath County farm before killing himself. Local mental health service employees had allowed Gus Deeds to leave a hospital after determining he was a danger to himself and others. ... Creigh Deeds, concerned about his son’s deteriorating mental condition, went to a Bath County magistrate to obtain an emergency custody order on Nov. 18, 2013. The order authorized a deputy sheriff to transport Gus Deeds to Bath Community Hospital to be evaluated by a mental health staffer.
The mental health evaluator, Gentry, determined Gus Deeds was a danger and needed to be committed. Under state law at the time, Gentry had six hours to find a bed in a mental health facility before Deeds would be free to leave the hospital. ... Gentry called or faxed at least seven hospitals, but said he was unable to locate space for Deeds. A state investigation later revealed that Gentry did not call 27 of 34 available facilities — five of which had room to take Deeds.
Even after the six-hour limit passed, state law allowed Gentry to keep looking for a bed after Deeds left Bath Community Hospital. Gentry did not continue his search until the next day, when it was too late. ... Angry that his father tried to have him committed, Gus Deeds returned to his father’s farm that day and stabbed him repeatedly in the face and torso. Creigh Deeds managed to escape and was airlifted to a local hospital. Left behind at the farm, Gus Deeds fatally shot himself with a rifle.
....
Alison Graham covers Botetourt and Rockbridge counties and Lexington. She’s originally from Indianapolis and a graduate of Indiana University.
By Alison Graham [email protected] 540-981-3324 17 hrs ago
State Sen. Creigh Deeds has settled a $6 million lawsuit against a former employee of a local mental health agency that he blames for the 2013 death of his son. ... Deeds and his family settled the wrongful death lawsuit for $950,000 on Oct. 10 in Bath County Circuit Court against Michael Gentry, a former mental health evaluator with the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board.
The lawsuit was filed in 2016, three years after Deeds’ son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, 24, attacked his father at their Bath County farm before killing himself. Local mental health service employees had allowed Gus Deeds to leave a hospital after determining he was a danger to himself and others. ... Creigh Deeds, concerned about his son’s deteriorating mental condition, went to a Bath County magistrate to obtain an emergency custody order on Nov. 18, 2013. The order authorized a deputy sheriff to transport Gus Deeds to Bath Community Hospital to be evaluated by a mental health staffer.
The mental health evaluator, Gentry, determined Gus Deeds was a danger and needed to be committed. Under state law at the time, Gentry had six hours to find a bed in a mental health facility before Deeds would be free to leave the hospital. ... Gentry called or faxed at least seven hospitals, but said he was unable to locate space for Deeds. A state investigation later revealed that Gentry did not call 27 of 34 available facilities — five of which had room to take Deeds.
Even after the six-hour limit passed, state law allowed Gentry to keep looking for a bed after Deeds left Bath Community Hospital. Gentry did not continue his search until the next day, when it was too late. ... Angry that his father tried to have him committed, Gus Deeds returned to his father’s farm that day and stabbed him repeatedly in the face and torso. Creigh Deeds managed to escape and was airlifted to a local hospital. Left behind at the farm, Gus Deeds fatally shot himself with a rifle.
....
Alison Graham covers Botetourt and Rockbridge counties and Lexington. She’s originally from Indianapolis and a graduate of Indiana University.
