EDMOND, Okla. (KFOR)—A couple weeks ago, News 4 brought a story of three teens who escaped from Cedar Ridge Behavioral Hospital in Oklahoma City. After that story aired, another family reached out to News 4 telling us about an incident at a different Cedar Ridge facility in Bethany.
Last august, Adell Sweet was admitted to Cedar Ridge in Bethany for geriatric psychiatry care. Less than 24 hours later, she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
“When you kiss them goodbye and say goodbye to them, you trust that they’re being cared for,” said Denise Diaz, a daughter of Adell Sweet.
Sweet was 72 years old when she was admitted to Cedar Ridge Behavioral Hospital in Bethany on August 18, 2022.
Her daughter said Sweet had the early stages of dementia and was highly medicated from the transport to Cedar Ridge that day.
“I kissed her goodbye. And that was the last time I saw my mom alive, you know,” said Diaz.
According to the lawsuit, at 1:20 in the morning on August 19, Sweet fell and hit her head.
“So apparently during the night, and I’m just speaking from what I’ve been able to find out, because it took us months to get information, they gave her two more medications, one being antipsychotic and the other one being an anti-anxiety drug, I believe, or a sleeping medication,” said Diaz.
Diaz said she wasn’t told about her mothers accident, for another nine hours.
“I got a call from Edmond Trauma Center that my mom had been brought in to the trauma center and that I needed to come make a decision to take her off life support. It took three days, you know, and she passed away,” said Diaz.
Diaz says in the year that has followed her mother’s death, Cedar Ridge hasn’t reached out once.
“I never heard from them. The only phone call I ever got was when was I going to pick up her things. And I was just surprised by that, that not a single person had called to follow up or say, how was she doing,” said Diaz.
Now, she’s filing a lawsuit. A lawyer not involved in the case spoke with News 4 to break it down.
“Basically, the gist of this is that they’re suing apparently Cedar Ridge through Universal Health in a tortious negligence action concerning the mother who died at… it looks like OU Health Center after they had been admitted at the Bethany facility,” said Richard Morrissette, a lawyer.
We reached out to Cedar Ridge for a comment on Adell Sweet’s death and the lawsuit.
Due to pending litigation, we cannot provide comment at this time
Statement from Cedar Ridge Behavioral Hospital
A pre-trial in the case is set for January 17.
