Female patient found dead at Centerstone in Bradenton

BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - Another mother is demanding answers after entrusting a Bradenton addiction center with her daughter, only to get a call that she had died in their care.

Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said it happened at the Centerstone Behavioral Hospital and Addiction Center on June 2.

“She said, uh I’m calling with bad news," Christine Hannis explained of the call she got from Centerstone staff. "Your daughter passed away during the night, she passed away. [Then the woman] hung up the phone.”

Hannis said that was it. That was the only explanation she got that her daughter, 30-year-old Jenna Mosley had died, one week after checking in to the Behavioral Hospital and Addiction Center.

“She was pretty sick Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Hannis explained. "That was her detox days. Thursday morning she called me, she wanted me to bring her... she sounded normal.”

Jenna Mosley had made it through the worst part. Thursday, she called to ask mom to bring her oranges, soda and iced tea.

Hannis did and said everything seemed fine.

“I talked to her on Friday, and the nurses, and then on Saturday when she didn’t call me, I called there at 7 o’clock at night," Hannis recalled. "I said what is going on with Jenna?”

The nurse told her that Jenna wasn’t eating or drinking, so Hannis recommended that they send her to the hospital.

“Never heard a word back that anyone had called," Hannis said.

Then the next call she received came the next morning. She was told Jenna was dead, but received no further explanation.

“I was in shock," said Hannis. "I couldn’t talk for a good five minutes. I just - tears were streaming down my face.”

A police report from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said a behavioral health technician was responsible for checking on Jenna.

The report said the technician told detectives that at 2 a.m. Sunday, Jenna was making a gagging sound, but they weren’t alarmed because this is common with detoxing.

At 6:15 a.m., the report said the technician went to get the equipment to check Jenna’s vitals as they did every morning.

When the employee approached the bed, she could tell Jenna was dead.

“And they heard her coughing, spitting and sputtering," said Hannis. "No one knew to check on her?”

A similar question asked by Shelly Boyette, who also lost someone in Centerstone’s care nearly two years ago.

“I said he cut his wrist the night before and no one was watching him?” Boyette questioned.

Her brother, Theodore committed suicide at Centerstone days after he was Baker Acted.

"How could this happen? How could this happen? When there’s video cameras of him, he was on a suicidal Baker Act, how could this happen?” questioned Boyette.

She said she’s still in the process of filing a lawsuit now and to this day she still hasn’t seen the surveillance video.

Now, Christine Hannis is asking the same questions.

“I’m not going to let it go away," she said. "If I have to fight with ACA, if I have to fight with the state attorney, if I have to talk to the state senator, I don’t care. If I have to talk to DCF, I will talk to everybody.”

Centerstone said its policy is to check on patients every 15 minutes.

Management just rolled out a new digital wristband system to ensure that staff are actually completing these checks.

When ABC7 asked staff if this was a response to Jenna Mosley’s death, they could not answer directly, but did say that this system has been in the planning stages for months.

As far as what happened to her, Centerstone sent he following statement:

“Our hearts go out to the Mosley family for their loss. The death of any patient is devastating and something that deeply impacts our entire staff, who are dedicated to the highest standards in the care and safety of our patients. Centerstone, a not-for-profit behavioral health hospital, has stringent state, federal and third party accreditation standards of quality care for people who are in the grips of dangerous addictions, and have invested in state-of-the-art technology to ensure the safety of our patients and staff. Out of respect for patient privacy, and in accordance with HIPAA privacy laws, we are unable to comment further.”

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