DMN Investigates: Troubled Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital Is Closing Before the State Can Shut It Down

Timberlawn psychiatric hospital says it is voluntarily closing its doors, just a week after state officials threatened to shut down the century-old treatment center because it was too dangerous for patients.“Our intention to close Timberlawn comes after completing a comprehensive, careful review,” chief executive James Miller wrote Thursday in a letter to staff obtained by The Dallas Morning News.He later issued a similar statement to The News, saying that the hospital’s owners had decided to shutter it in December, before the state threatened to yank its license and fine it $600,000. Timberlawn is appealing those sanctions.It’s unclear exactly when the last patient will leave Timberlawn, which was once a premier mental-health facility but in recent years has had safety problems, including sexual assaults.An employee who answered the phone Thursday said the hospital was still accepting new patients.  Continue reading...

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