The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has been ordered to pay $13 million as part of a settlement. The agency set off a frenzy after it held an unannounced active shooter drill at a psychiatric hospital for children, leaving its residents and staffers traumatized.
The drill happened on Dec. 21, 2022, at the Hawthorn Center, which was owned by the MDHHS, and started when someone at the front desk announced that there were two armed men inside the state-run facility. The announcement also said there had been shots fired.
The alleged shooters were two employees acting as fake intruders. They were not armed. However, the agency failed to inform Hawthorn Center staffers and patients, local police, dispatchers, or EMS that an active shooter drill was going on. This led the staff to herd the children into windowless rooms and stack chairs and mattresses against the doors. They also called 911, per The Washington Post.
Who Will Receive the Settlement
Following the drill, many patients and employees at the facility filed a lawsuit against the MDHHS. In the suit, they argued that the drill left them with post-traumatic stress.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the agency has agreed to pay $13 million as part of a settlement. The payment is expected to go to 50 patients and over 100 employees at the Hawthorn Center.
Specifically, the children are expected to receive around $60,000 while the staffers will get an average of $50,000, depending on how they score on a trauma exam, according to The Independent.
Despite agreeing to settle, the MDHHS has refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
Unannounced Active Shooter Drill's Effect on the Patients
The drill led to widespread panic at the facility, with some employees texting or calling their loved ones to tell them they were afraid of drying.
The drill also triggered many patients. Some have engaged in self-harm since the drill, others have also regressed in their symptoms. There were also several children who began acting out more and becoming physically aggressive with staffers and other patients after the drill.
In an interview with The Detroit News, Jennifer Vance, a Hawthorn Center employee, said the two children in her care at the time scratched themselves in panic.
