Army Rejects Woman's Claim Over Psychiatric Hold

PHOTO CAPTION: Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Jennifer Lowers is challenging the Army’s rejection of a federal claim stemming from treatment she received there before a 17-day psychiatric hospitalization in 2021. U.S. Army file photo.

The Army has rejected a federal claim from a woman who says a 2021 visit to Eisenhower Army Medical Center for a severe migraine ultimately led to her being sedated, transported roughly 200 miles away and held at a psychiatric facility for 17 days.
Jennifer Lowers is now formally disputing the Army’s determination and paying for her own expert to review the medical records.
Lowers went to the emergency room at Eisenhower Army Medical Center on Feb. 23, 2021.
According to records reviewed by WRDW’s 12 On Your Side investigative team, she had suffered from a migraine and had not slept for at least five days.
Lowers says she had experienced migraines accompanied by expressive aphasia, which can make speaking difficult, for decades and had previously been treated at another military hospital.
The Eisenhower intake paperwork recorded no mental health issues.
Later that day, however, medical personnel became concerned about her behavior.
Records show Lowers argued with her husband after he said he needed to return home to their daughters. When he left, she attempted to leave the emergency room as well.
Staff restrained her and administered Haldol and Ativan.
Lowers says that is the last part of her time at Eisenhower that she clearly remembers.
The treating physician ultimately documented her condition as most consistent with acute mania, while noting that a first psychiatric episode at age 40 would be atypical.
Thirty-six minutes after making the decision to transfer her, the physician signed paperwork sending Lowers to Saint Simons by the Sea, a psychiatric facility roughly 200 miles away.
An Army expert who later reviewed her federal claim agreed with that assessment, according to WRDW, describing her presentation as highly consistent with a manic episode.
One of the disputed parts of Lowers’ treatment happened before that transfer.
While she was sedated, hospital personnel used a catheter to obtain a urine sample.
Correspondence reviewed by WRDW shows an Eisenhower attorney acknowledged that Lowers could not consent because she was sedated and said Saint Simons by the Sea required a urinalysis before accepting a transferred patient.
The Army’s reviewing expert later concluded the procedure was appropriate.
Lowers was then transported to Saint Simons by the Sea.
She says she has no memory of the trip or her arrival.
The following day, Lowers called 911 from inside the facility after experiencing pain and bleeding and asked to undergo a sexual assault examination.
She was transported to another hospital, where records show an emergency physician consulted a sexual assault nurse examiner.
No examination was ultimately performed, and Lowers was returned to Saint Simons.
Her psychiatrist there documented that he could not entirely rule out that an incident might have occurred before her admission.
Lowers later made a report to police.
Police interviewed the physician who had sedated her at Eisenhower and eventually closed their investigation without filing criminal charges.
Lowers remained at Saint Simons for 17 days.
Records reviewed by WRDW show that a petition was filed seeking authority to hold her for as long as another six months.
Lowers says her husband threatened to hire an attorney, and she was subsequently released.
In the years since, she has filed complaints with police, federal regulators and the psychiatric facility.
She also filed a federal claim involving her treatment at Eisenhower.
Last month, the Army responded.
According to WRDW, the Army’s expert supported the original diagnosis and treatment decisions and concluded that Lowers’ claim was not compensable.
Lowers is contesting that determination.
She is asking questions about the identity of the Army’s reviewing expert, which records were considered and whether anything was omitted from the review.
She is also paying for an independent expert to review the same medical records.
She has 60 days to challenge the Army’s finding.
The psychiatric facility where Lowers was held is owned by Universal Health Services.
In 2020, less than a year before Lowers’ hospitalization, Universal Health Services and related entities agreed to pay $122 million to resolve federal allegations involving behavioral health facilities across the country.
The Justice Department alleged practices including medically unnecessary inpatient treatment, excessive lengths of stay and improper use of physical and chemical restraints.
The settlement did not constitute an admission of liability, and the allegations were not proven in court.
The Army, meanwhile, maintains through its expert review that the medical decisions made during Lowers’ Eisenhower visit were appropriate and that her federal claim does not warrant compensation.
Lowers continues to challenge that conclusion.