After a recent investigation, the Guam Legal Services Corporation Disability Law Center is raising serious concerns about the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, alleging it failed to address practices that put vulnerable patients at risk in harm’s way.

"Elopement" in a clinical setting refers to when a patient leaves a psychiatric facility without permission or supervision, often tied to serious mental illness or a diminished ability to make safe decisions. Now, the GLSC is calling-out GBHWC, accusing the agency of failing to address practices that have allowed these incidents to happen repeatedly.

Attorney Daniel Somerfleck, GLSC's executive director, told KUAM News, “This isn’t a new issue for us - we’ve been talking about this for months about their intake process, and unfortunately, they continue to do it. And this last six months, we’ve been seeing the negative consequences of it.”

Somerfleck says there have been five elopements from the center since the start of the year, despite the individuals being determined a danger to themselves or others, or considered gravely disabled.  “They’re not brought there because everything’s great–they’re brought there by police officers, family members, airport police, because they’re showing signs of serious mental illness or behavioral issues," he stated.

"In one situation, an individual was locked out--they wouldn’t let him back in, so he left.”

Somerfleck also pointing to an apparent lack of dignity in the intake process, noting that individuals are often left outside under a pavilion while awaiting commitment. “Anyone driving by can see the person with their intake going on. So, I find that very objectionable–that it does not provide privacy or confidentiality to someone who is in emotional ," he said.

He says his law center has been meeting with the agency for months, but there has been no meaningful change. This, after his organization discovered the Behavioral Health Center lacks specific policies and procedures or written guidance in place to prevent or respond to elopements; grave issues that he says can have serious consequences, including injury or even death.

And while Somerfleck says a lawsuit isn’t on the table yet, with ongoing efforts to resolve the issue, legal action isn’t completely off the table either. He explained, “We’ve now brought the issue to the public–hopefully, the issue will be corrected. And if not, we’ll start looking at our options as far as litigation is concerned.”