If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 9-8-8, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Rose had already attempted suicide at least half a dozen times before the teenager’s parents found an appropriate residential care facility for her, three states and more than 500 miles away.
Rose, then 15, had been in and out of the emergency department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She had tried two residential programs and one partial hospitalization program in two separate states. But nothing had eased her suicidal urges.
Finally, she was getting a treatment that was helping at Rogers Behavioral Health in Oconomowoc, Wis., a small town 35 minutes west of Milwaukee.
But a little over two months into her stay, just as Rose was starting to feel better, the family’s health insurance – Medical Mutual of Ohio – declined to cover any further treatment.
“I was in my office when we got an email from Rogers that included a copy of the fax denial,” says Rose’s father, Michael. “I was shocked.”
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