Many patients and employees at the Hawthorn Center filed a class-action lawsuit against the MDHHS last year, claiming that the shooter drill gave them post-traumatic stress and upended their lives. The law firm representing the plaintiffs announced Tuesday that the MDHHS agreed to pay a total of $13 million, most of which will go to 50 patients and more than 100 staff members, as part of a settlement.
You can't erase the emotional distress that people went through, Robin Wagner, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told The Washington Post. But you can make a meaningful improvement in the quality of their lives through this kind of compensation.
The MDHHS did not admit wrongdoing, according to the settlement agreement in Michigan's Court of Claims. Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the MDHHS, said in a statement that the department felt it was in the best interest of all involved parties to settle this matter.
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