Kristoff St. John, who’s best known to soap-opera fans as Neil Winters on ‘The Young and the Restless,” has filed a lawsuit against the owner of a mental health facility, claiming that his son Julian died as a result of “widespread and pervasive” negligence on the facility’s part.
The lawsuit, filed by St. John and his ex-wife Mia, claims that the November suicide of Julian would have been prevented had staff members at La Casa Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Long Beach, Calif., acted “with even the slightest regard for Julian’s safety.”
The claim is filed against La Casa’s parent company, Telecare Corporation.
According to the complaint, Julian who suffered from schizophrenia, was supposed to be on suicide at the time of his death, and was supposed to be checked on every fifteen minutes, but that staff hadn’t checked on the 24-year-old for nearly an hour before he was found in a bathroom of the facility with a bag over his head.
“This lawsuit is to shed light on the inefficiency and the incompetency that happens in mental hospitals nationwide,” the actor said to ET in an interview Tuesday. “We have a bad health care system. … People should never die in the hospital for lack of care.”
The lawsuit also raises questions about when the facility called 911. According to St. John, the facility claimed to have called 911 a minute after Julian was found, but that emergency responders’ records how that they hadn’t been contacted by the facility until nearly half an hour after that.
The facility is also accused of falsifying documents to cover up its alleged negligence, including multiple false reports making it seem that Julian had been checked on more often than he actually was on the day of his death.
Alleging negligence, negligent supervision, negligent retention and wrongful death, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
A spokesperson for Telecare has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.