Parents File Lawsuit Against Narconon After Owasso Woman Dies In Treatment

The parents of an Owasso woman found dead at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center have filed a lawsuit against the facility in Pittsburg County District Court.

Plaintiffs are Oklahoma residents Robert Murphy and Tonya White, parents of 20-year-old Stacy Dawn Murphy, who was found dead in the facility's withdrawal unit on July 19.

7/22/2012 Related Story: Father Calls Daughter's Death At McAlester Rehab Facility Preventable

The lawsuit filed on Friday alleges wrongful death, negligence, and violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. It lists the defendants as nonprofit Narconon Arrowhead, Narconon International, the Association for Better Living and Education International and Gerald D. Wootan, medical director of Narconon Arrowhead.

The defendants "all rely exclusively upon the written ‘technology' of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology… despite the fact that Hubbard has no known training or education in the field of drug and alcohol rehabilitation," the lawsuit alleges.

8/20/2012 Related Story: State Lawmaker Criticizes Drug Treatment Center Near McAlester

Robert Murphy told News On 6 this summer that when his daughter's prescription drug addiction escalated to heroin, she agreed to seek treatment at Narconon Arrowhead.

"We went there for her to be cured, safe," Robert Murphy said. "She had so much potential."

Robert Murphy said Stacy Murphy sneaked in drugs to the facility following a one-day visit home.

The lawsuit alleges while Stacy Murphy was in the withdrawal unit, "there was no nurse or physician on staff within the facility and, for at least two hours following a shift change, there were no staff members present within the facility to supervise Stacy. This was in complete contradiction to the statements and assurances made to Stacy's parents about Narconon Arrowhead's staff, specifically, assurances that a physician would be present 24 hours a day."

Read the petition filed against Narconon Arrowhead 

Robert Murphy said Narconon employees knew his daughter was on the verge of an overdose, but instead of providing her with the medical attention she needed, she was put in a room and left to die.

"My first thought was, ‘Well, Stacy did what she did to herself,'" Robert Murphy said this summer. "But after hearing what [Narconon] did know, there was no reason for her to die."

Two other patients died at Narconon Arrowhead this year, including another Oklahoman, Gabriel Graves, and a Texas woman, Hillary Holten.

Holten's family filed a lawsuit against Narconon in August.

9/23/2012 Related Story Family of Texas Woman Files Lawsuit Against Narconon