Family of psychiatric patient sues hospital over who apparent suicide

Martin Jensen, as special administrator of the estate of Kristine Jensen, filed suit Nov. 13 in the Cook County Circuit Court on Nov. 13 against Riveredge Hospital Inc. and Universal Health Services Inc.

According to the suit, Kristine Jensen was discharged from Elgin Mental Health center on June 7, and taken to Riveredge Hospital. She was allegedly being treated for suicidal thoughts and apparently attempted to commit suicide in a Lake County Sheriff's vehicle while being transported from Elgin to Riverege.

Martin Jensen claims that despite Kristin's attempts at suicide, Riveredge evaluated her and listed her observation level as routine, so she was checked on every fifteen minutes.

The suit states Kristine was placed in a room that contained a ceiling vent, something Riveredge had allegedly been told to change.

He claims that on June 8, Kristine put her bed sheet through the slats in the ceiling vent, wrapped it around her neck and committed suicide.

The suit alleges that 48 hours following Kristine's suicide, Riveredge replaced all the ceiling vents.

Martin Jensen is now suing for negligence and wrongful death, accusing the defendants of failing to provide adequate supervision of Kristine and negligently maintaining the rooms by failing to remove the ceiling vents.

Jensen is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. He is being represented by attorney Mark J. Vogg.

Circuit Court of Cook County Case No. 2013L012664.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.