Mamie Bah stood outside the wrought‑iron gates of Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Upper St. Clair, where the family of a 10‑year‑old boy has filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually assaulted by another patient. In a complaint filed this week, attorneys say the boy was admitted in October 2023 for suicidal ideation and initially housed alone. But after three days, hospital staff moved him into a shared room—rounding out what would become a night of horror for the child and his family.
Amy Mathieu, the family’s attorney, describes a systemic breakdown. “He was placed in a shared room with two other boys, and one of them sexually assaulted him in the middle of the night,” she told CBS Pittsburgh, stressing that no staff member made a single check during the attack. Court documents further allege that the door to the room was left cracked open throughout the assault, despite the known risk posed by the other patient—described in the suit as having a history of sexually deviant behavior.…