That’s the excuse given after the psychiatric facility’s latest disaster—one linked to a $24,500 fine from the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing for 15 violations involving poor facility management, staffing, training and resident abuse.
After 90 minutes punctuated by several episodes of vomiting, the patient’s temperature lowered and he became somewhat responsive again.
The incident involved a male resident found unresponsive in a bathtub with a body temperature of 105.7 degrees, and in immediate danger of hyperthermia. No one followed emergency protocols. No one picked up the phone to dial 911. No one had even checked on him every 15 minutes as required. Why? Because, as one employee put it, they “had 500 things to do.”
Instead of following procedure, they improvised—dragging the victim to an open exit door, exposing him to the 10-degree cold in an attempt to let Mother Nature do what they, as “professionals,” had failed to do. Luckily, after 90 minutes punctuated by several episodes of vomiting, the patient’s temperature lowered and he became somewhat responsive again.
The $24,500 fine is Iowa’s version of a severe punishment. It triples the standard $8,000 fine because the facility committed similar egregious violations in the previous 12 months.
Over the past 15 months alone, the Woodward Resource Center was found to have engaged in:
- Abuse: In October 2024, a staffer brutally shoved a patient, sending them crashing from a recliner to the floor. Two other staffers witnessed the incident, but failed to report it.
- Neglect: In March 2025, a patient who had been negligently left unsupervised complained of abdominal pain. It was later discovered he’d swallowed a plastic spoon and had to undergo emergency surgery to remove it.
- Assault: In August 2025, a female staffer physically attacked a patient for 15 minutes in what police described as “a completely unwarranted ass-kicking.” Three other staff stood by and watched.
- Death: In May 2025, a patient who was supposed to be checked every 15 to 30 minutes was left unsupervised throughout the night while a staffer chatted on his cell phone, failing to notice his patient had stopped breathing.
There are more examples. In each, as with the above, inspectors slapped Woodward’s wrist and exacted a fine—$500 here, $3,500 there and $10,000 for the death of a patient.
None of those penalties has prompted reform. And so the stakes have been raised. The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing really means business now: $24,500.
For some perspective: The annual budget of the Woodward Resource Center was approximately $55.2 million as of 2017. A $24,500 fine represents 4/100 of 1 percent of that budget.
Compare those figures with what the average American adult earns in a year: about $62,000. The same 4/100 of 1 percent amounts to $25. In plain English, what the Woodward Resource Center must pay for its negligence, ignorance and abuse makes the same dent in its wallet as a $25 parking ticket does in yours.
That is what passes for accountability when it comes to the Woodward Resource Center, with its $55.2 million annual budget and its repeated crimes against human rights and human life.
Twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars.
Or exactly zilch.
