Patients in Peril series

From a violent patient allowed to roam free to a pregnancy case that violated policy at every turn and nurses who falsified documents to cover their mistakes, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation exposed a raft of problems at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, home to the county's most vulnerable residents. Reporters Meg Kissinger and Steve Schultze found lax oversight at the complex allowed a patient with a history of violence, including sexual assault, to repeatedly find new victims, including one who became pregnant and another he is charged with sexually assaulting. Staffers repeatedly allowed the patient to leave the secure ward, including overnight visits to a group home, at times signing charts to say he was being checked every 15 minutes.