Before we tally up the successful rehab-related legislation this session — and mourn the kneecapping of bills that might have made a difference — we’d like to remind you why this matters.

Behold the new pile of wrongful death, injury and abandonment lawsuits on my desk.

There’s the mother of four who was recruited to a La Jolla addiction treatment center. She suffered from severe mental health and recurring substance use disorders — with a history of self-harm — but no one paid much attention as she began acting erratically, descended into psychosis and got hold of a knife. Witnesses said the facility spent at least four hours cleaning up the mess before calling 911, “in an attempt to cover-up their negligence and neglect in failing to prevent her tragic and preventable death,” the suit said.

There’s the addict who repeatedly managed to use at an Anaheim facility “where drug and alcohol consumption was a daily occurrence.” An employee gave the man narcotics, and the man then overdosed in a bathroom before being pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the suit.

Read more here: The OC Register