The outgoing president of Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital (VPH), part of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), combined the hospital’s services to patients in psychiatric crisis in 2016, three years before the Covenant School killer was referred to VPH for commitment and instead enrolled in an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).
The Tennessee Star reported on June 7 that Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators learned within hours of Hale’s March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, which claimed the lives of six, that the killer was a 22-year mental health patient of VUMC.
Detectives were initially advised of Hale’s treatment at VUMC by Hale’s mother, and while searching the Hale family home discovered a folder that contains items from the IOP in which Hale participated in 2019.
Hale was reportedly referred to VPH for immediate commitment by her first psychologist, who she began seeing in 2001 when she was just six years old.
According to an August 2016 press release, a Psychiatric Assessment Service (PAS) was created at VPH by Mary Pawlikowski, who was then serving as the vice president of operations for VPH.
The PAS created by Pawlikowski (pictured above) combined existing services offered by VUMC into one program, creating a streamlined process for receiving patients suffering from psychiatric crises and determining next steps.
According to the press release, individuals are first “evaluated in the Adult Emergency Department,” and if next steps are warranted, “two PAS staff members” retrieve the patient “and drive them back to the PAS, a locked facility.”
Pawlikowski explained, “The way we handle and manage an individual in a psychiatric crisis is very different from the way they’re managed in an emergency department or another facility. Our staff are experts at providing psychiatric care. They’re trained to work with individuals who suffer from mental illness and addiction.”
She later highlighted the “therapeutic and safe environment for patients coming in acute psychiatric crises.”
In the years that followed, Pawlikowski was promoted to president of VPH. Her retirement was originally announced in March, and scheduled for September, but her replacement was identified and her retirement moved up to July 15 amid reporting about the connections between VUMC, VPH, and Hale by The Star.
Pawlikowski was in charge of VPH at the time Hale was part of the IOP, when she was apparently given “soothing” techniques.
She also appears to have been president of VPH during the period when notes were taken by mental health professionals, which an MNPD investigator wrote revealed Hale told her mental health care team she experienced suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation, including fantasies of killing her father and committing a school shooting.
Both Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuits that seek to compel both the MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings, including those sometimes called a manifesto.
Among the approximately 80 pages of Hale’s writings and additional documents related to the Covenant investigation obtained by The Star is an FBI memo addressed to MNPD Chief John Drake.
In the memo, the federal agency “strongly” advised against releasing “legacy tokens” from killers like Hale, and an FBI definition suggests both the documents obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuits are considered unfit for release by the federal agency.
The FBI declined to confirm that it sent the memo in a statement to The Star but acknowledged that it sends such “products” to local law enforcement.
Since Hale’s writings and documents were obtained, The Star has published more than 50 articles that include the killer’s words and new details about the Covenant investigation.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mary Pawlikowski” by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
