What happened to me at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab

Who I am

My name is Jake Warner. I went to Exclusive Hawaii Rehab as a voluntary residential patient because I wanted to get well. I am not anonymous, and I am not exaggerating for effect. I have recorded a short video so you can see who I am, hear this in my own words, and judge my credibility for yourself.

My account

I was admitted to Exclusive Hawaii Rehab (EHR), a licensed Special Treatment Facility in Hakalau, on May 25, 2026. My plan of care projected roughly 30 days, with the possibility of extending up to 90 if it were medically appropriate. I went there to do the work.

During my stay I developed a severe physical reaction. There was visible mold in the facility — including in the bathroom, which I photographed (see the photographs below). I believe my condition was triggered by the facility environment, and my understanding from EHR's own treating providers at the time was that my condition was connected to that environment. I ended up isolating in my room with an air purifier I bought myself.

By Tuesday, June 16, my lead therapist — a licensed clinical social worker — determined that it was no longer medically appropriate for me to remain, and together we set a plan to discharge me and get me to the airport within two days. That plan was not carried out. A safe, properly documented discharge did not follow, and over the next several days my condition worsened. On June 20 I required ambulance transport to leave. I was then left to arrange and pay for my own way home, with no completed discharge and no continuity-of-care plan.

Their own clinicians determined I needed to leave for my health. Rather than help me leave safely, the facility allowed days to pass as my condition worsened, until I needed an ambulance — and I was then left to arrange my own way home.

I want to be clear about what this is and is not. This is not about money; I am not seeking payment here. What I am asking for is accountability and a correct, properly documented discharge. Several staff members acted with real care and tried to help me — my concern is with the facility's leadership and ownership, not with the clinicians who supported me.

What I saw happen to others

My discharge was not an isolated lapse. In the roughly four weeks I was there — at a facility of about eight beds — I watched one emergency after another, and what I saw of the staff's ability to respond in those moments alarmed me. To protect the privacy of the people involved, I do not name them, and I describe their medical situations only as far as is necessary to show how the facility responded.

Evidence and photographs

Everything I describe here is documented. I kept contemporaneous notes and transcripts, I have audio recordings, I have photographs of the facility environment and of my own condition, and I hold the facility's own records — including the discharge plan signed by its staff and a supporting letter from my therapist.

Drop your ambulance photo into the photos folder (as ambulance.jpg, .png, or .jpeg) and it appears here.

I am willing to be named, to be interviewed, and to provide my documentation to regulators, officials, and journalists. Records and recordings that involve other residents contain private health information; those will be shared only with the authorities through proper, confidential channels — never published here.

What I have asked the facility for — and not received

Since I left, I have asked EHR for three straightforward things that any patient is entitled to:

1. A discharge letter from the Medical Director confirming, consistent with the clinical record, that my departure was medically necessary and made on clinical recommendation — not against medical advice.
2. Written confirmation of how my discharge is being recorded and coded, accurately reflecting that clinical record — a medically necessary discharge, not "against medical advice" and not a transfer.
3. A complete copy of my medical record.

To date the facility has not provided the discharge letter and has declined to confirm in writing how the discharge is being coded, directing me instead to my insurer. How a departure is coded is consequential: if it is recorded as "against medical advice" or as a transfer rather than as the medically necessary discharge its own clinicians described, it can jeopardize insurance coverage and complicate a patient's ability to enter care elsewhere. A facility confirming its own coding is not something an insurer's statement can substitute for.

Who owns these facilities

Exclusive Hawaii Rehab (exclusivehawaiirehab.com) is owned by Scott Schroeder and his wife, Jill Laird. The same couple also owns and operates Hawaii Island Recovery in Kailua-Kona (hawaiianrecovery.com). And before Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, Scott Schroeder founded and ran Maui Recovery in Lahaina, Maui (mauirecovery.com), a facility he is no longer involved with. In other words, the people responsible for how I was treated are responsible for more than one Hawaiʻi treatment facility.

Scott Schroeder's history in his prior career as a securities broker is a matter of public regulatory record. The following are documented facts, each traceable to the sources linked below:

Permanently barred by FINRA (2013)

Scott Donovan Schroeder (FINRA CRD #2277248) was permanently barred from association with any FINRA member firm in 2013, in connection with unsuitable recommendations made to elderly customers — including material misrepresentations and the failure to disclose material facts. FINRA BrokerCheck

Sold clients into the Provident Royalties investments

As a broker, he sold elderly clients into Provident Royalties oil-and-gas investments. The SEC charged Provident as an approximately $485 million Ponzi scheme affecting about 7,700 investors. To be accurate: that scheme was orchestrated by others (Joseph Blimline, Paul Melbye, Brendan Coughlin, and Henry Harrison) — not by Schroeder. His role was selling those investments to his clients, who lost money. SEC Litigation Release

California desist-and-refrain order (2013)

California securities regulators ordered him to desist and refrain in connection with the sale of Retirement Value life-settlement contracts; Retirement Value was found to have engaged in fraud. The order notes he sold these to California investors and received compensation for doing so. California DFPI order

Prior FINRA and Texas discipline

FINRA fined him $15,000 and suspended him for two months in 2012 for selling unregistered securities (Provident Royalties Shale offerings, in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act); the Texas State Securities Board reprimanded and fined him $5,000 in 2004 for selling securities while unregistered. FINRA BrokerCheck

Unpaid arbitration award (2017)

A FINRA arbitration panel issued a binding award of $241,547, joint and several against Schroeder and a radio co-host, over the sale of life-settlement contracts to a client. FINRA's records state the award has not been paid. FINRA BrokerCheck

I encourage you to verify each of these independently through FINRA BrokerCheck, the SEC's litigation releases, and California regulatory records — they are public.

Why I am sharing this

I am not asking anyone to take my word for the conclusions. I am asking the people with the authority to look into it to do so. Specifically, I respectfully ask:

• that Hawaii's Office of Health Care Assurance review this facility's compliance with its licensing obligations — including staffing, medication management and administration, discharge documentation, and incident reporting;
• that relevant oversight bodies examine the discharge and continuity-of-care failures I have described; and
• that my account be placed on the record as a formal complaint.

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