William VanWhy says he was feeling emotionally overwhelmed when he checked himself into the mental health unit at Northwest Medical Center in Arkansas last year. Four days later, he was still in the locked unit but desperate to leave.

“I was not receiving any medical care at all,” VanWhy, 32, said.

Mental health patients in Arkansas can be held against their will for 72 hours if they are deemed a danger to themselves or to others. But to keep them any longer than that, a medical provider must file a court petition and get the consent of a judge.

No petition was filed in VanWhy’s case, and his partner, with the help of a lawyer, ultimately succeeded in getting a court order for his release.

A few hours later, a sheriff’s deputy walked into the hospital with the order in his hand and VanWhy’s husband at his side. In the elevator, they bumped into a nurse from his unit.

“I’m glad he’s getting out,” the nurse said, according to body camera footage obtained by NBC News. “Don’t repeat that.”

VanWhy was released about 20 minutes later. “Oh my gosh. You saved my life,” he told the deputy, the bodycam footage shows. 

The man who led the unit at the time, Dr. Brian Hyatt, was one of the most prominent psychiatrists in Arkansas and the chairman of the board that disciplines physicians. But he’s now under investigation by state and federal authorities who are probing allegations ranging from Medicaid fraud to false imprisonment.

VanWhy’s release marked the second time in two months that a patient was released from Hyatt’s unit only after a sheriff’s deputy showed up with a court order, according to court records.

“I think that they were running a scheme to hold people as long as possible, to bill their insurance as long as possible before kicking them out the door, and then filling the bed with someone else,” said Aaron Cash, a lawyer who represents VanWhy.

VanWhy and at least 25 other former patients have sued Hyatt, alleging that they were held against their will in his unit for days and sometimes weeks. And Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has accused Hyatt of running an insurance scam, claiming to treat patients he rarely saw and then billing Medicaid at “the highest severity code on every patient,” according to a search warrant affidavit.

As the lawsuits piled up, Hyatt remained chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board. But he resigned from the board in late May after Drug Enforcement Administration agents executed a search warrant at his private practice.

“I am not resigning because of any wrongdoing on my part but so that the Board may continue its important work without delay or distraction,” he wrote in a letter. “I will continue to defend myself in the proper forum against the false allegations being made against me.”

Northwest Medical Center in Springdale “abruptly terminated” Hyatt’s contract in May 2022, according to the attorney general’s search warrant affidavit.

In April, the hospital agreed to pay $1.1 million in a settlement with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office. Northwest Medical Center could not provide sufficient documentation that justified the hospitalization of 246 patients who were held in Hyatt’s unit, according to the attorney general’s office.

As part of the settlement, the hospital denied any wrongdoing.

“We believe hospital personnel complied in all respects with Arkansas law, which heavily relies on the treating physician’s assessment of the patient, including in decisions related to involuntary commitment,” Aimee Morrell, a Northwest Health spokeswoman, said in a statement.

“While it is not our practice to comment on pending litigation matters, I can share that last spring, we undertook a number of actions to ensure our patients’ safety, including hiring new providers responsible for the clinical care of our behavioral health patients in early May 2022,” Morrell added.

Hyatt, 50, has not been charged with a crime. Neither he nor his lawyer has responded to multiple requests for comment.

But his legal team provided a statement to Arkansas Business last month.

“Dr. Hyatt continues to maintain his innocence and denies the allegations made against him,” the statement said in part. “Despite his career as an outstanding clinician, Dr. Hyatt has become the target of a vicious, orchestrated attack on his character and service. He looks forward to defending himself in court.”

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin declined to comment.  “We have no additional details to provide at this time,” he said.

Charlie Robbins, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, said the execution of a search warrant is “an important step in any lengthy, ongoing investigation.

“In light of the fact that this investigation is still ongoing, we will not be making any additional comments,” he said.