Dana Blum, a recent widow living in Portland, Ore., made the fateful decision to send her son Brendan to Youth Care. Youth Care is a residential program for troubled teens located in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. Brendan, a 14-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome, had been extremely aggressive for years. A consultation with UCLA’s neuropsychiatric unit convinced her that Youth Care’s therapeutic and educational program would finally make a difference. Four months into his stay there, Brendan had earned a reputation as a temper-prone student and had complained to medical staff that he felt very sick, as if something were “crawling around” in his stomach, but was ignored.