Texas is moving to shut down the biggest psychiatric hospital in Dallas over safety problems that have endangered patients, according to documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

The Department of State Health Services has asked Timberlawn Mental Health System to surrender its license and pay a record $1 million fine. Timberlawn officials plan to fight the penalties at a meeting set for April 28.

Closing Timberlawn would weaken an already strained mental-health system in North Texas, experts say. The 144-bed East Dallas hospital, which provides inpatient treatment for conditions ranging from depression to psychosis, is one of the few here that can treat large numbers of children and teenagers.

It also is one of the few psychiatric hospitals in Dallas that accepts the poor and uninsured, and has been one of three city institutions where police have routinely sent people for mental-health evaluations.

“We don’t have enough good providers and programs, period,” said Dr. Andrew Keller, a psychologist and chief executive of Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, which is studying whether there are enough psychiatric beds in North Texas.

Still, he said, “we’re not in such a place where we want a program that doesn’t have quality care.”

State officials said safety problems at Timberlawn, including a suicide and violent fights among patients, left them little choice but to revoke its license.

“The list of serious issues kept stacking up, and we had to draw the line,” said Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Texas health department. “It’s rare that we get to this point with a hospital. Safety has to be paramount.”

Universal Health Services Inc., the for-profit company that owns Timberlawn, said it hopes to reach a deal with the state to keep the hospital open. It has been improving some of the 108-year-old facility’s buildings and is bringing in new leadership and outside consultants, the company said in a statement.

The company views the regulatory process as an “opportunity to enhance our services, even if we may dispute or disagree with the findings,” according to Universal Health, based in a suburb of Philadelphia.

In a letter to the hospital dated Dec. 10, 2015, regulators cited 11 violations including multiple failures surrounding the December 2014 suicide of Brittney Bennetts.

The 37-year-old warned staffers she was suicidal yet was left unobserved. As The News reported last year, she was able to hang herself by wrapping a bed sheet around a doorknob, which the staff had previously flagged as a hazard but failed to remove.

During four inspections between February and July 2015, state investigators found other instances in which dangerous objects were left within reach of patients. During one visit, staff “could not account for the whereabouts” of at least six patients.

Violence broke out among four patients, and a sexual encounter occurred between two others.

Inspectors also found conditions were so dirty in some rooms that patients were put at risk of contracting infectious diseases. And, they said, hospital staff had falsified medical records.

Timberlawn has had success in getting the state to reduce penalties. In 2013, the hospital bargained down a $165,000 fine to $75,000 for breakdowns in supervision that led to patient-on-patient violence.

The state has reversed some decisions to pull licenses at other facilities after negotiations with health-care providers. Regulators last revoked licenses in 2014 for a Houston abortion clinic and Renaissance Hospital in Terrell near Dallas.

The same violations the state found at Timberlawn prompted federal regulators in September to take the rare step of barring it and an affiliated facility in Garland from the insurance programs that pay for care of the elderly and poor.

The company warned at the time that losing the money, which makes up about a third of Timberlawn’s patient revenue, could force it to close. Universal Health is trying to get the hospital reinstated in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and has agreed to turn the Garland hospital into an independent facility.

In the meantime, Timberlawn has slashed the services it offers, forcing other North Texas facilities to scramble to absorb an influx of patients. Including Timberlawn’s, there are about 780 psychiatric beds in the Dallas area.

In the meantime, Timberlawn has slashed the services it offers, forcing other North Texas facilities to scramble to absorb an influx of patients. Including Timberlawn’s, there are about 780 psychiatric beds in the Dallas area.

Green Oaks Hospital in Dallas, which, like Timberlawn, accepts Medicaid patients and the indigent, had so many new patients late last year that the 124-bed hospital temporarily sent patients to other facilities, said Sherry Cusumano, executive director of community education and clinical development for Green Oaks.

Other institutions such as Dallas Behavioral Healthcare in DeSoto, with 116 beds, also stepped up to help, she said.

“The role Timberlawn served is an important one, especially for those without insurance,” Cusumano said. “A lot of facilities might be interested in seeing a depressed housewife in Plano, but not so interested in taking someone who’s been living at The Bridge homeless shelter and having a psychotic episode.”