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Feds Concerned About Conditions in GA Psychiatric Hospitals
The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed a motion for immediate relief to "protect the health and safety of hundreds of patients from dangerous conditions" in seven state-run psychiatric hospitals in Georgia, federal officials announced today.
The motion, filed late Thursday, seeks appointment of a monitor who will set targets and timetables for reducing the number of residents at the hospitals, and expand community-based services.
"States responsible for the care of individuals living in state-run facilities have a duty to protect them from harm," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Rights Division. "Individuals in Georgia's hospitals are being subjected to a widespread pattern of violence and are not being protected from preventable deaths. We need quick action to protect these individuals."
In response to the charges, Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Frank Shelp said in a prepared statement, "We have always preferred that people be served in communities where possible and that they should receive safe and effective care while in hospitals. What we disagree with is the notion that change can happen overnight or that there's no role for hospital care for those who need it and want it. We're busy building a continuum of care to best serve the people of Georgia in the appropriate places. The DOJ's motion, if adopted, would divert resources and endanger that progress."
Last year, Georgia and DOJ entered into an agreement to ensure that the patients were served in the most appropriate settings and that reported unlawful conditions in the hospitals were fixed. A federal judge has yet to approve the agreement.
DOJ said conditions at the hospitals continue to be dangerous and that hundreds of patients who could be placed in the community remain institutionalized and exposed to danger. "Georgia continues to fail to serve patients in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, and preventable deaths, suicides, and assaults continue to occur with alarming frequency in the hospitals," DOJ said in a media release.
In his statement Friday, Shelp said his agency will "continue to improve and we're in the middle of major changes. Already the people we serve are safer are getting better care. What we need now is the resources and time to continue. Governor Perdue has provided us the resources. But this lawsuit by the Department of Justice would deny us the critical time we need.
"We've cooperated with the Department of Justice, we've invited them into our hospitals to make recommendations, and we've worked diligently to fulfill our settlement agreement. We will continue improving our hospitals because it's the right thing to do. But we will dispute every allegation in this motion with facts and law," he added.
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buddy.bean99 (2/2/2010 at 3:51 PM)
There is the appearance of serious conflict of interest among DOJ experts currently investigating the state mental hospitals in Georgia in the form of a quid pro quo between some or all of the experts and the consultant hired by Georgia to resolve the DOJ case. At least one DOJ attorney working on the Georgia CRIPA complaint perhaps is aware of conflict of interest relationships. (In April 2009, during a DOJ hospital visit, the lead attorney for DOJ was overheard recommending the specific yet-to-be-hired clinician as a needed consultant.)
Recently, the clinician was hired to provide consultation to Georgia ?s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (BHDD) to meet the conditions of the CRIPA settlement agreement with DOJ. The cost of this contract with this consultant has been stated to be as high as $17 million over 5 years and that the consultant has guaranteed compliance. (Guarantees may be certain when the DOJ experts are on the your payroll!) This consultant has served in the same or similar roles in many other states ( California , Louisiana , Kentucky , Connecticut , Hawaii , and probably more).
This consultant's past and possibly current financial associations with certain DOJ consultant experts (nurse, psychologist, and psychiatrist) must be examined.
Georgia'recently employed consultant was overheard in January during a hospital visit by DOJ stating that the DOJ nurse and psychologist were currently working for him implementing a risk management policy in another state under DOJ scrutiny.
The DOJ psychiatrist is currently an expert consultant for DOJ, and a consultant for the court monitor of Louisiana , who was or perhaps still is the consultant recently employed in Georgia. Is it possible that the psychiatrist is being paid by the consultant for his work in Louisiana, while he is a DOJ expert building the case in Georgia?
Will part of the $17 million that the consultant receives from Georgia go to the three DOJ experts that work for him? Did these experts, employed to assess the conditions in Georgia, influence Georgia to employ the consultant?
Furthermore, many of the DOJ experts live in Virginia . The consultant's consultation firm is located in Virginia . Does Virginia provide exemplary mental health care that has produced all these experts? Furthermore, the Commissioner of Georgia?s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities recently came to Georgia after living and working in Virginia . Does he have past or current personal financial connections with the consultant and any of the DOJ experts?
$17,000,000 is a lot of money. Comparable amounts have probably been spent for the consultant's services in other states involved with DOJ CRIPA complaints. In some of these states, at least one expert, the psychiatrist, was, or is, a consultant for the state, a consultant for the court appointed monitor, or a consultant for DOJ. There is something not right here and there is a lot of money involved.
The DOJ must assure that its staff and expert consultants are evaluating agencies without bias and with no personal financial gain based on their assessment findings.
DOJ should remove all of the current experts involved in Georgia, employ a new group with no association to the consultant employed by Georgia, and re-assess Georgia 's hospitals.
Judge Charles A. Pannell should throw out the current DOJ case and start over.