Friday, May 29, 2009
Texas Senate Sends State Schools Reforms To Perry
5 of the fight club employees
A judge arraigned the five employees of a state school involved with suspected fight clubs in the school.
Senate sends state schools reforms to Perry
Link to article
By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
May 29, 2009, 3:57PM
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate on Friday gave final approval to improving security and oversight of the state's large institutions for the mentally disabled, which have been hit with allegations of widespread abuse and neglect.
The unanimous vote sends the bill to Gov. Rick Perry, who had declared fixing problems at the state schools a top priority of the legislative session.
If signed into law, the state will install video surveillance in common areas and give new powers to the state Office of Inspector General to help local prosecutors pursue cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Staff would be subject to drug tests and criminal background checks. The bill also renames the institutions as "state schools" as "state supported living centers"
Texas has nearly 5,000 residents at the state's 13 state schools and the changes approved by lawmakers come on the heels of scathing reports of neglect and abuse, including fights between residents staged by workers.
Dozens of people have died under questionable circumstances and hundreds of employees have been disciplined for mistreating residents. A 2008 review by the federal Department of Justice reported that residents' civil rights were being violated.
"The abuse and neglect that has taken place at our state schools will stop," said Sen. Jane Nelson, the Flower Mound Republican who led the Senate's reform efforts.
Lawmakers are expected to give final approval to a five-year, $112 million settlement with the federal government to improve conditions and medical care, including hiring more than 1,000 new direct care workers and placing monitors in each school.
A provision in the state budget would move 500 people out of state schools in the next two years to community-based care and identify more than 1,000 others who could be better served in other facilities. It also would create more community-based slots for care.
The bill passed Friday also strengthens oversight over those community care facilities, said Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, who sponsored the bill in the House.
For example, those homes will no longer be allowed to investigate claims of abuse and neglect at their facilities, Rose said. That job now reverts to the state. Community homes also will be subject to unannounced inspections by the state Department of Family and Protective Services.
Lawmakers agreed to give the state new investigation powers into abuse claims at community homes and creates a database of abuse cases that can be reviewed by the public.
Some advocates for the disabled had called for closing state schools or ending admissions, two ideas that ran into fierce resistance from some families of residents.
Jeff Garrison-Tate of the advocacy group Community Now! said the state schools system is beyond repair.
"These facilities have created an environment and culture that breeds abuse and neglect," Garrison-Tate said. "It is past time for Texas to develop a plan to get people out of these places and close the facilities no longer needed."
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Mother wins consent to sue state over son's abuse injuries
Senate OKs measure to allow lawsuit over harm done to man at state school.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Texas Senate voted Wednesday to allow a Dallas mother to sue the state for permanent injuries suffered by her son as a result of abuse at the Denton State School.
The 24-7 vote came just over four hours before the deadline for action on the measure and marked the first time since 2001 that lawmakers voted to allow anyone to sue the state. Under provisions of the U.S. Constitution, the state cannot be sued without permission of the Legislature.
The Senate action— which sends the measure to Gov. Rick Perry — could mark the end of Farhat Chishty's long battle to get to the courthouse. Her son Haseeb, now 35, was left without the use of his arms and legs after being beaten in 1992 by Kevin Miller, a state school employee who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Two years ago, the same resolution failed. Chishty said she watched Wednesday's vote on her computer.
"Finally, I think they have tried to repair my trust," she said. "I did my obligation to my son," she added as she cried.
The measure passed with no debate. Senate sponsor John Carona, R-Dallas, called Haseeb Chishty's condition a "really tragic and serious situation" resulting from more than an individual's act of abuse.
"The testimony reveals gross mismanagement of the personnel there at the facility, rampant drug use. Just horrible, horrible conditions existed," Carona said.
State law limits the Chishtys potential court-awarded damages to $500,000, in addition to medical costs. Prior to Wednesday's vote, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he believed the state had been fair.
"Be that as it may, I think I'll just leave it up to the senators if they want to vote (to allow the lawsuit) and then leave it up to the courts to decide whether or not the state has done everything it could and whether or not additional compensation is due," Dewhurst said.
Farhat Chishty said Wednesday that the state had not offered anything it is not required to do by law, providing funds she said do not fully cover her son's care and money from the state's Crime Victims Compensation Fund. A Chishty representative said she has received about $40,000.
kherman@statesman.com; 445-3851
Senators express doubts about candidate for health, human services job
Austin lawyer has no experience running large organization.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 28, 2009
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The man thought to be the frontrunner for Texas' top health and human services job is already being criticized as lacking experience and failing to fully grasp key issues.
Gov. Rick Perry's office has said Austin lawyer Lowell Keig is being considered to replace Albert Hawkins, who is retiring later this year after six years on the job. Two other people — a Washington, D.C., neurosurgeon and a New York resident who was until recently a federal health official — are also being considered, according to documents obtained from the governor's office by the American-Statesman under the state's Public Information Act.
Lowell Keig
Hawkins — who has said he'll probably leave in late summer or early fall — has one of the most demanding jobs in state government. He oversees five agencies, 50,000 employees and a $25 billion total annual budget, including state and federal dollars.
"Now, more than ever, we need a highly qualified chief executive experienced in running a complex organization," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, a member of the Senate committee that confirms gubernatorial appointments. "What I fear is that Mr. Keig is in a long line of political appointees whose only value is loyalty to Perry."
This has been a tough legislative session for Perry appointees. The Senate earlier this month blocked the nomination of unemployed Burleson banker Shanda Perkins to join the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. And the nomination of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, who has been criticized for using the board to promote his conservative religious views, barely made it out of committee and faces opposition on the Senate floor. McLeroy began serving as chairman before the legislative session began.
Keig, 46, is general counsel at Youth & Family Centered Services Inc., an Austin company that provides health, education and assisted-living services to children, teens and people with disabilities in hospitals, group homes and residential treatment facilities in eight states.
He is a former chief of the attorney general's Elder Law and Public Health Division, where he managed more than two dozen people, according to his résumé. But he doesn't appear to have experience running a large organization, according to his job application.
In an e-mail Wednesday, Keig wrote: "Since no decision has been made, it would be premature for me to answer any questions at this time."
Though Perry has not formally nominated anyone, his office did submit Keig's name to Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, Watson said.
"I believe he's the only person under serious consideration," Watson said.
Allison Castle, Perry's spokeswoman, said it's "part of our normal process to run possible candidates by their senator." But she added: "No decision has been made. We are still taking applications, and the interview process is ongoing."
Keig's fate could rest in Watson's hands. Traditionally, an appointee's state senator can block a governor's choice.
Watson, a lawyer, says he's known Keig for years through legal circles and that he's "still evaluating" whether Keig is right for the job.
Watson said he takes his role in the nominations process "very seriously" and that he's arranged for Keig to meet with several health and human services experts who will then advise Watson.
The health and human services commissioner oversees agencies that enroll Texans in food stamps, run the state's institutions for people with disabilities and prepare the state's response to public health events such as the swine flu.
"This is an enormous and complicated agency that has a direct, immediate and significant impact on the lives of Texans, and it's a mammoth part of the state budget," Watson said. "The first question of anyone that would be considered would be what experience they have to deal with budget, management and constituent issues."
Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, chairman of the nominations committee, said that although time is running out for the panel to consider any appointments before the legislative session ends Monday, it could consider them during a special session if the governor orders one.
If Perry doesn't announce his choice until after that, the committee wouldn't consider the appointment until the 2011 session. But under the informal arrangement, Watson could nix the candidate before then.
Dennis Borel, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, said Watson recently arranged for him to meet with Keig. Borel said Keig spoke of his desire to be of service to the public.
"He's a nice guy," Borel said. But he added: "He seemed to have not a great grasp of everything that's going to be involved at (the commission)."
Sen. Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and a member of the nominations committee, said she has met with Keig but not with other applicants.
"He seemed very smart, capable," said Nelson, a Flower Mound Republican. She said the next executive commissioner needs to have "CEO-type skills," but that she didn't spend enough time with Keig to know whether he has those skills.
Keig has given thousands of dollars to Republican candidates since 2001, including at least $3,000 to Perry's campaign, according to records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.
One of the other candidates is Betty W. Adams of New York, an adjunct professor at Columbia University who until recently served as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Adams, who advised President George W. Bush on issues relating to Asian Americans, did not submit a formal application but had previously indicated an interest in the job, Castle said. Adams could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The final candidate is Dr. Guy Clifton, who lives in Washington but is on the faculty of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Reached by phone Wednesday, Clifton said he was interviewed by members of the governor's staff about three weeks ago but has not heard back from them.
"I'm sure I scared them to death," said Clifton, who said he did not know Perry during their overlapping undergraduate years at Texas A&M University. "I was interested in what I need to do to make the Medicaid program more efficient in this state. It would involve considerable changes."
cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548
Lowell A. Keig
Age: 46
Residence: Austin
Occupation: General counsel and corporate compliance director, Youth & Family Centered Services Inc.
Experience: Elder Law and Public Health Division chief, Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Austin; private practice lawyer, San Antonio and Austin; prosecutor, Bexar County district attorney's office.
Education: B.S., Trinity University; law degree, University of Texas School of Law.
Source: Documents from Gov. Rick Perry's office
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Family questions girl's death
link to article
EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net
Evelyn Melendez holds a photo of
daughter Sarai Melendez, who was
found dead at San Angelo State School.
By Brian Chasnoff - Express-News
For almost a year, Evelyn Melendez received more than a dozen letters from a state agency detailing allegations of abuse and neglect of her daughter, a resident at a state school for the mentally disabled.
This month, yet another letter informed her of an allegation of neglect — this time in her 15-year-old daughter's death.
Sarai Melendez committed suicide May 10 at the San Angelo State School, according to medical examiners. An autopsy report says Sarai hanged herself with shoelaces.
But the death remains under investigation. And Evelyn Melendez, a Northeast Side resident, has been grappling with some basic, unanswered questions.
“They told me that (Sarai) was on a 15-minute watch,” she said. “If she was being watched every 15 minutes, why did she have shoelaces?”
She added, “Did she hang herself for real? She had bruises on her forehead. She had bruises on her legs. She had bruises on her cheeks. These are questions I ask, why she had bruises. And nobody knows. Nobody has an answer.”
In December, a U.S. Justice Department investigation found widespread abuse and neglect in the state's 13 residential treatment facilities for people with developmental disabilities.
The investigation found the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, known as DADS, failed to protect the schools' nearly 5,000 residents from harm.
Sarai had a troubled past. At 6, she began hearing voices. Violent rages followed, and about five years ago she tried to hang herself with a radio cord, her mother said.
Sarai, who suffered from bipolar disorder and mild mental retardation, was charged with assault in 2007 after punching a boy in the head. Late that year, a San Antonio Express-News report traced her journey through the criminal justice system, culminating with Sarai's admittance to the San Angelo State School in January 2008.
The first allegation of abuse occurred four months later. According to a DADS letter sent to Evelyn Melendez, a rumor was circulating that staff members had bribed people to assault other employees who had reported them to an abuse hot line.
It's unclear how Sarai was involved in the incident. The letter said the alleged perpetrators were banned from the campus.
About a week later, Sarai logged two complaints to school officials.
In the first, she said staff members had hit her. Officials couldn't confirm the allegation.
In the second, Sarai said a staff member had abused her. Later, she said another employee had told her they “were going to pay Sarai back for telling on them,” and she “was going to get it worse.” A DADS letter to Evelyn Melendez stated her daughter was worried and couldn't sleep.
Officials deemed that allegation inconclusive.
Through November 2008, Sarai made four more allegations of abuse. None was confirmed.
On Feb. 4, officials confirmed an allegation of neglect. A staff member had sent “several inappropriate messages” to Sarai's cell phone, according to another DADS letter to Evelyn Melendez.
The mother said officials told her a female staff member was having an inappropriate relationship with Sarai.
In a letter, DADS denied emotional, verbal or sexual abuse had occurred. Confirming neglect, the agency fired the staff member.
About three months later, emergency responders arrived at the facility for an attempted suicide. Performing CPR, a medic restored a resident's heartbeat, but she died soon afterward, a sheriff's report stated.
A DADS spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on any details of the case.
But David Reilly, Bexar County's juvenile probation chief, said the deceased resident was Sarai.
Now, Sarai's relatives are angry.
“Who do they have on staff?” yelled Delila Velez, Sarai's sister. “Who are they hiring?”
Yvette Torres, Sarai's cousin, has some practical questions.
“Why didn't the (shoelace) break when she weighs 199 pounds?” she asked. “Why did she have bruises on her forehead when she supposedly hung herself?”
Photographs, taken by Sarai's relatives at her funeral, depict small bruises on her forehead and body.
Medical examiners ruled Sarai's death a suicide by hanging and found no evidence of foul play. Yet Evelyn Melendez still is seeking closure.
“There's a lot of questions that have to be answered,” she said.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Time running out for Dallas woman who wants to sue Texas
Her son was injured by abuse at Denton State School, but she needs legislative permission for lawsuit.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Randy Eli Grothe/FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Farhat Chishty says her caretaking duties have been never-ending since her son Haseeb was injured by a worker at Denton State School. She needs the Legislature's permission to sue the state.
Randy Eli Grothe/FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Farhat Chishty of Dallas uses her computer to follow the Legislature and keep track of a resolution that would allow her to sue the state over injuries her son received at Denton State School. Randy Eli Grothe for american-statesman
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The clock could be running out — again — on a mother's effort to get the Legislature's permission for her day in court over debilitating and permanent injuries her son suffered while at the Denton State School.
Under the long-established and courthouse-tested concept of sovereign immunity, Farhat Chishty needs the Legislature's permission to seek justice on behalf of her son Haseeb.
The state doesn't often grant that permission. Since 1989, legislators have filed 307 resolutions seeking permission for lawsuits against the state. Twenty-three have been approved, and two of those approvals were vetoed.
"There are some days when I feel I have to give up," said Chishty, who lives in Dallas but has visited the Capitol frequently and monitors progress on her request via the Internet. "But when I hear (Haseeb's) moaning day and night, that gives me motivation."
Chishty's 35-year-old son lost the use of his arms and legs as a result of abuse in 2002 at the Denton State School, where his mother had sent him to work on behavioral and eating skills. Haseeb had mental disabilities but was physically healthy when he went to the school.
Former Denton State School employee Kevin Miller confessed to abusing Haseeb and is imprisoned in the case.
But Farhat Chishty says that the state — not just a lone former Denton State School employee — bears responsibility for her son's plight. She tried two years ago to get the Legislature to allow her suit to proceed and got approval from the House. But time ran out before the Senate acted. She is in the same situation this session.
The House has approved a resolution authorizing a lawsuit, but the measure has yet to be considered by the full Senate, with 10 days left in the 140-day session. The Senate Jurisprudence Committee, in a 4-0 vote, advanced the resolution Friday night after tearful testimony from Chishty.
The state's stiff-arm against the Chishtys comes despite a December U.S. Justice Department report and state officials' admissions concerning subpar care at the state schools. State and federal officials this week agreed on a $112 million, five-year plan for upgrading the state's 13 institutions for people with mental disabilities.
Haseeb Chishty has lived at his mother's Dallas home since he left the state school in September 2008. His care, she said, never ends.
"Day and night, 24 hours. We have to change his diapers every hour or two. And we have to transfer him from the bed to the chair and the chair to the bed. We need to give him baths. He cannot stay in the wheelchair more than a couple of hours. So every hour we have to do something one way or another," she said. She said his airway has to be suctioned 10 to 12 times a day to prevent him from choking.
The "we" in her comments include a 16-hour-a-day aide, paid for by Medicaid, and her two other adult children, who help out when they can and are financially supporting her. She is separated from her husband. The burdensome care of their son contributed to the breakup, Chishty said. Caring for her son has prevented Chishty, a former licensed vocational nurse and coordinator at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, from working since 2002.
"We are not the same," Chishty said of her family. "We are broken into pieces." She said her goal is justice, not money, and said she has "never thought of any dollar amount" she wants. State law limits her potential award to $500,000 plus actual medical expenses and attorney's fees.
Chishty said she believes the state is covering up corruption. At a 2007 House committee hearing, Marianne Reat, an attorney for the state's Department of Aging and Disability Services, acknowledged the tragedy of the situation but said the state school should not be blamed for an employee's criminal acts.
In his confession, Miller detailed a culture of negligence, abuse and on-the-job drug use on his shift at the state school. He said supervisors knew of the abuse of residents.
Cecelia Federov, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said the agency takes no position on the Chishty resolution.
The Chishtys' roadblock to the courthouse is rooted in the U.S. Constitution's 11th Amendment — and the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of it — that limits lawsuits against the government. The state does not have immunity against some types of suits, including those by government whistle-blowers.
Sovereign immunity is a concept carried forward from monarchies and hangs on the notion that the monarch can do no wrong.
"What is the point in a democratic society to follow the king and queen's laws?" Chishty said after a recent trip to the Capitol. "We are responsible for our actions. How come the state is not responsible and nobody can make them responsible for their own actions?"
Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, who is sponsoring the resolution that would allow Chishty to sue, said he dreads the possibility of having to tell the family that the resolution has failed again.
"I hope not to disappoint them," he said.
At the Capitol, sponsors of sue-the-state resolutions (nine have been filed this year, none approved) say lawmakers should be stingy when it comes to allowing such lawsuits.
"Not everybody is just seeking justice," said Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, sponsor of a sue-the-state resolution in a boundary dispute. "A lot of them are just seeking a lot of money."
Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, the House sponsor of the Chishty resolution, said the process is biased against people with potentially legitimate claims.
"I think the state makes it probably overly difficult and complicated to sue them. These things, because we are only here every two years, should be heard first and addressed right away as opposed to running out of time," Burnam said.
Senators on Friday engaged in a debate about sovereign immunity before giving 25-6 approval to a resolution allowing a lawsuit against the Railroad Commission in a case involving a well-plugging dispute.
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, accused Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, the sponsor of the resolution, of favoring a system in which everybody with a complaint against the state could get to the courthouse.
Correct, said Wentworth.
"I don't believe we're the king of England. We shouldn't be acting as a monarch and requiring people who have claims against the government to get permission from the government to sue for wrongdoing," Wentworth said.
Ogden noted that "it's the taxpayers of the state of Texas" who would have to pay the damages.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Justice Department, state agree to improve conditions at mental facilities
AUSTIN — The state has reached an agreement with the Justice Department to toughen safety standards at Texas’ residential facilities for the mentally disabled, concluding a four-year investigation of abuses and mistreatment.
"The settlement brings much-needed closure to a sad chapter in our state’s history," said state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
"Abuse and neglect of our most vulnerable citizens must never be tolerated," she said.
Nelson, who is sponsoring legislation to improve oversight at the facilities, known as state schools, said the agreement includes independent monitors to inspect the state schools regularly; new standards for medical and psychological care; safeguards to detect and deter exploitation; and strengthened guidelines for employees’ treatment of inmates.
The improvements are expected to cost the state $112 million over the next five years. The price tag would include $51.2 million that the Legislature would have to add to the state budget for the 2010-11 biennium.
Focus on state agency
A Justice Department report presented to Gov. Rick Perry in December said residents are often victims of abuse, neglect and inadequate medical treatment. At least 53 residents died within the past year because of lapses in healthcare, the report concluded.
The investigation centered on the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which operates 13 large facilities, including one in Denton that houses nearly 5,000 residents.
On Tuesday, the state House, acting on a resolution by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, voted to permit the family of a resident at the Denton school to sue the state for injuries received nearly seven years ago. Haseeb Chishty was left paralyzed and unable to eat on his own, the family said.
In a letter to Nelson on Wednesday, Deputy Texas Attorney General David S. Morales confirmed that the Justice Department had agreed to a "statewide settlement" stemming from its investigation.
Justice Department and state officials also agreed to file documents in U.S. District Court in Travis County to make the agreement legally binding.
The agreement resulted from discussions between the Justice Department, Perry’s office, the Texas attorney general and Aging and Disability Services officials, according to the letter.
'Emergency’ status
Nelson said she will file a resolution today approving the points of the settlement. Her Senate committee and the House Human Services Committee will meet jointly Friday to review the agreement.
Perry gave Nelson’s Senate Bill 643 "emergency" status at the outset of the legislative session to expedite passage. It was the first bill to pass the Senate; the House approved it Tuesday.
A key element of the bill would create a govern-appointed ombudsman to audit the facilities biannually and be a confidential intermediary for parents, clients and guardians.
The bill would also create a hot line for reporting abuse, neglect and misconduct; mandate surveillance cameras in common areas; and require drug tests, fingerprinting and background checks on employees. Investigations uncovered employees who had criminal records.
The settlement brings much-needed closure to a sad chapter in our state’s history."
State Sen. Jane NelsonR-Flower Mound
DAVE MONTGOMERY, 512-476-4294
Thursday, May 21, 2009
What happens tomorrow... The DOJ's settlement
Tomorrow the Senate and House Committees on Human Services will meet jointly at 8:00am in Room E!.030. The settlement between Texas and the Dept. of Justice will be presented to the Joint Committee and the public. We know that the DOJ sited many violations regarding the conditions in state institutions. I am sure that the settlement will have to address these condition issues. Although Community Now! has held that people need to be safe wherever they live, we also know that history tells us that congregate care facilities breed violence. Throwing more money at these problems is not the answer. Our legislators have a short memory. Last Legislative Session, 120 million of state and fed money was allocated on top of the huge amount state institutions already received to improve conditions. Look at what we bought: Fight Clubs, Suicides, Massive Physical Abuse, Deaths that could have been avoided...on and on. We will need to continue to remind our legislators of how they decided to spend our money when the session rolls around again. History is doomed to repeat itself. I hope and pray that the violence ends. I fear it will not.
Those families on the other side of this issue have done a good job of presenting these institutions as beautiful communities that are safe and wonderful places to live to legislators. Many poorly educated legislators have bought into this along with the highly educated legislators who use these families as a smoke screen to keep their institution kingdoms fat and sassy with tons of money and huge state employee voting blocks. Sadly, those inside get left behind again. Sadly these families hang onto a belief that these places are just fine for their loved ones. But I wonder in the deep dark, in the middle of the night after they have been by for their bi-monthly visit with their state institution family member...do they shutter at what might have happened to their loved one? Do they wonder what happens in the dark night to their loved one? Do they really believe their loved one is safe and cozy in bed? Do they go to the vortex and darkness of wondering if they did the right thing. No. Too dark and scary. They had to do the right thing and by God, they will hold onto that belief until they die. But the darkness and wonder must be deeply buried somewhere. To go there is not acceptable. It is better to hold onto the Disneyland they believe their loved one lives in. And Federal law ensures their right to. So, out of respect for the law...these folks should have their happy, happy institutionalize communities. ..but not at the expense of the innocents who beg for freedom.
I will be on the edge of my seat to hear what the DOJ will do to respond to the violation of federal law as it pertains to most integrated setting. I sincerely hope that the DOJ pounds this issue with the same fervor as they do to improve conditions.
Choose Freedom,
Jeff
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Agreement reached to improve state schools for mentally disabled
07:46 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 20, 2009
AUSTIN — The state has reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to improve conditions inside Texas’ state schools for the mentally disabled. Under the agreement, Texas must spend $112 million more over five years to improve standards of care, increase monitoring and oversight, and enhance staffing ratios at the facilities.
Lawmakers will reveal the details in a Friday morning hearing with the commissioner of the agency that oversees the schools and the state’s lead negotiator in the deal. Both the House and Senate must pass resolutions concurring with the deal before their session ends June 1.
The agreement calls for spending nearly $45 million in the next two years. If the money is spent and conditions improve, the oversight would be lifted in five years.
“Whether or not the Department of Justice told us this, we needed to be doing these things,” said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “We are hoping and expecting these facilities will very quickly get up to standard.”
Nelson leads the Senate committee overseeing the state Health and Human services Commission. Her panel will hold a joint hearing with its House counterpart, led by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, Friday to outline the deal.
The agreement follows a federal investigation last year that found widespread civil-rights violations across all 13 state institutions and years of media reports about abuse and neglect inside the facilities.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Let's vote with a show of hands: Who thinks the abuse is isolated??
'Fight club' only one facet of abuse at Corpus Christi state school for disabled
12:51 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 19, 2009
AUSTIN – During the same two-year period that workers at the Corpus Christi State School forced mentally disabled residents into late-night "fight clubs," dozens of other employees were fired for serious abuse and neglect, including whipping a resident on the face with a belt and not trying to revive a resident who hanged herself, state records show.
State officials have said the Corpus Christi fight club abuse was isolated – that it was perpetuated by a handful of bad apples who worked on undersupervised night shifts.
But a Dallas Morning News review of state termination records shows at least 40 Corpus Christi State School employees were fired or forced to resign for abusing or neglecting residents in the last four years – most of them for incidents that occurred during day shifts. Twenty-two more were suspended without pay for their offenses.
The revelations are the latest in a string of problems at the state schoolsstretching back years and prompting a federal investigation.
Lawmakers took a step toward addressing those troubles Monday, as the House tentatively approved a measure to overhaul safety at the institutions and other care facilities for people with disabilities. The measure, designed to prevent abuse and neglect in the state schools, community group homes, private institutions and independent living, awaits a final House vote as early as today before heading back to the Senate.
"The state needs to be proactive in making sure that we take care of our state's most vulnerable population," said Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Corpus Christi. "This bill should be the beginning of the state finally meeting its legal, ethical and moral obligation."
Gov. Rick Perry designated the issue an emergency after a U.S. Justice Department investigation uncovered widespread civil-rights violations across Texas' 13 institutions for the disabled. Not long after, the Corpus Christi fight club allegations surfaced, prompting several arrests.
State school officials say they've responded to the Corpus Christi abuse, assigning additional supervisors to after-hours shifts and installing security cameras in common areas.
And they say firings and suspensions are a sign that they have taken abuse and neglect allegations seriously, ridding their facilities of people who pose a risk.
"We demand staff show compassion and treat all residents with respect. The vast majority of staff meet those standards," said Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman with the Department of Aging and Disability Services. "Abuse and neglect is not tolerated and appropriate action, which includes firing, will be taken."
The Corpus Christi school's number of employee firings is comparable to other institutions of its size. Since 2004, 800 direct care state school employees have been terminated or suspended systemwide – an average of about 60 per facility.
They constitute just 2 percent of all state school employees, officials say.
But the Corpus Christi facility does appear to have higher-than- average rates of abuse. In 2008, the facility averaged one case of confirmed abuse, neglect or exploitation for every six residents – one of the highest rates among Texas' 13 institutions for the disabled.
Among the confirmed Corpus Christi cases:
•In July 2007, an employee found a female resident hanged in her bedroom and did not try to help her, "potentially reducing her chance of survival," according to a letter outlining findings in the case. It's the only known case in which abuse or neglect contributed to a patient's death.
•A worker transporting a resident in a passenger van in March 2008 fell asleep at the wheel. The van rolled over.
•In August, a worker used a belt to whip a resident on the face and mouth.
•A female employee was fired last May for beating a resident with a walking cane.
•In November 2007, a worker flipped over a resident's wheelchair as a means of restraint, trapping the resident against the floor.
•Last July, a female direct care worker purposely closed an office door on the arm and torso of a resident.
•A resident choked on a marker cap in March 2008 after a staffer failed to monitor the resident.
Because of privacy rules, it's unclear how badly the residents were harmed in those incidents.
Lawmakers say the state school safety legislation they've crafted will target such abuse. The Senate already passed its version, which calls for posting surveillance cameras in all state schools, increasing staff training, and performing background checks, fingerprinting and random drug tests on all employees. The measure also creates a toll-free abuse hotline and installs an ombudsman to oversee abuse allegations.
"A key provision in this bill, the use of surveillance cameras in common areas of state schools, is paramount to preventing, deterring and detecting abuse and neglect of state school residents," Perry said in a written statement.
The bill passed Monday includes those changes and would also require annual inspections of group homes and ensure state officials investigate abuse allegations in private care facilities, not just state schools. It would strengthen the role of the inspector general in investigating abuse and neglect. And it would call for a review of all deaths in private care facilities and group homes.
"This population is uniquely susceptible to abuse and neglect. The state has done a poor job of putting the right systems in place," said the House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs. The measure "takes us a long way forward."
Staff writer John Jordan contributed to this report.
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