(Updated Thursday, May 23 at 3 p.m.) HARTFORD, Conn. – After a three-year investigation, legal aid group Disability Rights Connecticut (DRCT) released a report Wednesday alleging statutory and constitutional rights violations against a large mental health center and the department that oversees it.
The DRCT report focuses on the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), an inpatient psychiatric facility in New Haven, and the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), which operates the center.
After reviewing 14 patient records and more than 300 policies and procedures at CHMC and DMHAS, the DRCT concluded that a significant overhaul was needed.
“Significant improvements are needed in both CMHC and DMHAS policies, procedures, practices and staff training regarding protection from harm, including protection from sexual abuse, patient treatment planning, restraints and seclusion, treatment approaches to improve patients’ life skills, discharge planning and inadequate quality assurance data collection,” the report said.
DMHAS chief of staff Christopher McClure responded to the report in a written statement Wednesday, saying CMHC is an accredited facility and patient care is the department’s top priority. He also said the department was already working with Disability Rights Connecticut during the investigation.
“While we appreciate the DRCT’s efforts and contributions and continue to review the report, the agency has a number of concerns with the DRCT’s findings and recommendations, including the subjective criteria, calling for system changes despite already robust risk management, quality assurance and serious incident reporting in place, and citing isolated events that have since been improved,” DMHAS Chief of Staff Christopher McClure said in a statement. “Our concerns with these findings and recommendations have already been made clear to the DRCT through vigorous discussions throughout this process.”
One of the main points highlighted in the DRCT report is the inadequacy of patient care and reporting systems for abuse.
“CMHCs lack sufficient mechanisms to report, investigate and track critical areas of patient care that may jeopardize patient safety,” the report states.
The report said that while some incidents were reported, in several cases DMHAS was not informed of or did not investigate incidents of sexual misconduct.
“CMHC failed to report or investigate two incidents in which two patients masturbated in common areas of the facility where other patients and staff were present. CMHC also failed to report multiple incidents in which three male patients sexually abused female patients,” the report states.
The report also said CMHC failed to investigate four out of five allegations of sexual abuse made by patients that were investigated by the DRCT.
Of those allegations, three were against CMHC staff and one was a case of “abuse and neglect” by a patient’s family member before the patient was admitted to CMHC.
“These allegations included two instances of sexual contact by staff and a patient’s allegation that staff had asked the patient to perform oral sex on him,” the report said.
The report outlines several other findings from the investigation, including CMHC and DMHAS deficiencies including:
Ensures patient personal safety, uses restraints and seclusion appropriately, and provides appropriate care including active treatment and discharge planning.
“As a result, patients have suffered irreparable harm and are in grave danger.
“If these violations are not immediately corrected, irreparable harm will continue,” the groups said in their summary.
The DRCT report makes several recommendations to CMHC on a range of issues, including:
Implement more specific systems for reporting and investigating abuse and neglect; develop better systems for reporting quality assurance data and areas of patient care, including treatment and discharge planning; and develop appropriate procedures to protect patients from excessive restraint and seclusion.
The DRCT report also stated that many of its findings were similar to those of a 2007 Department of Justice (DOJ) report on another DMHAS facility, Connecticut Valley Hospital.
These findings led to a settlement with the Department of Justice.
The day after the report was released, Senate Republicans issued a statement from Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, Sen. Heather Summers, the ranking senator on the Public Health Committee, and Jeff Gordon, a physician and member of the Public Health Committee.
“Shocking. Awful. Unacceptable. The report cites failures on many levels — failures that require corrective action and oversight. We will work in a bipartisan manner to repair the deficiencies at this facility.”
Summers said he would call for a formal investigation.