Blunt acts against abuse of mentally ill
By Carolyn Tuft and Joe Mahr
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Jun. 19 2006
Gov. Matt Blunt has ordered the Department of Mental Health to immediately call
in the Missouri Highway Patrol whenever any mentally retarded or mentally ill
residents die or are suspected of being assaulted inside private and state-run
facilities.
Blunt's directive is just one part of a temporary plan to address statewide
abuse and neglect that the department has neglected to adequately address.
Blunt said he made the move Friday to create "a new level of protection and
oversight."
Besides calling in the Highway Patrol, Blunt's mandate requires the Department
of Mental Health to:
Notify and allow the state Department of Health and Senior Services to help
investigate all cases of abuse and neglect for the next 60 days.
Report every death of a child to the Department of Social Services' State
Technical Assistance Team, which will investigate the deaths for 60 days.
Ensure that the Mental Health Department has a representative participating in
every Child Fatality Review Panel evaluation of deaths of children.
Propose an administrative rule change that will mandate that all deaths inside
state-run and private facilities for the mentally retarded and mentally ill be
reported to a coroner or medical examiner.
Bob Bax, spokesman for the Mental Health Department, issued a statement Monday
to say that the department is grateful for the help.
"The involvement of outside agencies brings expertise to the process and
provides another check on the investigation system that we welcome," he said.
"These steps offer consumers and their families reassurance that these critical
issues are being appropriately addressed."
Roy Washington said it was about time the state got serious about senseless
deaths inside the center. His nephew, George Holmes, died Aug. 4, 2004 - just
hours after Holmes called his stepmother to say he was being beaten by staff at
the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center.
Washington, Holmes' guardian, had to repeatedly demand that his nephew's body
be sent to a medical examiner. He and his wife, Martha, still believe Holmes
was beaten to death, but St. Louis County Medical Examiner Mary Case ruled that
Holmes died of heart failure caused by "extreme agitation." Washington said he
has not heard anything from the Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department,
which shut the case after Case made her ruling.
"It's a relief that they are finally beginning to look into the system,"
Washington said. "Before it was just hush-hush - everybody scratching each
other's backs."
By Carolyn Tuft and Joe Mahr
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Jun. 19 2006
Gov. Matt Blunt has ordered the Department of Mental Health to immediately call
in the Missouri Highway Patrol whenever any mentally retarded or mentally ill
residents die or are suspected of being assaulted inside private and state-run
facilities.
Blunt's directive is just one part of a temporary plan to address statewide
abuse and neglect that the department has neglected to adequately address.
Blunt said he made the move Friday to create "a new level of protection and
oversight."
Besides calling in the Highway Patrol, Blunt's mandate requires the Department
of Mental Health to:
Notify and allow the state Department of Health and Senior Services to help
investigate all cases of abuse and neglect for the next 60 days.
Report every death of a child to the Department of Social Services' State
Technical Assistance Team, which will investigate the deaths for 60 days.
Ensure that the Mental Health Department has a representative participating in
every Child Fatality Review Panel evaluation of deaths of children.
Propose an administrative rule change that will mandate that all deaths inside
state-run and private facilities for the mentally retarded and mentally ill be
reported to a coroner or medical examiner.
Bob Bax, spokesman for the Mental Health Department, issued a statement Monday
to say that the department is grateful for the help.
"The involvement of outside agencies brings expertise to the process and
provides another check on the investigation system that we welcome," he said.
"These steps offer consumers and their families reassurance that these critical
issues are being appropriately addressed."
Roy Washington said it was about time the state got serious about senseless
deaths inside the center. His nephew, George Holmes, died Aug. 4, 2004 - just
hours after Holmes called his stepmother to say he was being beaten by staff at
the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center.
Washington, Holmes' guardian, had to repeatedly demand that his nephew's body
be sent to a medical examiner. He and his wife, Martha, still believe Holmes
was beaten to death, but St. Louis County Medical Examiner Mary Case ruled that
Holmes died of heart failure caused by "extreme agitation." Washington said he
has not heard anything from the Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department,
which shut the case after Case made her ruling.
"It's a relief that they are finally beginning to look into the system,"
Washington said. "Before it was just hush-hush - everybody scratching each
other's backs."
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