By Lisa Backus
May 22, 2024
Source: NH Registerer
Photo Source: Unsplash,
Disability Rights Connecticut contends in a 38-page report that the state-run CMHC in New Haven is rife with sexual abuse and violations.
NEW HAVEN — Following a three-year investigation, advocates concluded that the state-run Connecticut Mental Health Center is rife with sexual abuse and other violations, according to a report released Wednesday.
Disability Rights Connecticut, a federally mandated disability rights advocacy organization, claims in the 38-page report that the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, which runs the facility for adults with serious mental illness, has failed to address sexual assault and harassment among patients, has rat-infested units, conducts excessive use of restraints and fails to provide adequate treatment for those trying to transition to discharge.
"DRCT calls for urgent and immediate corrective action to prevent further irreparable harm," according to a news release announcing the findings of the report, titled "Failures in Patient Care: An Investigation into the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at Connecticut Mental Health Center."
DRCT, which is funded to see to the rights of Connecticut residents with disabilities, wants the legislature to draft a law mandating regulatory oversight of all DHMAS-run mental “CMHC is failing to help its patients become more independent, productive members of society," Mirsky said in a news release. "On average, patients remain at CMHC for a year or more. Administrative neglect has led to inadequate treatment of patients including safety from harm, excessive use of restraint and seclusion, and inadequate treatment plans to improve patient wellbeing and provide skills necessary to transition out of an institutionalized setting.”
“CMHC’s patients are the sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers of families that love and care about them," Mirsky added. "They deserve more from CMHC. What CMHC is currently doing is not enough.”
As it stands now, Whiting Forensic Hospital is the only DHMAS-run mental health facility that has regulatory oversight, following a lengthy investigation and oversight process after the family of a patient filed a lawsuit contending conditions that included supervisors and staff humiliating patients.
"The care of our clients, in the best facilities we can provide, is DMHAS’ paramount concern," Christopher McClure, a spokesperson for DHMAS, said in an emailed statement. "All of our facilities, including Connecticut Mental Health Center in the last year, are all accredited by the Joint Commission, which requires meeting exacting and precise objective standards of care."
While crediting DRCT for its work, McClure said his agency disagrees with the findings in the report.
"While we continue to review their report, the agency has numerous concerns with DRCT’s findings and recommendations; which include subjective criteria, calls for systems change when robust risk management, quality assurance, and critical incident reporting are already in place, and citation of isolated events that have since been remedied," McClure said.
"Our concerns with these findings and recommendations have already been articulated to DRCT throughout this process and with vigorous debate. DMHAS has made senior leadership available to DRCT throughout to discuss their material and we will continue to provide care that exceeds the standards of the primary accreditation body in the country.”
CMHC is a 20-bed facility staffed with DMHAS employees as well as professionals from the School of Psychiatry at Yale University, according the report.
In one case at CMCH, DRCT uncovered that workers failed to investigation a complaint by a 25-year-old female patient that she had been sexually assaulted by a male patient in June 2021, the report said. The same male patient came out of his room in July 2021 with his genitals and buttocks exposed and grabbed her, according to the report.
The male began following her and although she reported these behaviors to a "hospital police officer" she was told there was nothing they could do because "the male patient did nothing to harm" her. A report the woman made on a second male who was making kissing noises at her also went uninvestigated, the report said.
The findings of the investigation reveal that there are multiple "systemic violations of the constitutional and statutory rights of individuals with serious mental illness admitted for treatment at CMCH," according to the report.
The violations include failure to ensure patients' personal safety, failure to protect patients from sexual abuse and harassment, failure to ensure the appropriate use of restraints and seclusion, failure to provide a rodent-free environment and failure to provide adequate transitional treatment and discharge planning.
Multiple patients who were interviewed told DRCT that they were subject to sexual abuse and that the health center failed to accurately document complaints of sexual abuse, in violation of its own policies, the report said.
As part the investigation, DRCT also examined restraint and seclusion practices, finding that patients are not being adequately assessed to determine the least restrictive means to deal with behaviors, the report said.
Mirsky provided the example of a 31-year-old man with intellectual disabilities who was physically aggressive. The man first entered CMHC in 2019 and remained there for about year, she said in the report. During that time, he was not seen by a psychologist and didn't receive a forensic risk assessment before he was released to another facility in October 2020, the report said.
During his initial time at CMHC, his multidisciplinary treatment team did not adequately monitor or address his sexually abusive behavior, the use of restraints and seclusion, and his treatment plan rehabilitation interventions, according to the report.
The man "allegedly engaged in sexually abusive behavior against patients and staff on more than fifty occasions," the report said. "Although noted in the patient record, CMHC did not report or investigate any of these incidents of alleged sexual abuse."
He was released to a group home only to return in November 2020 because he was accused of attacking a staff member and another client, Mirsky said.
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