Citing less crowded conditions, feds drop civil rights inquiry at south Jersey psychiatric hospital

Without taking action, the U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into alleged civil rights abuses launched four years ago following a series of patient deaths and injuries at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, according to a letter from a federal investigator. In 2009, investigators had found Ancora patients to be living in unsafe conditions and denied "appropriate treatment and rehabilitation,'' according to a summary of the Justice Department's preliminary findings. Clinical teams and front-line workers relied too frequently on restraining patients in violation of their civil rights, the letter said. Rather than pursue its own case, federal investigators have now decided to monitor the state's progress in meeting the demands of a lawsuit settlement with Disability Rights New Jersey, legal advocacy group that sued over the state's inability to provide community housing for people with mental illness who no longer required institutional care. By complying with the settlement, the Department of Human Services has reduced the number of patients at the rural Camden County hospital, according to the March 13 letter sent to the state Attorney General's Office, and released by Human Services today. "We believe that the most effective mechanism to improve conditions in the hospital is to relieve crowding and eliminate unnecessary institutionalization as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act,'' according to the letter from Jonathan Smith, special litigation chief for the Justice department's Civil Rights Division. The average patient population was 753 in 2007, 562 when the federal case began in 2008, and 478 as of last month, according to state records. In June, Gov. Chris Christie's administration plans to close the Sen. Garrett W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Glen Gardner. The Justice Department never cited a specific incident that prompted the inquiry in 2008, but there were a litany of problems in the two years preceding the agency's involvement. A man who was supposed to be supervised swallowed two eating utensils and needed emergency medical care. A 58-year-old female patient on a restricted diet and required constant supervision during meals, choked on a candy bar she plucked from a hospital snack cart. One patient escaped then committed suicide when he was returned. Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez credited hospital CEO Allan Boyer and his team for Ancora's improved state. "Active treatment and staff training have increased, security has been enhanced and Olmstead efforts are progressing, said Velez, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that establishes the rights of people with disabilities to live outside of institutions if they are able. "In addition, new initiatives are being pursued to ensure national best practices are being utilized to treat and sustain patients’ long-term recovery,” Velez said. A representative from Disability Rights New Jersey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/citing...wded_conditions.html