
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 27, 1995                   TAG: 9505300072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. SAYS IMPROPER CARE CAUSED DEATHS OF VA. MENTAL PATIENTS

At least four mental patients have died at three Virginia state hospitals because of improper care, and the health of hundreds of other patients is in danger, the U.S. Department of Justice has found.

Federal officials have spent nearly five years investigating complaints about mistreatment at the three institutions, two in Fairfax and a third in Williamsburg. The Justice Department found evidence of poor medical care, improper supervision of patients, excessive use of prescription drugs and other problems that federal officials largely blamed on inadequate staffing, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Two patients died after they had been given too many prescription drugs. In another case, a woman died after she was left without the attention of a doctor over a weekend, even though she had spinal meningitis. In the fourth incident, a patient died of asphyxiation caused by a plastic glove found in his throat.

Three reports from the Justice Department in the last two years outline what inspectors saw during visits to the hospitals.

``In the course of two days, one resident was observed to eat seven cigarettes, two ounces of instant coffee, and one Kotex feminine hygiene pad,'' says a report on the 226-patient Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax.

The two other institutions are the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Falls Church, which has 76 patients, and Eastern State Hospital, in Williamsburg, which has 513 patients.

The reports say care is so haphazard and poorly supervised at the hospitals that patients are constantly at risk of injuring themselves or others. The department has threatened to sue the state, saying that it has been slow to respond and, in one case, intentionally worked to undermine the federal investigation.

Virginia officials said the Justice Department has exaggerated the severity of the problems and overstepped its authority by trying to force the state into a court-ordered program to improve the hospitals.

A meeting has been set for June 7 between U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Virginia Attorney General James Gilmore to see whether the state and federal government can agree on a plan to make changes at the institutions.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB