ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PETERSBURG
SOURCE: BILL BASKERVILL ASSOCIATED PRESS
The patient was violent, and - despite her doctor's warnings - restrained as part of her `treatment plan.'
In the last month of her life, Gloria Huntley lay strapped to a bed for more than 300 hours in solitary confinement at a state mental hospital, medical records show.
Despite warnings from her former attending physician at Central State Hospital that she could die in restraints because of health problems, she was twice restrained for 4 1/2 straight days, medical records show. The leather restraints were part of her treatment plan.
``I would call this medieval,'' said Valerie Marsh, executive director of the Virginia Alliance for the Mentally Ill. ``It's very scary and, frankly, appalling.''
Huntley, 31, died in restraints June 29 at Central State from what the state medical examiner called ``acute and chronic myocarditis,'' an inflammation of the heart. She had been in and out of mental institutions since she was 13 for various psychotic, mood and personality disorders. She also suffered from epileptic seizures and asthma and was infected with the AIDS virus.
Associated Press reports about Huntley's death prompted the hospital last week to stop using restraints as part of its treatment regimen.
Huntley's psychiatrist and physician, Dr. Dimitrios Theodoridis, warned hospital officials in July 1995 that she could die in restraints. He also pleaded with the staff to follow his treatment plan of nurturing and encouraging Huntley. Instead, he wrote in a ``Duty To Warn'' memo, the staff became more menacing toward her.
Theodoridis removed himself as Huntley's doctor at that time, saying he could not be part of a disciplinary treatment regimen.
Huntley's arms and legs, or her arms, legs and chest, were strapped to a bed for nearly 112 hours from 2 p.m. May 29 to 5:45 a.m. June 3, according to medical records obtained by The Associated Press. She was once again placed in seclusion and strapped to a bed at 2:45 p.m. June 18. She was freed 113 hours later, at 8 a.m. June 23, six days before she died.
In between, she was strapped down from 7:45 a.m. June 12 to 6:30 a.m. June 15, nearly 72 hours, and on June 11 for 7 1/2 hours.
Even when Huntley was calm and under control, hospital staff extended her time in restraints, the records show.
Huntley's mother, Gloria Hobbs of Richmond, said she was stunned to learn that her daughter had been restrained for such long periods. ``It's a lot I'm hearing now I would never have imagined was going on.''
Mental Health Commissioner Timothy Kelly said he did not know whether the hours were accurate. But one state government advocate for the mentally ill and another who works for the private Virginia Alliance for the Mentally Ill reviewed the medical reports and counted about 300 hours of bed restraint for Huntley in her final month.
``The numbers ... are far above and beyond the average use in any state operated facility,'' Kelly said. ``Seclusion and restraint is a last resort that is used minimally in every case.''
Clarence Sundram, chairman of the New York State Commission on Quality Care for the Mentally Disabled, said he could not recall anyone in his state ever being held in restraints as long as Huntley was.
``It is highly, highly unusual,'' he said.
Huntley would be released briefly to move an arm or a leg or to use a bed pan or the bathroom. But her records show she would lie for hours without using the bathroom, sometimes soiling herself. At other times, she would refuse to use the bathroom, according to the medical records.
Sundram said patients should be released periodically from restraints so they can move their limbs and improve circulation.
But Huntley's records show that during her long hours in restraint, she was allowed to move all her extremities at the same time only once.
Ninety minutes after she was freed June 23, staff members saw Huntley ``breathing hard, wheezing, [having an] asthma attack, nausea, vomiting.'' But the medical records said she was ``in no acute distress.'' Huntley also complained of falling in the bathroom and hallway because of dizziness.
At 1 p.m. June 29 - the day she died - Huntley was on her way to the dining room for lunch when she ``layed [sic] down in the floor and refused to get up.'' She was strapped to a bed in seclusion, according to the records.
A half-hour later, Huntley began complaining of breathing problems and was given puffs from an inhaler. A nurse found her dead five minutes later.
Restraints were part of Huntley's behavioral treatment plan in the maximum-security Forensic Unit, where she was sent after assaulting two staff members in another Central State unit Theodoridis oversaw.
According to the medical records, the treatment plan called for Huntley to be strapped down when she became disruptive or attacked the staff. Both the state and members of her family acknowledge that Huntley had an explosive temper and could quickly become violent.
Medical records show that even when she was in restraints, Huntley would bite the inside of her mouth, draw blood and spit it at staff members.
Central State issued a memorandum to its staff last week banning restraints and seclusion except in emergencies in which violent patients are a danger to themselves.
The U.S. Justice Department is looking into Huntley's death and that of Derrick Wilson, who died in restraints at Central State nearly four years ago. The agency wants to know whether the hospital violated the patients' civil rights with such practices as undue use of restraints. The department also has said there are ``possible criminal ramifications'' in the inquiry.
The hospital's policy on restraints provided for their use only to prevent a patient from injuring himself or others or to avoid a ``serious disruption of the therapeutic environment.'' They were to be used only when less restrictive alternatives had failed and never for the convenience of the staff.
Central State director Jim Bumpas said the hospital has stopped using restraints while the practice is studied. Kelly said the use of restraints was not suspended at other state mental hospitals.
``We're concerned about the incident involving Gloria Huntley and making every effort to review what occurred,'' he said.
Theodoridis' warning to hospital officials said some staff members wanted to use restraints to punish her. Central State records, however, say she was placed in restraints as part of her treatment plan.
Bumpas said the hospital took Theodoridis' report seriously and responded to it, but he did not say what action was taken.
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