THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040229
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL BASKERVILL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 116 lines
A state mental patient whose death is the focus of a U.S. Justice Department inquiry died strapped to a bed despite a warning that restraints could kill her.
Almost a year before Gloria Jean Huntley's death on June 29, her psychiatrist warned Central State Hospital officials that she would be more likely to die if restrained because she had asthma attacks and epileptic seizures.
In a July 11, 1995, report obtained by The Associated Press, Dr. Dimitrios Theodoridis told staffers at the Petersburg hospital to avoid strapping Huntley down as punishment. The memo, titled ``Duty to Warn,'' also said that nurses and aides ignored Huntley as she lay unconscious during potentially fatal epileptic seizures.
``At least twice in recent months, she was unconscious on the floor or the ground for 1-2.5 hours and left unattended,'' Theodoridis wrote, appealing for more humane treatment of his patient.
The seizures could be fatal for Huntley because thick mucus from her nose would drain into her and obstruct her breathing, he wrote.
``Staff members should watch their conscience and those in charge must always remember that following physical struggle and emotional strain, a patient may die in restraints . . . '' the report says. ``This is rendered more likely in this patient by her propensity to seizures and asthma.''
Mental hospitals restrain patients by strapping down their arms and legs, and sometimes their waists as well.
Theodoridis was Huntley's attending physician and medical director of the division where she lived until she was sent to the maximum-security Forensic Unit, which houses mental patients charged with crimes. She was moved after her July 5, 1995, attack on two Central State staff members, one of whom required emergency surgery for an eye injury.
In his memo, Theodoridis wrote that the attack was prompted by the hospital staff's refusal to follow his treatment regimen of nurturing and encouraging the patient. Instead, he wrote, the staff became more menacing toward her.
He warned that staffers who continued to mistreat Huntley could be accused of patient abuse, and that he would expose them.
Paige Griggs, Huntley's sister-in-law, said Huntley told the family that her treatment got no better in the Forensic Unit.
Huntley, of Richmond, was 31 when she died in the Forensic Unit last summer. Jane Haddad, the unit director at the time, said Huntley was treated well. ``It's a very difficult population you have to deal with,'' Haddad said. She declined to discuss Huntley's death.
Among those sent Theodoridis' memo was hospital director Jim Bumpas. He confirmed receiving the memo but declined to comment on it because it contained restricted patient information.
Theodoridis confirmed writing the eight-page letter but refused to comment further because of the patient privacy rules.
Mental health commissioner Timothy A. Kelly was not sent the letter and said he was unaware of it.
Kelly said he is investigating why Theodoridis' report was never brought to his attention and whether its warnings about Huntley's treatment were heeded.
In an interview, Kelly expressed concern about possible abuse of mental patients. ``We are very serious about a zero policy for abuse,'' he said.
Huntley's autopsy, completed on Jan. 24, said she died of ``acute and chronic myocarditis while in restraints.'' Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart.
Dr. Glen R. Groben, a state medical examiner, wrote in the report that Huntley had been restrained for ``abusive behavior. . . . While in restraints she was initially short of breath and was given her inhaler, to which she responded,'' Groben wrote. ``A short time later she was found unresponsive and could not be resuscitated.''
Cardiologists at Duke University and the University of Virginia said Huntley's complex health problems make it difficult to establish a link between her death and the use of restraints. In addition to epilepsy and asthma, she was infected with the AIDS virus.
The Justice Department is looking into Huntley's death and that of patient Derrick Wilson of Richmond, who died at Central State in May 1993. The agency wants to know whether the hospital violated the patients' civil rights with such practices as undue use of restraints.
Wilson, 23, also died in restraints, said Robert Holloway, administrator of the state medical examiner's office. The cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition, Holloway said.
The Virginia State Police found no criminal wrongdoing in either death, but said its investigation of Huntley's death was continuing. The state Department for Rights of Virginians with Disabilities also is investigating whether Huntley was abused or neglected at the hospital.
Huntley, known to relatives as ``Sissie,'' had been in and out of Central State since she was 13, her sister-in-law said. The medical examiner wrote that she was a ``borderline schizophrenic.'' Her family, however, said the hospital told them only that she was hyperactive and learning disabled.
Griggs said Central State officials gave the family ``15 different stories'' about how Huntley died. ``Once we figured everything wasn't adding up, I started writing it down. We called the state police.''
Kelly said the state mental health department also asked the state police to investigate and is cooperating with the federal inquiry.
Last fall, six Forensic Unit staffers were relieved of their duties after they were charged with abuse or neglect of another patient. Trials are scheduled to begin Thursday.
Theodoridis noted in his memo that Huntley could be difficult to deal with, but that her condition improved remarkably under the compassionate atmosphere he prescribed. Her spirits lifted and confrontations with staffers lessened as Theodoridis gave her more freedom and privileges, the memo said.
But after about six to nine months, continuing staff harassment undermined his treatment plan and Huntley's condition deteriorated, leading to her assault on the two staffers, the memo said.
Theodoridis said he would not be part of a disciplinary treatment regimen for Huntley and subsequently removed himself from her case, the memo stated.
Theodoridis is now a staff psychiatrist at Central State. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Gloria Jean Huntley, 31, died strapped to a bed at Central State.
The Justice Department is investigating.
KEYWORDS: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INQUIRY DEATH CENTRAL
STATE HOSPITAL