DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010261

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   36 lines

MENTAL PATIENT'S FAMILY TO SEEK DEATH DAMAGES

The family of a woman who died bound to a bed in a state-run mental hospital has notified the state that damages will be sought in her death.

In a letter to Attorney General Richard Cullen, lawyers for Gloria Huntley's family alleged that the state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services is liable for her death.

Huntley, 31, died last June 29 at Central State Hospital, her arms and legs strapped to a bed. She was in restraints for 300 hours during her final month, including two stretches of 4 1/2 days straight. Her former attending physician, Dr. Dimitrios Theodoridis, had warned a year earlier that she could die in restraints because she suffered from asthma, epileptic seizures and a heart condition.

William Arthur Griggs, Huntley's brother and administrator of her estate, alleges that the mental health agency breached accepted standards of medical care in placing Huntley in restraints and failing to heed Theodoridis' warnings of July 11, 1995.

``As a result of this negligent act by the agency . . . Gloria Jean Huntley died,'' the letter says.

Frank M. Feibelman, one of the family's lawyers, said the letter will probably result in a lawsuit if no settlement is reached. The family likely will seek $100,000 to $1 million, but an exact amount has not been determined, he said.

The attorney general's office did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Virginia law requires that the attorney general be notified when legal action against the state is anticipated. Cullen has six months to respond to the June 18 letter.

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