DATE: Saturday, July 26, 1997               TAG: 9707260382

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: ROANOKE                           LENGTH:   71 lines

COMPLAINTS OF MENTAL PATIENTS ROUTINELY IGNORED, ADVOCATES SAY HOSPITAL-EMPLOYED ADVOCATES ARE AFRAID TO QUESTION BOSSES' DECISIONS, VOLUNTEERS SAY.

Patient complaints at state mental hospitals are routinely disregarded because their hospital-employed advocates are afraid to question decisions by bosses, volunteer advocates said Friday.

``Too many complaints have been swept under the rug,'' said Cynthia Moon, a member of a social services board in Lynchburg.

In a one-year period ending last summer, the vast majority of 276 patient abuse allegations were deemed unfounded. But not one was appealed outside the system to a local human rights panel, Department of Mental Health statistics show.

``With odds like that, is it any wonder that consumers are afraid to speak up about abuse and neglect?'' asked Nancy Canova, a volunteer advocate for mental patients.

Canova was among 34 people who spoke to the independent commission studying protection of the rights of patients in the state's psychiatric hospitals and mental retardation centers.

The commission was formed because of patient deaths and complaints from private mental health groups about patient mistreatment and the internal advocacy system.

Mental health groups have criticized the state's patient advocacy system for years, accusing it of not doing its job and having an inherent conflict of interest. They have called for Virginia to put the advocacy job in the hands of a private, nonprofit agency, like most other states have done.

In the third of five public hearings being held around the state this summer, Canova provided some statistics to support the argument.

Using the state's Freedom of Information Act, she obtained summaries of patient abuse allegations at the state's eight mental hospitals.

``The statistics show that advocates are unwilling to keep pushing against their bosses,'' she said. ``It's a conflict of interest. How can you bite the hand that feeds you?''

Richard Kellogg, deputy state health commissioner, said the statistics do highlight problems in the system, which the state is trying to reform.

``I am surprised and concerned about it,'' said Kellogg, who attended the hearing. ``The statistics do suggest that the appropriate questions have been asked today.''

At Central State Hospital, the director concluded that there was insufficient evidence of abuse in more than 80 percent of the cases from January 1993 through June 1995.

Gloria Huntley, 31, died last June 29, her arms and legs bound to a bed at Central State Hospital. She had been in restraints several times during her final month, including two stretches of four and one-half days straight.

Her attending physician had warned a year earlier that she could die in restraints because she suffered from asthma, epileptic seizures and a heart condition.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation into Huntley's death and that of another Central State patient, Derrick Wilson, who died in restraints four years ago.

If Virginia had had an independent human rights commission, ``Gloria Huntley and other consumers would not have been killed by abuse, neglect and by violations of constitutional and statutory rights,'' Robert Poignant of Lynchburg said.

Poignant was a member of previous study committees examining patient rights. He said Friday that Virginia's mental health system should model itself after Ohio, one of 42 states with a private, nonprofit system.

Ohio's system seems best protected from political and state influence, Poignant said.

The commission will hold public hearings next month in Northern Virginia and southeastern Virginia and will submit a report to the mental health board Nov. 15. KEYWORDS: HEARING MENTAL HEALTH

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