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Justice Department Investigates Conditions At HDC
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 27, 2007

TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS--Reports of abuse and neglect at Howe Developmental Center have prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to start its own investigation into conditions at the state-run facility, which houses about 363 people with developmental disabilities.

As Inclusion Daily Express reported in March of this year, Equip for Equality, the state's federally mandated protection and advocacy system, called for HDC's closure after the federal government pulled Medicaid funding to operate the institution and following the deaths of three residents. Investigators found that in one case, a woman died of a heart attack soon after she was restrained during a Pap smear without receiving any medication for her anxiety. In another, a resident who was at high risk of developing blood clots apparently died from a clot after staff failed to provide medication, physical therapy and adequate movement to prevent clots. A third case involved a resident with dangerously high blood pressure who was " unlawfully restrained numerous times" without a doctor's order before he died of an apparent heart attack.

In February, a coalition of Illinois disability groups sent a letter to Governor Rod Blagojevich, calling for him to stop any new admissions to the facility and begin the process of closing it, following an investigation into the deaths of 8 other residents at the facility between then and September 2005.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Department of Human Services appointed a new director for HDC. A spokesperson said the new leadership would fully cooperate with the DOJ investigation to "ensure that that process is successful and that Howe can provide the best possible care for the people who live there."

But Zena Naiditch, Equip for Equality's president and CEO, told the Daily Southtown: "Even with good leadership at this point of time . . . whether any great outsiders can turn that around in a reasonable period of time is iffy."

Related:
"U.S. probes care center for disabled" (Chicago Tribune)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0827c.htm
"Howe Center under Justice Dept. microscope" (Daily Southtown)
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/513808,dst_howe_816.article

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