Inclusion Daily Express -- Report: Incompetence And Neglect Put St. Elizabeths Patients At Risk Of Harm, Even Death

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for today's headlines & home page

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Report: Incompetence And Neglect Put St. Elizabeths Patients At Risk Of Harm, Even Death
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 9, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC--A report released Wednesday by the District of Columbia's protection and advocacy agency revealed that incompetence and neglect led to a series of "inexcusable lapses" in how basic medical and nursing care is delivered to the 418 patients at St. Elizabeths Hospital, resulting in unnecessary pain and suffering, and possibly even deaths.

In its 36-page report, "Patients in Peril 2008", University Legal Services investigated the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 11 patients with psychiatric disabilities during 2007.

Reviews of those patients' records showed the facility's nursing staff consistently failed to perform basic, critical nursing functions; to monitor serious medical conditions; to conduct adequate routine assessments of patients' conditions; and to perform basic recording of vital signs. These failures led to a higher risk of delayed treatment and further medical problems.

In one case, a patient with an intellectual disability died after being restrained facedown at the facility. Even when they determined that he had stopped breathing, staff failed to start resuscitating him right away. "The staff committed significant errors in their resuscitation efforts when they noted that the patient was no longer breathing," the report concluded.

Many patients also suffered because of nursing and medical staff incompetence. Among other things, the agency recommended that the hospital and the District's Department of Mental Health investigate every death at St. Elizabeths, including those from 2007, develop necessary protocols for dealing with medication errors, and retrain all nursing staff on basic nursing practice.

Related report:
"Patients in Peril 2008" (University Legal Services)
http://www.uls-dc.org/Patients%20in%20Peril%202008%20Final.pdf

Copyright © 2008 Inonit Publishing
Please do not reprint, forward, or post without permission.

Click here for top of this page

Purchase this story for your website or newsletter . . .

Here's what subscribers say about Inclusion Daily Express. . .

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Get your news here!