Inclusion Daily Express -- Newspaper: Teen Was Neglected For Days At Psych Facility

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Newspaper: Teen Was Neglected For Days At Psych Facility
January 24, 2008

ATLANTA, GEORGIA--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently published a disturbing story about a 15-year-old boy who has autism and how he nearly died of neglect after just 12 days at Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta.

Vince Allen was admitted to the institution in January 2006 for treatment of "agitation." Doctors prescribed tranquilizers to calm him down and to keep him from hurting himself or others.

A few days later, a state caseworker found the teenager lying in a fetal position in his room, his body half-naked and covered with sores. Instead of seeking help, the caseworker "simply documented this in her file and left," according to the Georgia Advocacy Office.

By the twelfth day, Allen was taken to Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, where doctors found that he was dehydrated and malnourished and that his kidneys had stopped working. He had bruises and open wounds on his head, chest, abdomen, legs, neck and buttocks. Some of those wounds were badly infected with the potentially fatal MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

He had to stay at Hughes Spalding for 36 days for treatment.

Earlier this month, Allen's parents sued the state, alleging that their son was "neglected and mistreated to the point of death".

The Journal-Constitution said Allen's treatment at Georgia Regional reflected a pattern of mistreatment at state-run facilities.

Last January, the newspaper ran an investigative series, called "Hidden Shame", which focused on more than 100 suspicious deaths that had occurred in Georgia's seven state-run psychiatric institutions during the previous five years.

The series also revealed systemic patient abuse, neglect, escapes, and poor treatment planning for discharged patients, along with what it called a lack of public accountability.

The newspaper reported that in the 12 months since that series was published, as many as 21 more suspicious deaths have occurred in those facilities.

Related:
"Severe neglect of mental patient, 15, alleged" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2008/red/0124b.htm
"Newspaper Series Reveals "Hidden Shame" Of Georgia's Psych Hospitals" January 16, 2007 (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/archives/07/01/16/011607gainstabuse.htm

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