Boonzee

AUSTIN – Hundreds of residents at Texas' state schools for the mentally retarded have suffered serious abuse and neglect at the hands of those paid to watch over them, a Dallas Morning News review shows.

Abuse, neglect plague state schools

Documents released by all but three of the 12 state schools operated by the state Department of Aging and Disability Services outline everything from horrific physical violence and neglect to frightening verbal threats, derogatory slurs and pranks. Covering the last several years, they appear to confirm critics' worst suspicion: There are problems throughout facilities for Texas' most fragile residents, not just at the Lubbock State School, the subject of a critical U.S. Justice Department report in December. Also Online: Charts and Graph: Statewide cases (.pdf)

In one 2006 case at the Brenham State School, a nurse assistant kicked and punched a mentally retarded resident on the bathroom floor, fracturing three ribs and puncturing the resident's liver. In a 2000 incident at the Abilene State School, an aide ignored a resident who was found hours later in a trash bin, naked.

Other employees have left residents covered in feces and urine for hours, made them eat off plates where they had vomited, and fallen asleep on the job, waking only after residents engaged in sexual acts.

State officials say they have been addressing cases of abuse and neglect.

"In any direct-care environment, there are people who take advantage of more vulnerable people," said Cecilia Fedorov, a spokeswoman for the disability services department. "Nobody looks at this and says it's no big deal. We take it very seriously, and we continue to work to make sure operations there are the best possible for these residents."

Though The News received employee disciplinary records for 474 confirmed cases of abuse or neglect since 2000, state health officials acknowledge they've counted nearly 300 confirmed cases in each of the last two years – about 1 for every 17 residents annually. There are close to 5,000 residents in Texas' state schools.

Of the confirmed abuse cases The News reviewed, about 50 percent were the result of neglect – like an employee leaving a resident scalding in an overheated shower or leaving one behind on a public outing. Thirty percent involved physical abuse, usually pushing, slapping or kicking to get a resident to follow orders.

In nearly 18 percent of the cases, the state school employee was fired; 33 percent resulted in suspensions. Confirmed cases of abuse are referred to local police departments, Ms. Fedorov said, but the agency doesn't keep track of how many result in charges or prosecution.

Among the cases reported in the last several years:

• A resident at the Mexia State School died in January after three staff members used inappropriate and excessive force to restrain him.

• At the San Angelo State School in 2003, two employees removed the shirt of a female resident and threw her on the bed, slammed her against the wall and taunted her about her past sexual abuse.

• In 2004, a resident at the El Paso State Center was found outside, covered in feces with his pants below his buttocks, wearing only one shoe.

• A resident of the Corpus Christi State School was left crying and sweating in a hot van in the summer of 2005 for at least half an hour. The resident did not suffer long-term harm.

• An employee at the Abilene State School last year burned the nose and cheek of a resident with the end of a blow-dryer.

• An employee at the Richmond State School fed jalapeño peppers to residents in 2001 and laughed while refusing to allow them water.

• At the Lufkin State School in 2000, an employee left a plastic thermometer cover in a resident's rectum.

• At the San Angelo State School in 2004, a group of staff members discussed sexual activity in front of residents, encouraging the residents to look at and touch other residents' genitalia.

• In 2003, an employee at the Lufkin State School forced a resident to walk around the facility with socks stuffed in her mouth as punishment.

Lubbock school

The Department of Justice's Civil Rights division, which sent investigators to the Lubbock State School in 2005, is still negotiating with state officials to resolve the breaches at that facility. The report the investigators released in December described a severely understaffed facility where residents were improperly restrained and sedated, and given insufficient medical care. Since June 2005, more than 17 residents have died.

In one cited case, employees found a woman unresponsive but failed to perform CPR or call for help for a half-hour. Paramedics determined she had been dead for hours because rigor mortis had already set in. Employees had falsified reports to indicate someone had checked on the woman.

When the Lubbock abuse was made public this spring, agency officials said that they had addressed the problems by installing across-the-board changes at the school, and that they were identifying areas for improvement at other facilities. And lawmakers committed to spending nearly $49 million to hire close to 1,700 new state school employees to address staffing ratios and other health and training concerns.

"We did everything we could during the session to address the thrust of the [Department of Justice] complaint," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, an El Paso Democrat who serves on the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee. "It will take time to make the hires and see what ultimate effect these improvements will have."

Gov. Rick Perry's office cautioned against comparing the state school system's problems to those inside the Texas Youth Commission, the juvenile-justice agency still being overhauled after widespread sexual and physical abuse were revealed this year.

'Zero tolerance'

Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the governor stands by disability services agency Commissioner Addie Horn, who addresses each case "decisively and quickly."

"It's important not to sensationalize these incidents," Ms. Moody said, noting that the Department of Aging and Disability Services didn't become responsible for the state schools until 2004. "They should not be portrayed as though they happened yesterday, and no action has been taken."

On the contrary, state health officials say, they refer every abuse allegation to the Department of Family and Protective Services for an investigation, and prevent all involved employees from working with residents for the duration. Of the 3,258 allegations of abuse reported in fiscal year 2006, 9 percent were confirmed.

"We take every suspicion of abuse so seriously; everything is reported," Ms. Fedorov said. "There's a zero tolerance policy. We've been openly upfront with the Legislature about everything."

Dallas News Review on Texas State Schools 

EDITOR UPDATE July 30: Amy Rosen and Emily Ramshaw forwarded links from the weekend of July 27 of more articles on this report in papers in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. One person commented it's important to remember that instances like these happen in smaller institutions as well.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4996601.html

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA072507.5B.state.schools.37827de.html