Longleaf Neuro-Medical Treatment Center

The following person is among 82 who have died since December 2000 under circumstances that raise questions about their care while patients or immediately after discharge from a state mental institution, according to a News & Observer investigation aided by several medical professionals, including Harold Carmel, a psychiatrist and the former clinical director of Umstead Hospital.

The following information is drawn from death certificates and autopsy reports, as well as redacted copies of state death reports and regulatory reports where deficiencies in care were found. The manner of death cited is from the state's death certificate database, but, in some cases, the finding does not match the circumstances of death. Doctors at the hospital where the individual died typically designate the manner and cause of death unless there is a subsequent autopsy.

Investigations are conducted by the state Division of Health Service Regulation, which oversees medical facilities in North Carolina.


LONGLEAF NEURO-MEDICAL TREATMENT CENTER *
Psychiatric nursing home, Wilson
Opened 1943 as tuberculosis sanatorium
Annual Budget: $22.9 million
233 patient beds
400 employees

* Longleaf was until recently exempted from a requirement to report all deaths the the state Division of Health Services Regulation.


CORBETT SMITH, 71
Died: Sept. 19, 2001
Hometown: Address listed as that of center
Manner: Accident
Investigation: Yes
Autopsy: Yes
Cause: Asphyxiation
Summary: Smith, who suffered from dementia, was found at about 3:30 a.m. hanging from his hospital gown, which had apparently become tangled on his bed rail.



The following information is drawn from death certificates and autopsy reports, as well as redacted copies of state death reports and regulatory reports where deficiencies in care were found. The manner of death cited is from the state's death certificate database, but, in some cases, the finding does not match the circumstances of death. Doctors at the hospital where the individual died typically designate the manner and cause of death unless there is a subsequent autopsy.

Investigations are conducted by the state Division of Health Service Regulation, which oversees medical facilities in North Carolina.


LONGLEAF NEURO-MEDICAL TREATMENT CENTER *
Psychiatric nursing home, Wilson
Opened 1943 as tuberculosis sanatorium
Annual Budget: $22.9 million
233 patient beds
400 employees

* Longleaf was until recently exempted from a requirement to report all deaths the the state Division of Health Services Regulation.


CORBETT SMITH, 71
Died: Sept. 19, 2001
Hometown: Address listed as that of center
Manner: Accident
Investigation: Yes
Autopsy: Yes
Cause: Asphyxiation
Summary: Smith, who suffered from dementia, was found at about 3:30 a.m. hanging from his hospital gown, which had apparently become tangled on his bed rail.