The following people are 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.

DOROTHEA DIX HOSPITAL
Psychiatric Facility, Raleigh
Opened 1856
Annual Budget: $71.9 million
307 patient beds
1,026 employees

JIMMY CLIFTON DAVIS, 52
Died: March 29, 2003
Hometown: Raleigh
Manner: Homicide
Investigation: Yes, no deficiencies cited.
Autopsy: Yes
Causes: Complications of blunt trauma to the chest as the result of assault
Summary: The hospital's report says Clifton was aggressive and had gotten in fights with other patients on March 20 and 24. After the second fight, chest X-rays showed acute fractures to his ribs. He was treated for broken ribs, but later became disruptive and was forcibly strapped to a table for four hours until he reportedly fell asleep and was released from restraints at 2:15 a.m on March 29. At 11 a.m., a nurse checked on Clifton and found he was unresponsive. The hospital initially reported that he died of pneumonia, but an autopsy found large amounts of fluid that had hemorrhaged into his chest cavity following the earlier assaults. The SBI investigated and the Wake County District Attorney's Office declined to file criminal charges.

DANA G. RENE, 64
Died: April 19, 2005
Hometown: Cary
Manner: Natural
Investigation: No
Autopsy: Yes
Cause: Subacute and chronic myocardis
Summary: Rene, who had bipolar disorder, choked on food while eating at Dix on April 14. She was resuscitated by staff members but in the following days she developed a fever and other symptoms of aspiration pneumonia. She was transferred to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill on April 19. Later that day, she was found in her room at UNC slumped in her bed and unresponsive.

GWENDOLYN LEWIS ASHWORTH, 47
Died: June 22, 2005
Hometown: Kinghtdale
Manner: Suicide
Investigation: Yes, no deficiencies cited
Autopsy: Yes
Cause: Codeine and ethanol toxicity
Summary: Admitted to Dix June 16 with dual diagnosis of mental illness and drug dependence after a suspected suicide attempt by drug overdose. Discharged from the hospital the following morning, her body was found near a pond on June 22. An autopsy determined she committed suicide by ingesting toxic levels of Codeine and alcohol.

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