Lawsuit seeks to halt Dix closure

A group cites 15 safety issues at a new facility in Butner, where most Dix patients are to go

RALEIGH -- A legal advocacy group has asked a Wake County judge to stop the pending closure of Dorothea Dix Hospital as federal regulators opened an investigation at the new state mental hospital in Butner.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday, lawyers for Disability Rights North Carolina detail 15 safety issues at Central Regional Hospital, the new Butner facility where the bulk of Dix's patients are scheduled to be transferred in about two weeks.

In a separate development, investigators for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services showed up at Central Regional on Tuesday in response to multiple complaints. Last month, the federal agency cut funding to a state mental hospital in Goldsboro after the death of one patient and the beating of another.

Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said he could not comment on why the regulators are at the new $138 million hospital in Butner, which partially opened in July.

Lawrence said his department would not comment also on the Disability Rights lawsuit, citing a policy against speaking on pending litigation.

The nonprofit group has a federal mandate to investigate conditions independently in state hospitals, and it has been monitoring Central Regional for months. Its suit asks that a Superior Court judge issue a temporary restraining order to stop the transfer of Dix patients to the new facility.

Though the department issued a statement Tuesday saying the issues at Central Regional will soon be fixed, those at Disability Rights point out that the state has made similar assurances in the past.

"The new hospital has significant issues regarding the safety and care of patients," said Vicki Smith, the advocacy group's executive director. "The [state] continues to provide assurances they will fix the problems, but to date, serious problems still exist."

Staff concerns

More than 30 doctors and psychologists from Dix sent a letter to their bosses Friday protesting the move as risky and premature.

The Dix staff expressed concern about a security system at the new hospital that frequently sends out false alarms and emergency pagers that often don't work. The letter said that planned staffing levels in some wards are insufficient and that many workers set to handle some of the facility's most dangerous patients have not been properly trained.

Michael Lancaster, co-director of the state's mental health division, issued a statement Tuesday saying some of the problems at Central Regional will be fixed before the Dix patients are moved.

A new antenna due to be installed at the Butner hospital later this week will address "99 percent of the pager access issues," Lancaster wrote. A software fix installed in the hospital's high-tech security system last week has cut the number of false alarms to about six a day.

The staffing and training issues the Dix doctors and psychologists identified also are being addressed, according to the state director.

New issues

But the lawsuit filed Tuesday lists several newly disclosed problems, including the failure of Central Regional's administrators to limit patient access to sharp instruments in unlocked cabinets. The group also claims the roof leaks heavily when it rains, increasing the likelihood that patients could fall and injure themselves. A malfunctioning air conditioning system keeps the temperature too cold, and electronic doors sometimes fail to lock, potentially allowing patients to escape.

Smith said her group contacted hospital administrators about some of the problems more than 90 days ago, but the issues have not yet been corrected.

She is hopeful that a judge will rule on the group's request for a restraining order before the first scheduled move of Dix patients to Butner on Oct. 1.