VA hospital chief to step down

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Law targets mental hospitals

A new state law will give the public a glimpse behind the curtain at state psychiatric hospitals and other mental health facilities when a patient dies.

The legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that will require state mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse facilities to publicly report the deaths of patients in their care.

Pending the governor's signature, such faculties will be required to release the name, sex and age of patients who die in their care, along with the date, time and location of death and a brief description of how it occurred.

DHHS head: Arrests show we're serious

The new head of the state Department of Health and Human Services says the recent spate of mental hospital workers arrested or fired for abusing or neglecting patients shows his agency is serious about punishing mistreatment.

"We've created a zero-tolerance environment for abuse and neglect, as well as zero tolerance for failing to report abuse and neglect," said Lanier Cansler, who has been on the job since Jan. 12. "Obviously, we wish none of it occurred. But I also want to say that we have a lot of good employees who are feeling beaten up right now because of the bad things that are going on."

Cansler spoke after his staff confirmed Tuesday that three health-care technicians at a state center for people with severe developmental disabilities in Kinston were fired in connection with the abuse and injury of a resident. That case is under criminal investigation.

Patients: Some area hospitals above average

Patients rank several area hospitals above the national average when it comes to the kind of treatment and attention they received during admissions, the magazine Consumer Reports announced Monday.

The magazine's ratings are compiled from surveys the federal government conducts among patients to gauge how well hospitals perform certain basic services, such as explaining the medications prescribed, keeping rooms clean and detailing discharge orders.

The same survey information can be found through a government Web site ( www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov ), but Consumer Reports aggregated it and established a national average to show which hospitals scored above, at or below that mark.

Safety risks persist at hospital

Less than a month before patients are set to arrive at a new state mental hospital in Butner, administrators have not fixed several safety problems with the $120 million building.

An internal report from a May 13 inspection at Central Regional Hospital lists 16 unresolved safety and security issues, including hundreds of door handles and bathroom handrails that suicidal patients could use to anchor nooses made from bedsheets or clothing.

Required evacuation and fire plans have yet to be developed, and a state safety inspector noted design flaws that could allow patients to enter unsecured areas or escape to the woods.

Mental patients get stuck in ERs

Across North Carolina, mental patients are routinely languishing for days in emergency rooms ill-equipped to care for them, waiting for a bed to open at one of four state-run psychiatric hospitals.

Often, they pass the time handcuffed or sedated. Law-enforcement officers assigned to guard patients whose illness makes them prone to violent outbursts have occasionally resorted to using Tasers to shock them into submission.

Lanier Cansler, the state's secretary of health and human services, plans to ease the strain by paying private hospitals with taxpayer money to admit and treat more mental patients, especially those who don't qualify for Medicaid.