... appropriate exit

Patsy Christian, director of the new Central Regional mental hospital in Butner, has resigned that position, and that is a positive step among many needed in North Carolina's system of mental health care.

Christian's credibility was seriously damaged when The News & Observer reported that she had ordered a portrait of herself to be hung in the hospital and that it had been paid for with money intended for patients. In addition, Christian's college-student son was hired twice in the past year to work at John Umstead Hospital in Butner in jobs that were not advertised and for which no other candidates were interviewed. The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into both issues. The new hospital itself has been plagued with problems during construction that have delayed its opening.

Christian will remain on the state payroll, though it's not been confirmed whether or not she will retain her $119,579 salary. That must be clarified, and soon. Certainly if there is a job for which she is qualified, lower down the bureaucratic ladder, then that might be appropriate, but not at the pay of a hospital director.

Though she blames the stir that preceded her resignation on the closing of Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh -- a move that should be up in the air given the alarming problems in the mental health system exposed in an N&O series -- that's reaching for a reason. Christian's actions with regard to the portrait, which was painted by a subordinate, justifiably called her judgment into question. That was made clear when Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, her boss, said the painting would not be paid for from any funds connected to patients or taxpayers.

The last thing mental health care reform needs is another controversy. At least one issue has been settled.