The decision of North Carolina officials not to fight a delay in the transfer of some patients from Raleigh's Dorothea Dix mental health facility to a new hospital in Butner is a prudent one. Of course, it may have been the only choice available, as a Superior Court judge last week issued a temporary restraining order barring the planned transfer.

The move, which officials seemed determined to carry out, would have been premature, particularly in light of problems found at the new Central Regional Hospital, including staffing shortages and technical glitches from faulty air conditioning to leaks in the roof to faulty communications systems. The push to go ahead with the transfer reflected a sense of urgency, perhaps, on the part of the Easley administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton, who want to move on with mental health reform in general and this change in specific.

But Disability Rights North Carolina, a patients' advocacy group, deserves credit for fighting the move. And it appears that regulators from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who appeared at the new hospital unannounced in recent days, will find some violations of operating rules. The state will have to go before a judge to prove that problems have been corrected before the move from Dix can proceed. We should demand no less for the welfare of patients.

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