Connecticut Kids in ‘Immediate Jeopardy’ at Psych Center, Authorities Say
Connecticut’s psychiatric facility for children in Middletown is facing new reports of putting their patients in “immediate jeopardy,” according to the Department of Children and Families (DCF)
The Hartford Courant says that incidents and inspections that occurred over the past four months have helped experts reach this conclusion. Public health inspectors reportedly made multiple investigative visits after a pregnant 16-year-old committed suicide just before she was to be turned over to foster care, because she was nervous about going to another foster home.
The pregnant teen, housed at the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center – South Campus in Middletown, died on June 28. State documents revealed that, “emergency resuscitation efforts [were not] immediately initiated”. Reports say staff did not act immediately. Emergency personnel were not called to respond, they allegedly didn’t even regularly use 911 to report emergencies.
The facility is now being required to make major changes like increasing the nursing staff's requirements to give additional risk assessment. Nurses reports are also to be reviewed by psychiatrists and patients are to be observed more frequently in general. A variety of life saving devices are to be introduced on patient floors, with removal of items that have been posing safety risks among other things.
Reforms are being made throughout the facility with continuing inspections. When they're completed successfully the hospital can continue to receive public funding from multiple agencies.
Apparently, the full investigation is not yet complete, but the it's been reported that the results will be available to the public once the DCF's plan is officially put into place.
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