A state agency is working to improve patient safety in six psychiatric facilities in Connecticut as it faces calls for expanded oversight.
An investigative report published last year alleged systemic problems at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven, including patient-on-patient sexual abuse and harassment, and use of restraint and seclusion.
A representative of Disability Rights Connecticut, the nonprofit organization that published the report, said at the time that psychiatric facilities run by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) urgently need more independent attention.
Among those facilities are Capitol Region Mental Health Center in Hartford and the Greater Bridgeport Community Mental Health Center.
A co-chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee also voiced concern about the report’s findings, saying that other hospitals run by non-governmental entities routinely face more scrutiny. State Sen. Saud Anwar drafted a bill that adds guardrails to how state-run psychiatric facilities handle complaints. The legislation would require DMHAS to thoroughly document and investigate incidents affecting patient safety, and limit the use of restraints and seclusion.
But that bill, Anwar said, won’t gain much traction this legislative session.
“Sometimes you do not need to pass a law to change things,” Anwar said. “Right now, the way the conversations are happening, DMHAS recognizes that there should be far better systems for patients to be protected and kept front and center of this issue.”
Celeste Cremin-Endes, chief of state-operated services at DMHAS, said the department maintains the highest standards of care, and has implemented a better system for documenting complaints. The agency is considering a new safety and security training program for its staff, she said.
“I think that there are strides made,” she said. “I think that there are, again, references that they had brought to our attention that we could enhance and did enhance upon.”
In an interview last year, Cremin-Endes said DMHAS welcomes more assistance, but expressed confidence that psychiatric facilities run by the state already receive rigorous oversight, including through a triennial accreditation process.
Rachel Mirsky, an attorney with Disability Rights CT, said complaints of abuse and neglect should nevertheless be handled by an independent body.
Only one psychiatric facility run by DMHAS is subject to that kind of review. That exception – Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown – is overseen by the Department of Public Health following a patient abuse scandal in 2017 that led to criminal charges against staff.
“There has not been a whole lot of change,” Mirsky said. “Why wait for something to get worse? It shouldn't have to. We're basically saying, give a little responsibility to some agency on the outside to be able to look at complaints of abuse and neglect, to do something about it.”
