Watchdog Agency Announces Plan To Sue State Secretary Of Health Facilities

Updated on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 at 12 p.m.

Disability Rights of West Virginia (DRWV) sent a notice of claim Monday to members of the media and state officials, alleging that Michael Caruso, secretary of the Department of Health Facilities (DHF) is failing to protect the rights of patients served by state health care facilities. It outlined particular concerns at William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital and Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospitals, the state’s two psychiatric facilities.

Michael Folio, the legal director of DRWV, alleged that the quality of care at these facilities is suffering because mandatory reporters are not sufficiently reporting instances of suspected abuse. Under state law, a mandatory reporter is a person legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect of vulnerable populations, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

“They’re vetting or clearing these suspected violations with their bosses and supervisors and administrators before they’re filing,” Folio said. “What we’re seeing is an alarming number of cases where leadership is instructing them not to file.”

Folio said mandatory reporters who do not report suspected violations independently violate state law.

“They don’t need, nor should they consult their supervisor to get approval to do that, because they already have an independent duty to do it,” he said. “If they fail to report it, they actually can be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Folio said staffing issues at health care facilities can disincentivize reports of suspected abuse, which can result in the suspension or termination of providers.

“It goes back to staffing, it goes back to training, it goes back to oversight, leadership,” Folio said. “This is why I think we’ve just pretty much decided as a protection advocacy agency, that enough is enough.”

DRWV will file to seek an Action for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief from the court.

“The declaratory relief is a declaratory judgment action. What that means is we are asking the court to declare this is what the legal obligations are, and then we would show that Sharpe and Bateman, to a lesser degree, are failing to comply with those legal obligations,” Folio said. “So that’s the declaratory part of it. The injunctive part is asking the court to enjoin or stop them from continuing to violate these policies, these provisions, these regulations.”

In an email response, Annie Moore, director of communications for the Office of Shared Administration, which oversees the Departments of Health, Human Services and Health Facilities, said DHF cannot comment on pending litigation and said that DHF takes any allegations of patient abuse very seriously.

“It is notable that the individual filing this suit has a history of making concerning allegations regarding the state hospitals that ultimately have proven to be baseless or mischaracterizations,” Moore said in an email. “Nonetheless, we are committed to investigating all potential claims of abuse or neglect thoroughly. The facilities routinely report allegations of abuse and neglect to Adult Protective Services (APS) and encourage staff to report any suspected incidents to APS for review. The facilities have policies and procedures regarding the reporting of potential abuse and neglect. Rather than threaten litigation, it would be more beneficial if specific allegations were brought to the facilities’ attention so that they might be addressed. Patients’ safety and well-being remains our top priority.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

**Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Oct. 11, 2024 at 12 p.m. to include a response from the Department of Health Facilities.