By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Feb. 21
The deaths of two residents at Larned State Hospital are being investigated by the Disability Rights Center of Kansas.
“We”re determining whether legal action should be taken,” said the center”s executive director, Rocky Nichols.
Nichols said the center”s attorneys have been retained by one of the deceased residents” families.
“We”re talking to them about what the facts are, what their rights are and what are the options for them to get justice,” he said.
One of the residents, a woman, died April 1, 2006, after choking on pancakes. State records show the resident had difficulty swallowing and had been put on a soft-food diet that did not include bread and cereal products.
A second resident died Dec. 21, 2006, while strapped in a restraining chair.
Nichols declined comment on the second resident”s death, noting it was the subject of an ongoing investigation by his staff.
“At this point, all I can say is that we”ve conducted a preliminary investigation and we”ve retained independent forensic pathologists, who have conducted an autopsy and toxicology on the LSH patient who died in the restraint chair,” Nichols said. “We”re waiting for those results.”
He declined to say whether the resident was male or female.
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Don Jordan confirmed the second resident”s death.
“We”re still trying to figure out what happened, but it”s my understanding that an attendant was present when this individual began having breathing stress,” Jordan told KHI News Service.
He said the resident had been strapped in a “restraint chair” after exhibiting behavior that was potentially injurious.
“We”re still waiting for the autopsy results,” Jordan said.
Last month, Larned State Hospital was the subject of a hearing before the House and Senate health and human services committees after being cited by state inspectors for poor housekeeping, broken furniture, and faulty plumbing.
In their report, the state inspectors called conditions at the hospital “inhumane.”
The findings were the subject of a Jan. 21 front-page story in The Wichita Eagle.
During the hearing, Larned State Hospital Superintendent Mark Schutter said the inspection had been triggered by complaints filed by sex offenders housed at the hospital.
Schutter did not dispute the findings but was quick to note that most of the deficiencies involved the hospital”s sex offender programs. These programs, he said, are in the oldest and most difficult to maintain buildings on campus.
Schutter cautioned legislators against overreacting to the report, noting that sex offenders are “extremely proficient in getting people outside the facility to take up their cause.”
Nichols bristled at Schutter”s defense.
“I certainly have no sympathy for sex predators, but that doesn”t mean LSH can violate residents” rights, not do their job and ignore these deficiencies,” he said.
News of
the second resident”s death irked Rep. Jeff Colyer, R-Overland Park, a member of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
“We expect patients under our care to be kept safe,” he said.
Larned State Hospital records show that four residents died in 2006; two in 2005, three in 2004.
The other two deaths in 2006 were attributed to cancer and gastrointestinal bleeding.
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.