Attorney General says Rice Lake clinic
found guilty in girl's death
December 6, 2006
The following press release has
been issued by the Wisconsin Attorney General's office:
MADISON -- Attorney General Peg
Lautenschlager announced today that a Barron County corporation has
been convicted of one count of felony negligent abuse of a resident.
Lautenschlager said that Barron
County Circuit Court Judge Edward Brunner convicted Northwest
Guidance and Counseling Clinic, Inc., doing business as Rice Lake
Day Treatment Center, 413 South Main Street, Rice Lake, Wisconsin,
of one felony count of negligent abuse of a resident. The
corporation was convicted after entering a no contest plea.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 27, 2006.
According to the Department of
Justice's criminal information filed against the corporation, in
November 2006, the corporation, by its agents as employees of the
corporation’s treatment facility, abused Angellika Arndt, a
seven-year-old resident of the facility. The corporation failed to
provide adequate training to staff members in the proper
implementation of the facility’s restraint policy, creating a
significant danger to the physical health of the resident.
The affidavit filed with the
criminal information states that from the time of Angie’s admission
until her death, there had been numerous acts and omissions by
employees of the facility that had compromised her safety. These
omissions included staff failing to adequately consult records
containing Angie’s medical history and failing to consult the
treatment plan prior to providing services to her. Despite having a
physician and registered nurse on staff, evidence of a pattern of
defiance and aggressive behavior by Angie was not addressed by
medical professionals or a multidisciplinary team in a timely
fashion, resulting in the ‘defacto’ use of restraint as a
disciplinary measure. The staff member responsible for the training
of all staff in proper restraint techniques had, himself, never
actually received any appropriate training.
At the time of her death, Angie was
being restrained by two adult staff members while laying facedown on
a thinly-carpeted cement floor. One staff member held Angie’s legs
while another covered her upper torso with his own, initially
supporting the majority of his weight by his elbows. Angie was
resisting the efforts to restrain her by crying, screaming and
thrashing about. The staff member covering Angie’s upper torso
reached over to attempt to control her head, which was thrashing
about. After approximately 30 minutes, Angie became calm and
listless. Believing she had fallen asleep, the staff members rolled
Angie over and observed she had turned a bluish color and was
non-responsive. Attempts to revive Angie were unsuccessful.
The Hennepin County, Minnesota,
Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Angie’s death was caused by
positional asphyxia. A review of records revealed Angie died in the
course of being restrained from the weight of the staff member upon
her back significantly impairing her ability to breathe.
In a related case, Brad Rideout, an
employee of the Rice Lake Day Treatment Center, was charged by
Barron County District Attorney Angela Holmstrom with one count of
misdemeanor negligent patient abuse. Rideout was convicted after
pleading no contest to the charge and will be sentenced on December
27, 2006.
The case is being prosecuted by
Assistant Attorney General William Hanrahan.
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