Clinic loses certification
August 3, 2006
Northwest Counseling and Guidance
Clinic, where a 7-year-old Ladysmith girl was physically restrained
and later died, will lose its state certification and will be closed
for at least six months.
The state, in a letter last Friday to Northwest President Denison
Tucker, said the Rice Lake clinic failed to meet requirements
outlined in a Plan of Correction and failed to address a
psychiatrist's recommendations.
The clinic's certification will be pulled Aug. 15 and it will lose
all county and state funding.
Angellika Arndt, a foster child living with Dan and Donna Pavlik of
Ladysmith, was being treated at the clinic's day treatment program
on weekdays for behavioral problems. She was physically restrained
on nine different occasions, but on May 25 the restraint caused
chest compression asphyxiation, leading to cardiopulmonary arrest,
according to the Hennepin County medical examiner.
Angie was flown to children's hospital in Minneapolis where she died
May 26.
The Rice Lake clinic can appeal the suspension, but would remained
closed during that process.
Tucker said no decision has been made on an appeal and said clinic
staff will work to do the things necessary to restore trust in the
Rice Lake center, one of 13 Northwest operates. The 12 other centers
were not affected by the state order.
The Rice Lake Police Department, the Barron County District Attorney
and the Wis. Department of Justice are conducting a criminal
investigation into Arndt's death.
Angie, who was born in Milwaukee, became a ward of the state after
her parents relinquished their rights. She had been placed in
various foster homes until Dan and Donna Pavlik took her in early in
2005, and gave her a stable, loving home.
They enrolled her in the Rice Lake clinic hoping she would benefit
from professional help. She was diagnosed with reactive attachment
disorder, mood disorder and attention deficit with hyperactivity
disorder.
After her death, the state investigated procedures and practices at
the Rice Lake center and gave the clinic 30 days to file a plan to
correct multiple violations of state law, including those governing
physical restraint of its clients.
The plan of correction, due July 21, was to address:
* What the agency would do to correct the violations and ensure they
don't happen again;
* How the corrections would be accomplished and monitored;
* Who would implement the plan and monitor future compliance; and
* When the corrections would be complete.
Dr. Randall Cullen, a consultant who studied the clinic's practices,
recommended that it be "much less strict and authoritarian" and
suggested that the staff "rethink the physical hold component of the
program and severely curtail its use."
If corrective measures are taken, the clinic could reopen in six
months. |
