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Teen's death: no charges
DA says restraining of boy at Ephrata
psychiatric facility followed state regulations. But advisory group
says rules should be changed — and the state is moving in that
direction.
By Cindy Stauffer
Lancaster New Era
Published: Mar 31, 2006 1:54 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - No charges will be filed
in the case of a teen who died last month while being restrained at
the SummitQuest Academy, a juvenile psychiatric residential facility
in Ephrata.
Lancaster County District Attorney Donald
Totaro said today that an autopsy showed that Giovanni Aletriz, 16,
of Allentown, had an undiagnosed heart condition that could have
contributed to his death while he was being restrained. SummitQuest
officials were not aware of the problem, he said.
“Although some may legitimately question the
wisdom of using manual retraints on children, the evidence shows
that these procedures were approved by the Department of Public
Welfare and they were followed by employees of SummitQuest,” Totaro
said in a press release issued today.
“Consequently, there is no criminal conduct
that would warrant the filing of criminal charges,” Totaro said.
In the meantime, the state Department of Public
Welfare has placed SummitQuest on a six-month provisional license
due to “significant health and safety concerns for the kids at the
facility,” said Stacey Ward, a DPW spokeswoman.
SummitQuest has appealed that move. Officials
of the academy did not return calls for comment by press time today.
Aletriz’s death called into question the use of
the physical restraint techniques used by facilities when a resident
is a threat to himself or others.
Aletriz was diagnosed as bipolar and struggled
with anger problems, his mother said. He had been at SummitQuest for
three months.
On the day he died, he was held face down by
three staff members, one holding his legs and two holding his arms,
according to official reports about his death.
A state advisory group investigated Aletriz’s
death and recommended that SummitQuest be required to stop using
restraints.
It’s a move the state may make in the future,
Ward said.
State DPW Secretary Estelle Richman has
convened a committee that is moving toward the elimination of
restraints in the child welfare system, Ward said.
“There is always another way to address a
situation rather than resorting to a restraint, where both the child
and staff person can be injured,” she said.
It’s a move that Aletriz’s mother, Cynthia
Allen, says is long overdue.
Allen is upset that no charges are being filed
in her son’s death.
She says that SummitQuest may have been allowed
to perform restraints but staff members did not perform them
properly and her son died as a result.
“I think it stinks,” she says. “They’re saying
that these people did their job, that they went by policy and
procedure. Guess what? No, they didn’t. If they had done their job,
Joey would be alive.
“If this had been performed properly, if they
hadn’t whupped his butt, he would be alive.”
“It’s a use of abuse, period. That’s what it
is,” Allen said.
Allen said she has spoken about her son’s death
with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General’s office. She also is
pursuing a civil lawsuit against SummitQuest.
She would like to see the use of restraints
ended in SummitQuest and other facilities.
“As far as justice for Joey, that’s the end
that I’m working on,” she said, “changing policies and procedures
for the future so kids don’t feel intimidated and threatened.
“How are you going to run a behavior and anger
management place when every time you turn around, you’re angrily
restraining children?”
SummitQuest has a number of state agencies
looking into its actions in the wake of Aletriz’s death.
While DPW placed it on a provisional license,
the state Department of Health did its own investigation and found
problems with the way the restraint was administered and
SummitQuest’s failure to report Aletriz’s death.
Health officials initially recommended the
facility go on a 90-day decertification process, meaning that if the
facility did not correct problems it would lose its Medicaid funding
after 90 days, said health department spokesman Richard McGarvey.
However, state health officials visited the
facility again Thursday and determined that the facility was working
to correct its problems and may go off the decertification problems.
Officials will continue to monitor the facility, McGarvey said.
Another organization, Pennsylvania Protection
and Advocacy, did its own investigation into Aletriz’s death.
PP&A works with the state to ensure the rights
of children and adults with disabilities, and makes recommendations
about their care.
PP&A officials interviewed state officials and
45 teens at SummitQuest following Aletriz’s death.
Of the teens interviewed, 29 said they had been
restrained by staff for anywhere from 1 to 90 minutes.
Nineteen of the 29 said they were restrained
more than once, including four who said more than 10 times and four
who said at least five times.
Seventeen of the 29 said they had suffered
restraint injuries, ranging from bruises to popped blood vessels in
their eyes.
PP&A made numerous recommendations to DPW,
including that SummitQuest stop using prone restraints and have an
independent psychiatrist evaluate residents to see whether
SummitQuest was appropriately meeting their needs.
Ward said the state will examine PP&A’s
recommendations and review whether or not to implement them.
SummitQuest has operated its 129-bed facility,
just off Route 272 south of Ephrata, since 2001.
It treats teens and pre-teens who have problems
with mental health, sexual offenses and sexually inappropriate
behavior.
Aletriz’s death followed the death of James
White, 17, of Philadelphia. An autopsy showed that White had an
enlarged heart and died from natural causes.
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