| (May Newsletter - Page 2) Simply providing promises of changes doesn’t alleviate the adverse affects of the psychological terrorism these residents continue to endure. Who knows, maybe it will take another 10 years to undue the damage which has been done to residents over the past 10 years, and then another 10 years before anyone is released. Citizens For Reform is very skeptical, as are residents of the program, that any form of change at this late stage will bring positive change. Any changes made now, after 10 years, reflect negligence on the part of the Minnesota Department of Human Services to provide constitutionally acceptable treatment. MSOP’s Inability to Provide Proper Medical Care Apparently it is the “policy” of the MSOP nurses to “destroy” doctor-ordered medications if a resident does not show up at the medication window at the “proper” 10-minute window of time to request medication.Citizens For Reform doesn’t know who wrote the policy or if such a written policy exists, but this is medical malpractice, and reflects an utter disregard for the health and welfare of MSOP residents. Apparently this is happening on a routine basis at the MSOP. The alleged state policy states that it is the responsibility of all residents to be at the medication window at the proper time to receive their medications. If residents are not present during the 10-minute window to receive their medications, they are told that nurses are mandated to destroy them. Nurses are not required to notify residents’ in their rooms of the availability of their doctor-prescribed medications. What if a resident were incapacitated during the 10-minute window of opportunity to collect his medication? Would it not be appropriate for the nurse to check on the resident to see if he was alright or if he needs help rather than to simply throw the medication away because the resident did not show up in time? Citizens For Reform believes that the policy by the MSOP defies appropriate standards of medical care. Citizens For Reform also believes that the mandate to have medication destroyed by the nurse is largely a misinterpretation of law by officials of the MSOP. In most cases, when a resident doesn’t appear at the window to receive his medication, the nurse makes note in the resident’s medical file that he has refused medication. This is deceptive since the resident has not verbally stated or written that he refused medication. Citizens For Reform believes that this is another deceptive tactic to justify the destruction of doctor-prescribed medications, and to justify a policy that reflects a needed convenience for the nursing staff due to understaffing. Citizens For Reform also believes that the medical staffing is inadequate within the MSOP, which denies adequate medical care. Dr. Farnsworth, forensic psychologist, has been notified of this barbaric tactic in the recent past; however, the practices continue. Destroying doses of doctor-ordered medications (instead of seeing to it that the doctor’s orders were carried out and the medication given to patients at proper times) is in our view, professional nursing misconduct and warrants malpractice. What if the medication needed by a resident were a lifesaving medication, which the resident failed to receive due to being incapacitated? Here’s a scenario: the nurse doesn’t check with the resident, she destroys the medication after noting in his medical file that he refused to receive it, and then leaves the resident’s unit to carry on other duties. Because the resident wasn’t able to receive his lifesaving medication, he dies. Who is responsible, the resident because he couldn’t make the limited 10-minute window due to incapacitation, or the nurse who failed to professionally carry out the doctor’s orders? Who is going to believe a (sex offender) in a court of law when the medical record indicates that the resident has refused his medication? Certainly a nurse will be believed that the resident was the guilty party for refusing his medication, because she is the “professional” and he is not. The possibility exists that there have been deaths associated with inadequate medical practices within the MSOP, and there may be investigations being perform by outside entities at this time. Citizens For Reform certainly questions the medical practices in light of the current policy and procedures associ-ated with the dispensing of doctor-prescribed medications. Minnesota House of Representatives House File No. 812 House File (H.F.) No. 812 is a resolution, which was posted on March 10, 2003, requesting Governor Pawlenty of the state of Minnesota to apologize on behalf of the citizens of the state to all persons with mental illness and developmental and other disabilities, who have been wrongfully committed to state institutions. It is unclear if this resolution is an attempt to apologize for the commitment of individuals with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, senile dementia, or other afflictions who were the subjects of commitment petitions filed by relatives, spouses, or neighbors, as well as county attorneys without the right to a jury trial. It is also unclear if this resolution considers the civil commitment of sex offenders to a potential life sentence without the right to a jury trial. Professor Peter Erlinder of the William Mitchell College of Law (representing Dr. James Poole, who has been civilly committed to the MSOP) in a landmark case now before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewing the right to a jury trial in civil commitment proceedings, has stated: “The well established Common Law right to a jury trial, before the sovereign can deprive anyone of their liberty, in either civil or criminal proceedings, has long been the bulwark against abuse of government power, or misuse of government by individuals, who may seek to use civil commitment of others for improper purposes.” Because of the ambiguous language in H.F. No. 812 in regard to sex offenders, Citizens For Reform is concerned because the apology is for the perpetration of very serious abuses to those who have been civilly committed, and those abuses continue today within the MSOP. For example, H.F. No. 812 apologizes for the following abuses: |
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