Disability Rights Center facing criticism for not protecting abused Riverview patient

Riverview Psychiatric Center is in the news again. This time the woman assaulted there was a patient, not a staffer.

An October 8, Portland Press Herald story blames Maine's Disability Rights Center for not taking faster and more decisive action when a Riverview patient was abused by staff:

The Disability Rights Center’s failure to immediately notify Adult Protective Services let down the abuse victim, critics said. 

“To just not report it because they could not urge others to do so is unacceptable,” said Rep. Richard Farnsworth, D-Portland, chair of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. “This report should have been made within 48 hours.” 

On Dec. 2, a corrections officer pepper-sprayed a nude patient who was in her room and not threatening employees, and then restrained her for hours afterward. The incident was kept secret until a former Riverview nurse reported the abuse to Adult Protective Services in late February. The state immediately investigated and concluded that abuse had occurred. One Riverview employee was fired as a result of the incident, and a contract worker was no longer allowed on Riverview grounds.

The article quotes Helen Bailey, a lawyer at DRC, saying they were working to try to get the hospital to take action on the patient's behalf so that hospital administrators would learn better how to handle such issues. 

Bailey said it is counterproductive for her group to report abuse when it is the hospital’s legal duty to do so. 

“If we do it for (Riverview), then they don’t learn how to do it themselves,” Bailey said. “They don’t get the point that these events are abuse if we do it for them.”

Read the complete article:  Patient advocacy group slow to report abuse case at Maine’s Riverview Hospital

Recent Coverage of Veterans' Benefits Bills in House and Senate; Maine Veteran in Spotlight; Maine Senators Divided

Several similar bills pertaining to veterans benefits have been debated recently in the US House and Senate. These are of particular significance to Maine because Maine has a higher than average proportion of citizens who are veterans and because one component of the bill — sometimes a separate bill, sometimes a provision in a larger bill — is named for Maine veteran Ruth Moore who has put a face on the pervasive problem of sexual assault in the military.

A February 26 article in the Portland Press Herald gives a good overview of the bills, what's at stake, and who supports and opposes them:

The Senate on Tuesday began debating a broad veterans’ benefits bill that would expand health care and education services for former military personnel but that some Republicans warned could overburden programs already struggling to meet demand.
A provision in proposed legislation – named for Moore – would make it easier for veterans who were sexually assaulted while serving in the military to qualify for disability benefits.
The Democrat-sponsored bill would allow more uninsured veterans to receive health coverage through the Department of Veterans Affairs and would expand dental coverage. It would also allow veterans to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges in whichever state they are living and cover the costs of fertility treatment for veterans made infertile because of service-related injuries.
The legislation also includes a provision – named for Maine veteran Ruth Moore – that would make it easier for veterans who were sexually assaulted while serving in the military to qualify for disability benefits.

Read the complete article, "Broad veterans' benefits debated in U.S. Senate."

A short March 7 article in the Portland press Herald by the same reporter as the previously mentioned article provides an update on the bills named after Ruth Moore, focused on Maine's two senators' different takes on the best way to curb sexual assault in the military.

Maine's senators split on military sex assault measure
Susan Collins was a co-sponsor of the bill, while Angus King supported a competing but less-sweeping measure.Maine's senators split their votes Thursday on a bill to transfer the decision over whether to prosecute rape and other serious crimes from military commanders to military trial lawyers.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins supported Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s bill while Sen. Angus King opposed it.
Both supported moving forward with consideration of a competing but less-sweeping bill written by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Read the complete article, "Maine's senators split on military sex assault measure."

A March 8 article in the Washington newspaper, The Hill, discussing the frustration of Democrats in the House in getting bills passed through the Senate put some of the veterans bills in this category" Maine's Representative Pingree on the subject:

Three of the stalled Democratic bills deal with veterans and the military.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) has two House-passed bills awaiting action in the Senate. The Ruth Moore Act aims to improve the disability claims process for veterans with mental health problems due to sexual trauma experienced in the military.

Pingree spokesman Willy Ritch said he doesn't know when, or if, the bill will come up on the other side of the Capitol.

“Absolutely, it is frustrating to [Pingree] that this bill passed House and hasn’t passed the Senate,” Ritch said.
If it doesn’t move in the Senate, Ritch said Pingree might seek an administrative remedy.

“She's been pushing this issue for a few years now. The end result may be legislation, but it may also be putting pressure on [the Department of Veterans Affairs] to act on their own,” Ritch said.

Read the complete article in The Hill.

Panel on Maine's Mental Health System Focuses on "Public Safety"

by Sharon Wachsler

Last night a panel was held at the University of Maine, Augusta, on the state's mental health system. According to an October 31, Sentinel article by Susan McMillan, the scheduled facilitator was Senator Roger Katz of Augusta, and the event was spurred by an incident at Riverview Psychiatric Center:

...where a patient seriously injured an employee in the spring. The hospital, which is the state’s only mental health facility for patients who commit crimes, stands to lose an estimated $20 million in federal funding because of problems with governance, overcrowding and safety.

Panelists include various government and agency representatives and administrators, along with Helen Bailey of the Maine Disability Rights Center. Conspicuously lacking in the lineup were panelists who are consumers of the mental health system, themselves.

Overall, the article -- and seemingly the panel -- focuses on mental illness as a public safety concern. This fearmongering that people with mental illness are dangerous is in direct conflict with the data which show that people with mental health issues are no more likely to commit violent crimes than those with no diagnosed mental illness, and that people with psychiatric diagnoses are, in fact, much more likely to be victims of violence.

I could not find any articles about the panel after the fact. It is to be hoped that stereotyping and fearmongering did not carry the day. (If you attended or participated in the panel or have a link to an article reporting on the panel, please comment or drop us a line.)