A state judge has stalled the plan to shut down Dorothea Dix hospital.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that bars the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services from moving the bulk of Dix's patients to the new Central Regional Hospital.

That had been sheduled to start on Oct. 1.

The judge acted in response to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of patients by the advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina, which has been monitoring conditions at Central Regional. 

"We are pleased with the decision, obviously," said Vicki Smith, the executive director of Disability Rights. "What the danger is when courts get involved is that the lawyers start arguing small points and we forget why we're there, which is to document that patients are safe."

It is not clear how long Baddour's order will last. (N&O) 

A legal advocacy group has asked a judge to stop the pending closure of Dorothea Dix.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday, lawyers for Disability Rights North Carolina detail 15 safety issues at Central Regional Hospital, the new Butner facility where the bulk of Dix's patients will soon be transferred.

The nonprofit group has a federal mandate to investigate conditions independently in state hospitals, and it has been monitoring Central Regional for months. Its suit asks that a Wake County Superior Court judge issue a temporary restraining order to stop the transfer of Dix patients.

"The new hospital has significant issues regarding the safety and care of patients," said Vicki Smith, the advocacy group's executive director. "The [state] continues to provide assurances they will fix the problems, but to date, serious problems still exist."

Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said he could not comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy.  

In a separate development, investigators for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showed up at Central Regional to look into multiple complaints. (N&O)

The state mental health division wants to start moving mentally ill patients from Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh to a new hospital in Butner, even though the division has not met conditions set out in state law for the transfer.

The law required assurances that the new hospital, Central Regional in Butner, would be accredited by two agencies before Dix patients move in, reports Lynn Bonner.

But one of the agencies, the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, has said it will not even visit Central because Dix patients and staff are not there.

That set up a Catch-22, said Dr. Michael Lancaster, co-director of the state Division of Mental Health. Central Regional cannot be accredited because Dix staff and patients are not there, but staff and patients aren't there because it is not accredited.

Lancaster said he would recommend to his boss, state Department of Health and Human Services secretary Dempsey Benton, that Dix patients start moving, and leave the decision up to Benton.
Tomorrow, Dix will stop accepting patients to its geriatric ward. Central Regional will take them instead.

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The SBI has ended its probe into the purchase of portrait by former state mental hospital director Patsy Christian without action.

The investigation was requested by the state Department of Health and Human Services in June following reports in The News & Observer about a painting of herself that Christian commissioned from J. Lee Harris, a hospital nurse who sidelined as an artist, reports Michael Biesecker.

The artwork was paid for using vending machine revenue from John Umstead Hospital that the state budget manual says should be spent to benefit patients.

Following public uproar about the portrait, Christian resigned her position as chief executive officer of Central Regional Hospital in Butner and was reassigned to a newly created position within the department at 95 percent of her former salary.

DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton ordered that the portrait not hang in the new hospital for which it was commissioned and that state money paid for the artwork be recovered. Harris refunded the $572 she was paid for the "executive portrait" and its gilded frame.

Though state law explicitly forbids the awarding of state service contracts to state employees, Erik Hooks, an assistant SBI director, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter that he had concluded "no further inquiry by the SBI is necessary at this time."

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With yet another state mental hospital in danger of losing federal funding following a patient death, Dempsey Benton, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, has tapped a familiar face to help fix the facility.

Patsy Christian, who was forced to resign in June as director of Central Regional Hospital in Butner after she commissioned a portrait of herself with money intended to benefit patients, was dispatched to Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro Tuesday following a critical report issued by regulators, reports Michael Biesecker.

Though an SBI investigation requested by Benton to determine whether Christian violated state purchasing laws is still unresolved, Benton said through a spokesman Wednesday that her 30 years as a nurse and hospital administrator qualified her to troubleshoot the problems at Cherry.

After she stepped down as director at Central, Benton created a new administrative position for Christian that kept her on the state payroll to “improve quality management and compliance with regulatory requirements.” Her salary is $114,056.

Gov. Mike Easley's administration is still having trouble turning over copies of the e-mails of its officials.

On June 27, The News & Observer filed a request with state Department of Health and Human Services for copies of e-mails since May 1 from six officials pertaining to the opening of Central Regional Hospital, the state's new mental hospital in Butner, reports Michael Biesecker.

It took 12 days, until July 8, for the department's public information staff to forward the request for e-mails to the six employees. DHHS public information staffer Mark Van Sciver instructed the six officials to gather the relevant e-mails and respond by July 23.

The first patients are scheduled to move into the hospital on or around July 21.

DHHS public affairs director Tom Lawrence said his office was not trying to delay the records request until after the opening and said those who had the e-mails were busy.

"We have a hospital to open," Lawrence said July 9.

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Design and staffing problems have delayed the opening of a $120 million state psychiatric hospital.

Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday that repairs resulting from design flaws were being made to the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

The building had been designed with 30 categories of hazard that could allow patients to hang themselves.

The announcement means that Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh will remain open longer.

Most of the campus had been scheduled to close when Central opens, except for 60 beds that the state will operate jointly with Wake County. Minutes from recent meetings of the Central hospital management team show that they felt the May 1 opening date was unrealistic.

The hospital will now open on July 1 or later. (N&O)