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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The state is closing an adult admissions ward at Cherry Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital in Goldsboro, where a dying man was ignored by nursing staff.

In a statement today, the head of the state Department of Health and Human Services said the 16 staffers on duty at the time of the death have been removed from direct patient care duties and given other assignments for a period of at least 60 days, Lynn Bonner reports.

The employees will receive more training and re-education until the hospital director decides they are ready to resume caring for patients under the supervision of a training director, DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton said.

Steven Sabock, 50, died at the mental hospital on April 29, after sitting in a chair for more than 22 hours without food or help using the bathroom. Hospital staff members were captured by security video playing cards and watching television in the room where Sabock sat.

"On behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services and myself personally, we deeply regret that Mr. Sabock died, and that it occurred while a patient at Cherry Hospital," Benton said. "The Department finds the circumstances related to this tragic death at Cherry Hospital completely unacceptable."

The closure reduces the admissions section from 90 beds to 67 in the three wards that will remain open. The total bed capacity of the hospital will drop from 274 to 251.

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.

Thomas J. Mahle has been appointed as the new director of a state mental hospital in Morganton.

He will take over at Broughton Hospital on August 25, Michael Biesecker reports.

Mahle's career includes seven years as director of behavioral medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center/Miami Heart Institute in Miami Beach, FL. As part of his duties, Mahle served as the administrator for a 99-bed inpatient psychiatric unit and an Alzheimer's clinic.

He will take the reins of a mental hospital that has experienced serious problems in recent years.

Federal regulators yanked Broughton's certification a year ago after a patient died and another was seriously injured. In December, Broughton director Seth Hunt was demoted after he failed to properly report four other patient deaths.

He will make $115,000 a year. 

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Two months after DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton asked the SBI to review the purchase of a portrait by former hospital director Patsy Christian, there is no word about when agents might wrap up their investigation.

Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday that Benton has not yet received any response from investigators, Michael Biesecker reports.

Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, did not respond to inquiries last week about the status of the investigation.

Benton requested the SBI probe May 29, following a report in the N&O about the oil painting Christian commissioned of herself to hang at the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

The portrait, which cost a combined $571.98 once installed in a gilded frame, was painted on contract by a state employee who was subordinate to Christian and provided to the state at a steep discount of its proclaimed value.

The SBI was asked to examine the events surrounding the commission and purchase of the portrait to assure that no state laws were violated.

Benton said the state money spent on the portrait, which came from vending machine receipts meant to pay for field trips and other recreation for mental patients, would be recovered and that the painting would never hang in the new hospital.

Lawrence said the painting has been returned to the artist, who is a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital. A check equal to the portrait's cost was deposited into the hospital's account, though Lawrence said he did not know who the check was from.

Christian resigned as the director of Central Regional June 11. She is still on the state payroll in a new administrative position Benton created for her, earning $114,056 annually.

Update: Lawrence said Tuesday that a check reimbursing the state for the cost of the portrait was sent by J. Lee Harris, the artist who painted it. She is also a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital and a former subordinate of Christian's. 

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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Beverly Perdue says the state should not certify its own hospital.

In a statement, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee said that she "strongly" disagrees with the decision to strike a budget provision that would have prevented the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner from opening until outside inspectors approved it.

She also said that N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services Dempsey Benton should not allow patients into the Butner hospital until it meets those standards.

"Secretary Benton should not authorize transfer until Central Regional meets those standards – the long-term safety and care of both patients and staff must not be compromised," she said.

A faster opening at Butner would also mean that Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh would close sooner.

A last-minute change to the state budget will make it easier to close Dorothea Dix.

The final budget headed to Gov. Mike Easley was stripped of a provision that would have required the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner to be approved by outside inspectors before it can accept patients. It's unclear who wrote the provision.

Advocates for the mentally ill decried the change, which effectively lets Secretary of Health and Human Services Dempsey Benton certify that the new hospital is safe.

"They watered it down to where no certification by a third party will be required," said John Rittelmeyer, the director of legal services for the advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina. "We are disappointed because we are adamant about protecting the safety of patients, and we just don't believe that an internal assurance that standards are being met is sufficient." 

The opening of the new hospital has been delayed at least four times in the past year amid concerns about projected staffing shortages and internsal safety reviews that found problems in the building. Most new hospitals are required to undergo rigorous testing, but hospitals run by the department are exempt. (N&O) 

The head of John Umstead Hospital is stepping down.

Patsy Christian, who faced criticism for commissioning a portrait of herself with state money and problems with patient abuse, is resigning as executive director, according to a release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Serivces.

She will still work at the department, according to Secretary Dempsey Benton.

"We are appreciative of her dedication to serving the consumers in the state psychiatric hospitals over the years and her commitment to developing the plans to operate the new Central Regional Hospital," he said in a statement. "The state will greatly benefit from her continued involvement in the management of the hospitals."

Dr. Michael Lancaster, a board-certified child adolescent psychiatrist, will serve as interim director of the mental hospital.