The federal government has revoked the certification of the state's troubled mental hospital in Goldsboro after determining that the facility presented a danger to its patients.
The decision means that Cherry Hospital will lose federal insurance payments averaging about $800,000 each month, reports Lynn Bonner.
Cherry drew national attention after a patient was left sitting in a chair for more than 22 hours without food while staff members in the room played cards and watched television. Nursing staff members did not follow a doctor's orders to regularly check Steven Sabock's vital signs and give him fluids. At least two hospital workers were caught falsifying Sabock's medical records. Sabock, 50, died of a heart condition April 29.
After being warned that it was in danger of losing its money, Cherry started a staff re-education program on proper patient care to show investigators that it was trying to solve its problems. While those classes were under way, two staff members were accused of beating a patient.
Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, argued in a letter to a federal administrator last week that Cherry should keep its federal insurance payments.
As part of its plan to improve Cherry, the state hired an Ohio management company to evaluate the hospital's operations and management.
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Re: Cherry loses federal money
Now that half of the state's mental health hospitals have lost federal funds, can we stop blaming the problems with mental health reform on "privatization"?