Patients at Dorothea Dix will stay put for now.
The state signed a legal agreement Thursday in response to a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights North Carolina, which outlined numerous safety concerns and technical glitches with a new $138 million hospital in Butner.
Patients would have been transferred to the new facility on Wednesday.
The state's willingness to accept the deal is spurred by the results of a visit to the Butner facility last week by regulators from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Though the state has not yet released the full details of what inspectors found, it appears likely that the new facility will be found in violation of federal operating rules.
That would make it illegal for the state to transfer patients there. (N&O
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