From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has called for a statewide policy on the use of restraints like the one that contributed to the death of 17-year-old Faith Finley (left) at a center for troubled youth last month. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

The state’s Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities banned the dangerous face-down restraint last year, and sent a memo outlining the ban to agencies which it licenses. It is not clear whether the center in which Finley died had received the memo.

The residential center in Parma treats youngsters with developmental disabilities, behavioral issues and drug problems.

Ohio is among a number of states that have piecemeal regulation and tracking of the use of restraints.

Ohio has no central policy and leaves it up to individual agencies to set their own procedures … Agencies that deal with children and the disabled in at least 14 other states have severely curtailed or banned some restraints — most commonly face-down restraints.

(Photo from Cleveland Plain Dealer)

See also:

Faith Finley died after being restrained in controversial position — Cleveland Plain Dealer

Coroner: Girl at treatment facility suffocated — AP/MSNBC

Parmadale teen’s death ruled a homicide — Cleveland Plain Dealer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 10:24 am and is filed under behavior, intellectual/developmental disabilities, restraints and seclusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.