‘Fight club’ abuse apparently was not an isolated case

From the Dallas Morning News:

State records say dozens of employees at Texas institutions were fired for serious abuse and neglect, such as whipping a resident in the mouth with a belt, during the same two-year period as the late night “fight clubs.”

State officials have said the Corpus Christi fight club abuse was isolated — that it was perpetuated by a handful of bad apples who worked on undersupervised night shifts.

But a Dallas Morning News review of state termination records shows at least 40 Corpus Christi State School employees were fired or forced to resign for abusing or neglecting residents in the last four years – most of them for incidents that occurred during day shifts. Twenty-two more were suspended without pay for their offenses.

Among the confirmed Corpus Christi abuse:

• In August, a worker used a belt to whip a resident on the face and mouth.
• In July 2007, an employee found a female resident hanging in her bedroom and did not try to help her, “potentially reducing her chance of survival,” according to a letter outlining findings in the case. It’s the only known case in which abuse or neglect contributed to a patient’s death.
• A female employee was fired last May for beating a resident with a walking cane.
• In November 2007, a worker flipped over a resident’s wheelchair as a means of restraint, trapping the resident against the floor.
• Last July, a female direct care worker purposely closed an office door on the arm and torso of a resident.

See also:

Suicide at Texas Home for Mentally Disabled Under Investigation — ABC News: The Blotter from Brian Ross

Earlier posts here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 6:58 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, Texas institutions, abuse, criminal justice, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities. 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.