Disability advocates sue Pennsylvania Dept. of Welfare, saying people with intellectual disabilities should live in the community

From The Times-Leader:

SCRANTON, Pa. – An advocacy group for disabled persons has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the state Department of Public Welfare challenging the department’s practice of holding mentally retarded adults at state psychiatric hospitals.

The suit, filed June 11 on behalf of eight mentally retarded adults, including two from Luzerne County, alleges DPW is not doing enough to transfer persons who are institutionalized into community-based programs that would better suit their needs.

It further alleges DPW has failed to provide adequately trained staff at psychiatric hospitals to deal with the issues that afflict those with mental retardation and psychiatric illnesses.

The suit was filed by the Philadelphia-based Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania on behalf of Leah Jimmie, 28, and Josette Halechko, 26, both of Luzerne County; Lewis Bowers, 43, of Tioga County; Janice Slater, 19, of Lackawanna County; Ronald Pearson, 56, and William Sacks, 49, both of Lehigh County; Edward Nauss, 59, of Delaware County; and Benjamin Perrick, 65, of Philadelphia.

The plaintiffs are among approximately 115 persons with mental retardation who are housed at the state’s seven psychiatric hospitals, including Clarks Summit State Hospital in Lackawanna County, according to the suit.

All of the plaintiffs, other than Perrick, suffer from mental health conditions in addition to mental retardation. The suit alleges that housing these individuals in institutions rather than community settings hinders their ability to live fuller lives.

Part of the problem is that the staff at the hospitals is not trained to provide mental health services to persons with mental retardation in a manner that takes into consideration their intellectual disabilities, said Robert W. Meek, an attorney with the Disability Rights Network.

“We’re concerned that these hospitals don’t have the knowledge of how to handle people with mental retardation. They haven’t adapted their treatment modalities to account for the intellectual disabilities our clients have,” Meek said.

The hospitals also do not provide patients with the opportunity to interact with the community, which is considered crucial in teaching life skills to the mentally retarded, the suit says.

“The failure to provide meaningful access to mental health services ... makes them more likely to be subject to longer institutionalized stays or to be a ‘revolving door’ of recurrent psychiatric readmissions,” the suit says.

The suit seeks to require DPW to develop policies and programs focused on getting the affected individuals into community-based programs. It also seeks to require the department to ensure that mental health services provided to those who are not suitable for release are tailored toward their mental disabilities.