Feds threaten to pull funding from Western State Hospital after beating of restrained patient
The two patients had a history.
In the close confines of Western State Hospital, they clashed. Patient No. 1 would whisper to Patient No. 2 to “go back to your homeland,” according to state investigators. It turned physical on the evening of Aug. 15 when Patient No. 2 threw liquid at Patient No. 1, who answered with a punch in the eye.
Patient No. 1 ramped up the aggression that night, hitting and kicking hospital employees. The behavior earned a trip to a room where restraints are applied. Staff strapped Patient No. 1’s arms, legs and waist to a bed frame and administered sedatives.
Nobody limited the movements of Patient No. 2, who took revenge early the next morning, according to investigators. Ignoring two nearby mental-health technicians, investigators say, Patient No. 2 walked into the room with a shoe in hand and beat the trussed-up Patient No. 1 with shoe and fist. He suffered injuries to the face, including a broken nose.
The assault led federal officials to tell Western State this week they have put the state psychiatric hospital on track to lose access to federal money.
The hospital can avert that loss of tens of millions of dollars a year if it satisfies the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it has returned to compliance with federal regulations. CMS wants a plan in place by Oct. 6.
The Department of Social and Health Services, which runs the hospital, is confident it can address investigators’ findings without losing funding, DSHS deputy assistant secretary Victoria Roberts said.
State investigators from the Department of Health reported a lack of safety measures. Even after Patient No. 1 was treated in an emergency room, the injured patient returned within hours to the same ward where the attacker remained without special supervision or monitoring.
“The facility failed to assure the safety of Patient #1,” the report states.
Roberts said the hospital is looking into why information apparently wasn’t shared with the right people about the original fight, and why the attacker wasn’t moved quickly after the assault to a ward for criminal defendants. It might be because those wards are virtually full as the state grapples with court rulings calling for faster evaluations of defendants, Roberts said.
“All of those things are things that we’re looking into to see, ‘What did we miss?’ ” Roberts said.
A complaint by nurses sparked the investigation.
A DSHS spokeswoman said investigators looking into the assault also examined three recent patient deaths and an allegation of sexual assault by one patient against another patient. Only the assault led to a finding of deficiency, spokeswoman Kathy Spears said.
It’s not the first time this year Western State Hospital has come under official scrutiny.
DSHS says federal authorities put the hospital on similar notice in March, which was resolved by May.
Separately, state workplace- safety regulators cited the hospital in January for not doing enough to protect employees from attacks. State lawmakers responded with money for more employees to investigate assaults and to cover for co-workers getting safety training — although not as much money as originally sought by supporters.
Lawmakers also funded emergency-response teams and new units to temporarily house violent patients.
This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Feds threaten to pull funding from Western State Hospital after beating of restrained patient."