8/11/2008
Legislator wants new federal probe of psychiatric center - The News Journal

Possible misappropriation of money from patients’ accounts by staff at the Delaware Psychiatric Center has prompted one state lawmaker to request yet another federal investigation of the trouble-plagued state hospital.

 “It’s the Sopranos. They’ve got organized crime running the place,” said Rep. Gregory F. Lavelle, R-Sharpley, who was reacting to the findings of a special investigation released last week by Delaware Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr.

Lavelle placed a call to U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly, asking him to investigate whether any criminal behavior occurred with patients' money.

A News Journal story published Sunday showed that each patient at the hospital has a trust fund account, which receives deposits from a variety of sources, including Social Security, veterans benefits, retirement funds, inheritance money and donations from family and friends.

Alerted to potential misappropriations by staff, a team of state auditors examined 2,531 transactions from the trust fund accounts of 13 patients committed to the state hospital for treatment.

Half the transactions reviewed by auditors lacked receipts that could prove the money was legitimately spent. Recordkeeping at the state hospital was so bad, Wagner says he can't tell if money was stolen.

Neither Gov. Ruth Ann Minner nor Vince Meconi, secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, returned calls seeking comment for Sunday’s story about the audit report.

Connolly was out of town today and not immediately available.

Lavelle – for the fourth time since The News Journal began documenting abuses at the hospital – called on Minner to fire Meconi.

"Once again, I am appalled at the revelations surrounding the Delaware Psychiatric Center,” he said. “We are talking about employees allegedly taking advantage, at the very least, of individuals who are among our most vulnerable population – the mentally ill. What will it take before the governor agrees that Secretary Meconi is grossly incompetent and the patients at the DPC deserve much, much better?

“We need accountability, and simply changing policies in response to theft, abuse and outright crimes is not leadership in the opinion of most reasonable people.” he said.

Wagner’s audit shows that the total dollar amount withdrawn from the 13 accounts during fiscal year 2007 was $521,473.37 – about $40,000 on average per patient.

In interviews with The News Journal, current and former psychiatric center officials explained that the funds are used to pay for snacks, trips, personal items and medical devices. For their protection, patients are generally limited to $10 to $20 cash withdrawals, these officials said.

In many of the transactions examined by the state, auditors found either sloppy or no recordkeeping, lack of accounting oversight, and in some cases, no justification for withdrawing the patient funds. The auditors discovered 1,360 transactions had no receipts to support the payout of patient funds, which is contrary to psychiatric center policy.

The report also shows there were 54 transactions – totaling $4,851 – "in which either the patient, social worker or both did not authorize the transaction."

Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com.

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