Mentally disabled suffer in moved from Georgia institutions
At one group home for developmentally disabled adults, a caregiver punched a resident in the face again and again. Another worker there whipped a resident with a leather belt.
At another home, a resident kept choking on food because it wasn't chopped into the small bites his doctor had ordered. He ended up in the hospital, on a ventilator.
At yet another facility, a man went so long without a bowel movement that he vomited blood. He died in an emergency room.
These episodes, drawn from government records, illustrate the myriad challenges facing Georgia as it transforms the way it cares for people with developmental disabilities, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found.
Under an agreement monitored by a federal judge, the state promised four years ago to move all mentally disabled people from its psychiatric hospitals to homes in their communities. So far, 482 people have been deinstitutionalized.
But, the newspaper found, many appear to be no better off — or, in some cases, even worse off —now than when they lived in the state's dangerous and dysfunctional psychiatric facilities.
Continue reading the story here: http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional/leaving-state-hospitals-takes-some-disabled-adults/ngPJZ/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#2b9ae0da.3810114.735409
The original story appeared in The Atlanta Journal Constitution on June 21, 2014.
