CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Problems within the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities are a continuing issue for Disability Rights West Virginia.
On WAJRs Talk of the Town,” Legal Director Michael Folio applauded changes made within the Department of Human Services (DHS) but said it is a “tale of two agencies.”
While the DHS had made improvements in operations and transparency, he said little or nothing has changed when dealing with the Department of Health Facilities.
“Which oversees and governs the state health care facilities continues to conceal and dodge facts and information, and it’s just not forthcoming with what is actually occurring,” Folio said.
Folio is encouraged by the commitment then-Attorney General Patrick Morrisey showed during the Hopemont Hospital investigation. Workers there continued to use a whirlpool with a faulty thermostat, leading to the scalding death of a non-verbal 61-year-old male patient.
“When he was attorney general, he took the initiative and got two individuals at a state health care facility indicted when they abused and ultimately caused the death of an elderly man who was boiled alive,” Folio said.
One of the immediate concerns is the expense and performance of contract workers at the William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital in Lewis County. Folio said there are members of the contract workforce that have been accused of abuse and terminated only to be rehired. Additionally, Folio said there is a culture of retaliation against employees that report problems at the facility.
Folio said there are reports from the Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital that employees falsified “face check” reports, or physical verification of the location for more than two hours on a patient that had fallen into an elevator shaft. The patient suffered serious injuries and had to be hospitalized in the ICU.
At both facilities, Folio said there are non-verbal patients suffering from severe untreated dental conditions. He said the lack of care causes serious problems for patients that result in unnecessarily high costs for the state.
Last year, Folio said the state spent $100 million on contract workers at the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, and many of the patients could be released into a more cost-effective community care option.
“You could leave roughly 830 people in the community for the entire year rather than put them in a psychiatric hospital,” Folio said. “You could save money, reduce contract staffing, and get better outcomes.”
The deep, festering problem at the William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital is out-of-control operating costs. Folio said over the last eight years they have operational cost losses of $671 million in taxpayer money.
“You could probably build five or six new hospitals for the amount of money that Sharpe Hospital is losing that West Virginia taxpayers are using to cover these losses,” Folio said.
The problems and data have been fairly common knowledge for several years, but conversations with elected officials have resulted in no action. Folio hopes the governor will see the cost and human toll and be inspired to dig into the problem and take action.
“This data is there; it’s publicly available, and we’ve been talking about it for years,” Folio said. “We’ve been talking to various legislators about it, and nothing is ever done.”