A recent investigation of the Conway Human Development Center by the Attorney General's office has attracted the attention of a subcommittee of the state Legislature.
During a hearing last week at the Capitol, members of the Senate Public health Committee's Human Development Centers Subcommittee heard testimony regarding some of the center's deficiencies, most of which had to do with the lack of prompt reporting of incidents at the center.
One parent who testified to actual medical misconduct was Ray Lawless, whose son, J.R., was a patient at CHDC from May 2000 until January 2001, when he was transferred to Arkansas Children's Hospital before dying a few months later.
Lawless made a complaint to the Attorney General's office linking his son's death to the care he received at CHDC. Lawless acted based on information from Joann Wiley, a former registered nurse at CHDC, who made several allegations of inadequate medical care in a letter to Lawless' ex-wife.
Lawless' complaints were that his son was hospitalized more often while at CHDC than when he lived at home. He also testified that his son had been dropped and was the victim of suspected sexual abuse.
An internal CHDC memo shows that Wiley and Lawless were romantically involved, though Lawless said Thursday that his relationship with Wiley has no bearing on his motives for making the allegations.
Lawless said that he did not meet Wiley until after she spoke out against CHDC and that the center's administrators are trying to use the relationship between him and Wiley to draw attention away from his son's case.
"They're trying to distract people from the facts," Lawless said. "Personal things don't come into play. It all started when I questioned the care my son had received and it fell on deaf ears. There was an employee who came forward and that's how this all got started. This is not about me. My son's dead. But if we can help people out there get the proper care that's what I'm trying to do."
Wiley was fired in July 2001 for medical reasons outlined in a series of memos that said she engaged in very erratic behavior, eventually taking a leave of absence after being sedated by her doctor.
Wiley was unable to be reached for comment.
Outside doctors who conducted the investigation both into J.R. Lawless' death and into the center's medical care in general found very few deficiencies in CHDC's actual medical care.
Dr. Stephen Bates, a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences neurologist who focused specifically on the Lawless case, concluded that J.R. Lawless was properly medicated at all times while at CHDC and that his lifespan was similar to patients with comparable conditions. He went on to cite cases of other CHDC patients who had died at the center, concluding that, "Indeed the longevity and length of stay of some of these clients, in the face of very severe handicaps, is in many ways quite remarkable and praiseworthy."
Dr. Eldon Schulz, section chief of developmental rehabilitation at UAMS, also praised CHDC's medical care, explaining that to provide adequate care with such a small staff makes that care more than adequate
"The level of care is adequate," he said. "But because of the shortage of physicians, it's more than adequate. They're getting their needs met. The residents are well cared for in that their skin is not problematic, which means the quality of nursing care is good."
Schulz did say that he would like to see the center improve its level of developmental care, but that he understood that budget concerns can often prevent such advances.
"Some of the rehabilitation and transition issues are not being met because they don't have the resources," he said. "The biggest thing is the philosophy shift of getting more expertise to the center, opening it up to the expertise that can help these individuals and make them more functional. We can improve the quality of life for these individuals."
Despite doctors' findings in the Lawless case, state Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, who chaired the legislative subcommittee, said that he still has concerns regarding CHDC in general.
"There are some things going on out there that troubled me," he said. "For me it was a pretty difficult task because I'm a strong advocate for them. But it's even more difficult when I find out they're not the way I think they are. And if you look at these reports, you see there are some things that need to be changed out there."
CHDC was found to be at fault in other recent cases:
* The state cited the center in February 2001 for failing to stop sexual advances by a resident toward other residents.
* The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cited CHDC for failing to protect patients.
* The state cited CHDC for losing track of two residents who left and were missing for 19 hours.
* CHDC was cited for not reporting as parental abuse a case in which a parent was attempting to restrain an aggressive child.
CHDC Superintendent Bob Clark admitted that the center made mistakes by not properly reporting incidents, but pointed out that while the number of deficiencies hovers at around 32 nationally for an average survey, CHDC's most recent review revealed only nine. He added that some of the deficiencies involved incidents the center didn't know it needed to report.
"I'm disappointed when we get any deficiency," he said. "But to get only nine, I don't understand why this is being pointed out as being so different. I made it clear to the staff that it will not be tolerated for these things not to be reported. As soon as I became aware of (the incidents that were not reported), I reported it. All of the parents were very understanding and thankful that we reported it."
Ron Carmack, chairman of the state's Developmental Disabilities Board and the parent of a CHDC resident, said he would choose the center over any other in the country.
"I'm retired and in a position to live anywhere in the U.S., and we chose and continue to choose the Conway Human Development Center for our child," he said. "Based on what our accreditation tells us and, more importantly, what our actual experience tells us, I believe we'll stay right here. We have residents where the family has to leave the state and their child was left here because of the quality of care they received here."
Carmack added that it's important for legislators to get the whole picture before judging CHDC based on numbers.
"No level of deficiency is acceptable because everybody out here is somebody's baby," he said. "But when a member of the legislature looks at an institution, it's important to understand the context. We have a 99 percent satisfaction survey from our families. And the negative comments coming from the other 1 percent are concerning budgets and staffing and other things that can't be controlled on the local level."
(Staff writer Justin Petruccelli can be reached by phone at 505-1266 or e-mail at justinp@thecabin.net.)
