Abuse Charges Lead To Firing At Connecticut Valley Hospital

A federally authorized investigation of a state psychiatric hospital has found that patients had been verbally and physically abused by a hospital employee.

The employee, Mario Santiago, was fired from his position as a mental health assistant at Connecticut Valley Hospital, a 537-bed inpatient hospital in Middletown that treats mental illness and addiction.

An anonymous letter in August alerting hospital officials of the abuse triggered an immediate internal investigation, said Jim Siemianowski, spokesman for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Santiago was immediately removed from patient care during the hospital’s investigation “to ensure patients were protected,” Siemianowski said. “The reality is that any allegation is troubling to us and we’ve taken aggressive action to deal with it.”

In addition to firing the staff member, the hospital conducted facility-wide training with all staff regarding patient abuse and neglect. Work rules related to reporting of patient abuse were also reviewed.

“We received an anonymous letter in August and at the same time the letter was sent to the state Department of Public Health (DPH), so the hospital immediately began an investigation before the DPH came in,” Siemianowski said. “We’ve already aggressively addressed the issues.”

The letter prompted the DPH to inform the Center for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Services of the “substantial allegation.” CMS, a federal agency, authorized the state to investigate Connecticut Valley Hospital on its behalf.

The DPH examination found that the hospital was not in compliance with federal regulations pertaining to patient rights, and unless corrected, threatened its Medicare reimbursement.

CMS informed Connecticut Valley Hospital in a Nov. 9 letter that it had until Nov. 12 to create a plan of correction for the deficiencies identified in the investigation.

Siemianowski said that hospital and agency officials met with state investigators following their investigation in mid-October, giving the hospital ample time to create a plan of correction.

“We see no problem submitting by Nov. 12, and it is our expectation that they will be satisfied with our plan [and response],” he said.

The federal agency also warned hospital officials that it could terminate Medicare reimbursements by Jan. 17 if the hospital is not in compliance with its regulations.

Officials from DPH and CMS would not comment.