Justice Center Records Raise Questions

ALBANY, N.Y.  — The agency responsible for protecting those with special needs declined to investigate most of the nearly 1,400 deaths of developmentally disabled people in state care in the past two years, leaving the majority of investigations to the caretaker facilities themselves, according to newly released records.

An advocate who sought the documents' release under the state's open-records law said they indicate that the Justice Center, established more than two years ago by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to be the primary investigative agency for possible cases of abuse and neglect in state care, is simply not doing its job.

NYS Faulted in Teen's Death

A mentally disabled teenager who died while under state care in 2013 writhed in excruciating pain for months when a doctor ignored his rejection of a stomach feeding tube, according to a watchdog group that faulted the state's oversight agency for not substantiating neglect in the case.Disability Rights New York, which has the federal authority to oversee such care in the state, issued a highly critical report that was provided to The Associated Press before its release Monday. The report calls for a new investigation by the state's Justice Center, established two years ago to protect the 1 million disabled, addicted, mentally ill and young people in state care.

Report Examines NY's Justice Center

NEW YORK -- The Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs was created in 2013 to ensure the health and safety of New Yorkers with disabilities. But according to an Associated Press report, of more than 25,000 claims of abuse and neglect the center has received since the start of 2014, just 169 have led to criminal charges.
Experts say cases such as these can be hard to prove, in part because they often rely on victims with disabilities who are viewed as poor witnesses. Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, said a shift in this thinking could lead to more prosecutions. 

NYS Justice Center Secures Indictments

ALBANY — New York State’s Justice Center has secured indictments against two aides who allegedly abused a disabled man in a Niskayuna facility.

Yosmarvi Tovar and Dominique Mortimore allegedly pushed a man off the couch in an effort to have him take a shower and they were indicted by a Schenectady County grand jury.

NYS Lags on Firing State Workers Who Abuse People with Disabilities

ALBANY — One state worker bit a patient’s ear.Another sent threatening text messages to a female co-worker, according to state records, including one that said: “I’m gonna gut you like a fish blondie. Don’t even try to call the police.”A third, a nurse, left a patient naked and bleeding from a head injury on a bathroom floor, soaking in his own feces.And a fourth knocked a group home resident out of a chair, hit the resident on the back of the head and squirted water from a bottle in the resident’s face.

All of these state employees care for people with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses. They were all found culpable of wrongdoing in internal disciplinary proceedings. But none were fired.

New York Strikes Deal on Policing Abuse

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a deal Sunday night to create a new state agency to police abuse and neglect of more than one million New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and other conditions that put them at risk, state officials said Sunday.

The governor also agreed to take some steps to bolster outside oversight of the state’s care, yielding to concerns raised by Assembly Democrats and some advocates for people with disabilities that state regulators have long failed to adequately respond to cases of abuse on their own. Lawmakers also agreed to expand the state’s public disclosure law, requiring thousands of nonprofit groups that provide services to disabled and mentally ill people to make records of abuse and neglect public.