People
Worth Protecting
Background
& Overview
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this, and the next few pages, we want to provide general information
on the Seven Hills Pediatric Center and a brief history of
the legal struggles we are facing to protect our family members.
This is not a fight we can win alone, any and all support
you can lend to help our cause is greatly appreciated. |
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Rolland
Vs. Patrick Settlement Agreement |
 The
families of long-term patients at Seven Hills Pediatric Center,
then Children’s Extended Care Center, were supposed to
have been informed that their children had been classified as
plaintiffs in the Rolland suit and that they were supposedly
being represented in that suit by Attorney Steven Schwartz and
the Center for Public Representation. However, none of the parents
received information about this. The family members and guardians
of adult residents at the Center learned of the Rolland case
only in May of 2008, at which point the Patrick Administration
had agreed to a new Settlement Agreement {to
download the PDF file click here} under which the state
has committed itself to moving at least 80% of the remaining
members of the Rolland plaintiff class, numbering 800 individuals
and including 51 adult residents at Seven Hills Pediatric Center,
into community settings. Seven Hills Pediatric Center is excluded
from the category “community setting” for reasons
that were not explained to the families. The families were told
that under the settlement, their loved ones can be moved if
this is the judgment reached by the Massachusetts Department
of Mental Retardation, and that they would have the right to
appeal a decision with which they disagreed, but families have
no guarantee of being able to prevent their family member from
being moved even if the family and doctor believe this endangers
the individual’s life. |
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