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Families urge lawmakers to fight state for disabled patients |
Lowell Sun 6/16/2009 |
by
Hiroko Sato |
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GROTON -- Anyone caring for Eric Voss must carefully check the amount of fluid that goes into and comes out of his body because a slightly elevated level of sodium can result in a brain damage for the 28-year-old cerebral-palsy patient. In fact, he spent four weeks in a coma at Children's Hospital Boston from the sodium problem years ago, says his father, Frank Voss. In the case of Janay Trabucco, 35, changes in room temperatures can trigger a serious medical condition. When she moved from one wing to another at Seven Hills at Groton, a nursing care facility on Hillside Avenue, she stopped eating, causing her to become dehydrated and hypothermic, says her mother, Fran Joncas. So, what would happen to these and other fragile patients at Seven Hills if they are evicted from the facility and placed into group homes? It could be a death sentence, Voss says of the state's order to do just that. U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, says she understands the families' anguish. "I know how concerned you are, and I want to be supportive," Tsongas told dozens of parents and guardians during her visit to Seven Hills yesterday. Tsongas toured Seven Hills to better understand how the state's order to relocate the 31 patients at Seven Hills to group homes will affect the patients and their families. The state made the decision a year ago following a settlement in the decade-old class-action lawsuit, Rolland v. Patrick, in which the lawyers were trying to free a disabled Agawam woman, Loretta Rolland, from a nursing home where the state had placed her. The families and staff members at Seven Hills say they never knew the suit was filed on behalf of 1,600 mentally retarded and developmentally disabled people, including those at Seven Hills. After deinstitutionalizing many of the 1,600 patients by 2007, the state, under Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, reached a new settlement in May 2008, promising to put another 600 people or more into community-based housing and care.The family members appealed to the settlement, but the district court in Springfield denied the appeal, according to Louis Putterman, whose daughter, Laura, lives at Seven Hills. The families then appealed to the federal first circuit court, and the judge has agreed to hear the case. The families are now waiting for the case to move forward.In the meantime, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed a bill, requiring plaintiffs of class-action lawsuits against a care facility for mentally retarded people to notify all the residents about it and let them elect whether to be part of the suit. Tsongas is a co-sponsor of the bill. Yesterday, Tsongas toured individual rooms equipped with oxygen sensors and other state-of-the-art equipment designed to keep the patients safe. State Rep. Robert Hargraves, R-Groton, state Sen. Susan Tucker, D-Andover, and state Sen. Michael Moore, D-Worcester, also attended. Putterman said advocates for deinstitutionalization of mentally retarded people and those who want to keep their loved ones at institutions have been butting heads over the years nationwide. He believes the 31 Seven Hill residents are the latest casualties of that battle and believes there needs to a law to protect their loved ones' right to stay institutionalized. Putterman asked Tsongas to help raise an awareness of the issue by reading what's happening at Seven Hills into Congressional record. While Tsongas did not directly respond to Putterman's request, she reiterated her support for the residents. Tsongas noted that Frank's bill would at least prevent similar problems from happening again.The families of Seven Hill residents said they feel encouraged by Tsongas' visit. "They are interested enough to come and listen to us," Joncas said of the legislators. Putterman said he fears that the state can come in and remove his daughter at any time. "The whole issue is horrendous," Joncas said. "I
wish I could wave a magic wand and make the issue go away." |