Case Types -Nursing Home Care Giver Institution Abuse

New York Uncertified Adult Home Serving Residents with Mental Illness

A confirmed abuse report at a New York nursing home

Two mentally ill residents of an unlicensed adult home in Suffolk County died, and the remaining residents lived under deplorable conditions, while social services and mental health agencies aware of the uncertified home for years breached their most basic obligations by failing to protect the residents' well-being. The report chronicles the Commission's investigation of the home following the deaths of two home residents who were clients of the Sunrise Psychiatric Clinic in Amityville.

The Commission found:

Jacob home residents slept on mattresses on the floor in filthy and unsafe conditions. They were malnourished, filthy and poorly dressed, and lived in an environment smelling of excrement. When the home lacked heat, one of two residents hospitalized for hypothermia died of pneumonia Neglect by the home operator of another's medical needs resulted in his death from tuberculosis;

the Department of Social Services (DSS) which licenses and regulates adult homes, failed for several years to take effective enforcement action to close the Jacob home, although it had known the home was operating illegally without DSS certification;

Kings Park and Central Islip Psychiatric Centers for years released patients to the uncertified home, violating state discharge planning requirements, with little follow-up to determine whether the residence provided good care or was appropriate to their needs;

Sunrise Psychiatric Clinic case managers, who were responsible for addressing Jacob home residents' needs and monitoring services, did not maintain regular contact or respond to resident complaints about their treatment and obvious problems.

"The tragedy of the Jacob home is not just that mentally ill individuals endured horrible conditions, but that they suffered because agencies abdicated their basic responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of people entrusted to their care," said Chairman Clarence J. Sundram upon publication of the report.
DSS establishes standards, inspects and certifies adult homes, which provide long-term residential care, room and board, housekeeping, personal care and supervision. According to the Commission report, DSS knew as early as 1984 that Mrs. Jacob was illegally operating an uncertified adult home. After four years of enforcement warnings and threatened fines, DSS finally charged her in 1988, but adjourned the administrative hearing when she promised to cease operation. The Commission report criticizes DSS for failing to follow up as Mrs. Jacob continued to operate the home, eventually moving the residents to a new location.