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Friday, May. 22, 2009

Report: Central State mental patient wasn’t properly watched

Central State Hospital staff failed to maintain observation on the 30-year-old patient accused of fatally beating and strangling another patient in his room April 5, according to the report of an internal investigation at the hospital released Thursday.

Saleeban Adan, 30, of Decatur, was charged with killing 37-year-old Christopher Wayne Yates, of Centerville, after an employee discovered Yates dead in his room in the Cook Building, a maximum-security area of the hospital.

Brandon Mosley, a forensics services technician at the hospital assigned to watch Adan on the night of the killing, resigned April 7, according to the report.

Six staff members were tasked with caring for 21 patients on the night of April 5, according to the report.

The report shows Adan was placed on “1:1 observation” that night, meaning an employee was tasked with staying “within arm’s length” of him because of his “assaultive behavior” and previous murders he was alleged to have committed.

Adan was sent to Central State Hospital for an evaluation after he was accused of killing his DeKalb County jail cellmate Jan. 8 while awaiting trial on another murder charge.

Court records show Yates had been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial for pending charges of stalking, terroristic threats, impersonating an officer and theft in Houston County.

There was only one patient, Adan, on 1:1 observation on the night of the killing, according to the report.

Mosley, who had worked at the hospital for about a year and a half prior to his resignation, told investigators he went to eat in the break room after telling other staff members he was taking a break, according to the report.

He said the other employees acknowledged that he was going on break, and he was gone for about 15 minutes, according to the report.

When he came back from break, Mosley saw nurses performing CPR on Yates. He didn’t see anyone else providing 1:1 supervision for Adan when he returned, according to the report.

The charge nurse for the unit is reported to have told investigators that staff members must ask permission before taking a break.

Mosley said the charge nurse wasn’t available.

He admitted he didn’t follow protocol by handing off a “special observation flow sheet” form to anyone before going on break. He just put it on a counter, according to the report.

He said he didn’t know why Adan was on 1:1 observation, although the charge nurse said staff members were briefed on patient behavior, according to the report.

Adan’s case has been turned over to the district attorney’s office, said Tom Davis, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Milledgeville office.

A Georgia Department of Human Resources spokeswoman was unable to answer questions Thursday.

Yates’ death follows a federal investigation that ended in May 2008 with the U.S. Justice Department citing Georgia’s “unabated” failure to address dangerous conditions in state mental hospitals that have caused preventable deaths, injuries and illnesses.

The state reached a settlement with the federal government in January to improve conditions, including patient safety, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Investigations by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concluded that abuse, neglect and poor medical care contributed to 136 patient deaths in state mental hospitals from 2002 to 2007.

Central State Hospital is the largest and oldest of Georgia’s facilities for the mentally ill or developmentally disabled.

Information from The Telegraph’s Archives was included in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.