Elgin Mental Health Center Resident Dies: Homicide By Negligence
November 18, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Tammy Lewis may have recently received some good news, but Virdia Spain and Iluminada Tuzon most certainly have not.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Spain and Tuzon, employees of the Elgin Mental Health Center in Illinois, have each been “charged with a felony count of abuse of a long-term health-care facility resident” after a coroner’s jury ruled former patient Howard Morris’s death was “homicide by negligence.” (Hmm…seems like the felony charge should be, I don’t know, something related to “homicide by negligence” and not “abuse,” but, what do I know?)
Anyway, the story is that Morris was allergic to fish, but he was fed fish on June 20 – even though his fish allergy was noted in his chart and by special color-coded cards on his food tray – and died after going into anaphylactic shock.
Honestly. How careless and incompetent does a person have to be to miss chart notes and color-coded cards on the freaking food tray? I mean, aren’t these kinds of responsibilities listed in the employees’ job descriptions? Isn’t it their job to pay attention to stuff like this?!
People seek treatment – or, in some cases, are placed – in mental health hospitals because neither they nor their loved ones are skilled enough to take care of them given their particular illness. The whole point is for the person to receive proper care. Such incompetence and neglect on the part of someone who is supposed to be trained on how to take care of people makes me sick.
And, it’s nothing new. Which angers me even more.
Anyway, while I’m all for expressing my initial thoughts on the matter, I’m completely against media convictions. Spain and Tuzon have been summoned to appear at Kane County Circuit Court on November 20, so, we’ll see what happens.
tragic and, even more tragically, nothing new—–
It’s a sad situation, and given the number of stories we hear like this, I wonder just how thoroughly people are screened before they’re hired.
IT IS SAD TO SAY THE WAY THE STAFF WORKED AT ELGIN MENTAL HEALTH CENTER.THEY TREAT THE PATIENTS LIKE TRASH.THEY DISCRIMINATED THOSE WHO DONT SPEACK ENGLISH.THEY TALK TO BLACK PEOPLE LIKE THEY ARE ANIMALS.THEY ABUSED ME THEY BEAT ME UP LIKE A PUNCH BAG.THEY LEFT ME WITH A HEARDACHE I STILL CANT SEE IN MY RIGHT EYE.WHEN I ASKED FOR JUSTICE DR.WALLY TREATH ME.HE SAID HE GONNA GIVE ME A SHOT TO PUT ME TO SLEEP.I ASKED FOR MRI THEY REFUSED ME.I ASKED TO SEE A DR. FOR MY RIGHT EYE THEY REFUSED ME ALSO.I WANT JUSTICE ,JUSTICE FOR BLACK PEOPLE,JUSTICE FOR THE PATIENTS IN ELGIN MENTAL HEALTH CENTER,JUSTICE FOR ALL.STAFF IT IS TIME NOW .IT IS TIME FOR YOU CHANGE.THOSE PATIENTS NEED HELP ,THEY DONT NEED TO BE TORTURED THEY CAME FOR A BETTER LIFE.PLEASE HELP THEM WITH RESPECT .THANK YOU