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State revokes licenses of Putnam mental-health facility

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Ursus:
The Journal News
Appeals court restores $100G in fines against SLS mental health firm
By Terence Corcoran • tcorcora@lohud.com • November 22, 2009

The state Appellate Division has overturned most of a lower court's 2008 ruling that supported a private, for-profit mental health facility accused of violating patients' rights.

The Appellate Division ruled mostly for the state Office of Mental Health in its three-year battle with SLS Residential Inc., which treats adolescents and young adults with behavioral and psychological issues at two residential facilities and an outpatient facility in Southeast.

State mental health officials fined SLS $110,000 and have moved to close SLS by revoking its operating permits.

The four-judge panel upheld $100,000 of those fines, finding "substantial evidence in the record" to support them, but rescinded a $10,000 fine that OMH levied against SLS for the alleged illegal use of manual restraints on its clients.

The court found that OMH was trying to change state law by redefining the meaning of "restraint" to include manual restraints and that it violated the state Constitution because it failed to notify licensed facilities of its restraint policy. The court also found no evidence that SLS?used restraints.

"The Appellate Division's decision ... is a tremendous victory for SLS," Joseph Santoro, co-chairman of SLS, wrote in an e-mail. "As you know our basic position on restraint is that OMH cannot legislate. The Court found that OMH violated New York Constitution by failing to promulgate official rules and regulations. This is the essence of our dispute with OMH and therefore it vindicates our position."

But spokeswoman Jill Daniels said the state agency "is pleased that the court ruled in OMH's favor on all issues but one" and said the agency has introduced legislation to clarify the definition of the term "restraint" to include "physical, mechanical, or pharmacological measures used to restrict movement."

Santoro said SLS was disappointed that the rest of the court's ruling went against it but that SLS will appeal to a higher court.

The saga began in November 2006 when OMH inspectors visited the two residential treatment centers in Southeast run by SLS, also known as Supervised LifeStyles Inc., and fined the company $80,000 on violations that included illegally restraining residents, limiting their contact with people outside the facility, including family, violating their privacy by watching them as they provided a urine sample for drug tests and unfairly punishing residents.

OMH moved to rescind the operating permits for SLS, which appealed the ruling and fines in a hearing before the state agency. A hearing officer ruled in favor of OMH, and the agency's commissioner, Michael F. Hogan, upheld the ruling.

SLS then appealed to the state Supreme Court. In December 2008, Justice Andrew P. O'Rourke ruled in favor of SLS, finding that OMH's actions were "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law and wholly unsupported by substantial evidence."

O'Rourke's ruling, which also vacated the $110,000 in fines, let SLS maintain its operations while the state went to the Appellate Division, which largely overturned O'Rourke Nov. 10.

Daniels said the agency now will move forward to revoke SLS's permits.

Glen Feinberg, a Pleasantville resident who says his son received abusive treatment while a patient at SLS and who has been a vocal critic, called the ruling "a resounding victory" for OMH and urged the state Office of the Professions to "take action against the SLS psychologists responsible for this lawlessness."


Copyright ©2009

Ursus:
COMMENTS for the above article, "Appeals court restores $100G in fines against SLS mental health firm" (The Journal News; Nov 22, 2009):


AMAZEDONE wrote: 11/22/2009 7:22:13 AM
Thank God someone is finally doing something about these people. Years ago they had (at least one) of their Psychiatrists terminated for "inappropirate" contact with a patient. And he had his licence revoked. Also, I know that there is a social worker there who sleeps during sessions with clients, nice huh?

O'Rourke should have investigated some of the background of this company before making his decision so arbitrarily..He's a great guy too, it's not like him.. he must know somebody big at SLS?!

I think that they are a modern day sanitorium! How horrible!followtheleader1 wrote: 11/22/2009 7:55:58 AM
Someone should look into the Political Donations made by SLS over the past 5 years. You will see they made big dontaions to Sheriff Don Smith...arpadthemagyar wrote: 11/22/2009 9:22:48 AM
Feinberg is just looking to grow himself thru the courthouse. This is total BS.imawatchin wrote: 11/22/2009 10:57:40 AM
Replying to AMAZEDONE:
"Thank God someone is finally doing something about these people. Years ago they had (at least one) of their Psychiatrists terminated for "inappropirate" contact with a patient. And he had his licence revoked. Also, I know that there is a social worker there who sleeps during sessions with clients, nice huh?

O'Rourke should have investigated some of the background of this company before making his decision so arbitrarily..He's a great guy too, it's not like him.. he must know somebody big at SLS?!

I think that they are a modern day sanitorium! How horrible!"[/list]
A judge doesn't investigate litigants before him. He is a judge, not a prosecutor or investigator. The litigants present their arguments to him and he decides based on the LAW, not his own private investigation. Civics 101. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong, but to insinuate that he is on the take is outragious. You should be ashamed of yourself. Bad, bad, bad.[/list]
Litchfield wrote: 11/22/2009 6:56:10 PM
SLS loses on 9 of 10 counts and claims victory. Right.

The $100,000 in fines from OMH is in addition to the $30,000 SLS was fined by Judge Robinson for contacting and lying to former patients who are potential plaintifs in a class action suit. In addition to facing the prospect of having its license revoked, SLS still faces the class action suit and a suit from the family of a woman who was murdered by an SLS patient.

SLS can't survive too many more "victories" like this.slsisevil wrote: 11/27/2009 2:09:09 AM
To the blogger Imawatchin,actually amazedone is right. O'rourke certainly appears to be on the take. O'rourke didn't even write a decision as to why he was overturning it. He wrote one small paragraph,he didn't look at any evidence at all. Everyone knows O'rourke was in SLS's pocket. In fact, O'rourke has had all of his decisions in favor of SlS overturned. There are a few of them. SLS went to O'rourke after O'rourke had already been overturned like 3 times with his favors for sls to ask him again for help,and he finally refused because he didnt want to look like he was in SlS's pocket,which he is. I am not suggesting that O'rourke was taking money from SlS,but he's friends with the owners,thats why he gave a decision that WASNT BASED ON LAW IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT. EVERY JUDGE WHO'S LOOKED AT ANY CASE INVOLVING SLS BESIDES O'ROURKE HAS ALWAYS RULED AGAINST SLS,AND THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE.slsisevil wrote: 11/27/2009 2:15:46 AM
Let's make something perfectly clear here. There is a mistake in this article. The court did not,they did not find no evidence of restraints. They found plenty,plenty,endless evidence of restraints. The appellate court vacated OMH's finding of restraints because OMH fined SlS under the wrong legal code. It was a technicality. SLS won 1 out of 10 on a technicality. The court did not vindicate SlS's ridiculous position that it has the right to assault its members. Seriously. People are constantly beaten and physically assaulted and tortured severely at sls,and sls claims they have the right to do that.

Copyright ©2009

GCSurvivor:
It is long past time Green Chimneys had its license revoked and Samuel B. Ross Jr. brought up on child abuse charges.

I was one of countless kids who were battered there.  Dr. Samuel B. Ross has rightfully been described as a very cruel and dangerous man.

This RTC in Brewster NY is nothing more than an abuse mill.  Two rapists who were also serial killers, Philip Zagarella and Eric Napoletano spent years in Green Chimneys in the 1970s.  Richard Pienciak wrote a book about Eric Napoletano, Green Chimneys student in "Mama's Boy: The True Story of a Serial Killer & His Mother."

There are Green Chimneys survivor sites on Facebook; Twitter and other sites.  


Here are some relevant links:

http://www.pcnr.com/news/2001-05-30/Gen ... s/037.html

http://victims4justice.org/

http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/s ... n+chimneys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWUCw5LsQNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7g0oiJ52Gw

Ursus:
Fwiw... a thread on this program in the FQA forum:


* Green Chimneys is Green Hell
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=37861

LadyJean:
Green Chimneys, Maltreatment Center has turned out people like Eric Lau:

http://courts.lohudblogs.com/tag/eric-lau/

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110811/N ... -September

Eric Lau is a living demo of just how helpful being locked away in David Hall, the Green Chimneys hospital really was!

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