5 officials to be subpoenaed in probe into State Hospital

Five top-level state health administrators will be the first officials subpoenaed to testify in a legislative investigation into whether poor management at the Hawaii State Hospital left workers there vulnerable to patient attacks, state lawmakers said Wednesday.

The lawmakers, making up a committee tasked with investigating the issue after hospital workers went public with complaints, scheduled their next hearing for 10 a.m. March 27 at the state Capitol, where the upper-level administrators will be ordered to appear.

Those subpoenaed are Dr. Linda Rosen, state Department of Health director; Lynn Fallin, deputy director of the department’s Behavioral Health Services Administration; Mark Fridovich, former State Hospital administrator and chief of the Adult Mental Health Division; Dr. William Sheehan, State Hospital medical director; and Bill Elliott, acting State Hospital administrator.

State Sen. Clayton Hee said the committee will ask questions relating to corrective measures outlined in a settlement agreement to a 1991 federal lawsuit against Hawaii for patient maltreatment at the state’s only psychiatric hospital. The committee will also focus on additional requirements for the hospital made in 1996 and 2003, he said.

Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Wai­alua), chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, said the committee wants to know whether noncompliance with the settlement agreement led to worker allegations of assaults by patients, excessive overtime, nepotism, harassment and a hostile work environment.

Hee, who is leading the investigation along with co-chairman Sen. Josh Green, said a second round of subpoenas for a meeting at a later date may include the hospital’s associate administrator of quality management, forensic services coordinator, acting psychiatry chief and several nurse managers.

Already, the committee has received calls from hospital clerks who are concerned about retaliation, and Hee warned that the Department of Health would have to explain if there are accusations of such conduct. Hee said he intends to subpoena those clerks.

Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said the concerned clerks keep books that contain staff overtime. He hopes public attention on the investigation and the subpoenas will discourage retaliation against the workers.

Green said one concern in the investigation is the ratio of staff to patients at the hospital, which may have led to situations in which workers were injured.

After the investigation is completed in several months, the committee will generate a report with its recommendations, Green said.

"My entire hope is that we improve safety and health care at the Hawaii State Hospital," he said.

Several hospital employees attended Wednesday’s meeting at the Capitol. One psychiatric technician, who would not give his name because he worries about retaliation, said management has already taken some steps to improve.

He said management this week is giving workers anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training for the first time in the seven years he has worked at the hospital. He said administrators are also holding talks where employees can voice their concerns.

"It’s not like a big step, but it’s progress," he said.