State needs more time to craft remedy for disabled

October

The state has received a two-week extension to file a U.S. District Court-ordered remedial plan on how to place residents of adult homes in New York City in settings that are more integrated into the community. Instead of this Friday, state officials have until Nov. 6.

Besides needing more time to develop the plan, state officials recently learned the U.S. Department of Justice intends to intervene in the lawsuit and they haven’t yet been able to review all the paperwork, according to Assistant Attorney General Barbara Hathaway, who sent a letter requesting an extension to the judge.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that about 4,300 mentally ill people living in New York City adult homes were not receiving adequate care, a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, which require they live in the least restrictive setting possible.

Disability Advocates Inc. sued the state six years ago on behalf of the adult-home residents. Adult homes are for-profit entities that have been widely criticized for their care. Many former patients at psychiatric hospitals were discharged into group homes after the state began deinstitutionalization in the early 1970s.

It’s unclear whether the Health Department and the Office of Mental Health will propose remedies on a statewide basis. New York has 380 group homes.

But the decision is expected to have national implications on treatment for people with mental illness. The Department of Justice has requested permission to intervene in the case “in order to ensure that the broader public interest is represented in this litigation,” the agency wrote in a letter to Garaufis, who is taking up the matter today.

Here is another excerpt from the letter:

“The United States has primary regulatory and enforcement authority under Title II of the ADA, and therefore has a strong interest in ensuring the proper and consistent application of its ADA regulations. Moreover, the United States seeks to intervene because of the significance and scope of the proposed remedy, which will help transform the lives of individuals with mental illness whom the Court found to be living in segregated communities, a great concern for the United States.

The remedy may serve as a model for other courts in similar cases and the United States “has a substantial interest in helping to craft this remedy,” the DOJ letter said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 pm by Cara Matthews.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
| Email This

It is a condition of your use of the comment features associated with the blogs that you do not: Use the site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. You alone are responsible for the material you post or send. Refer to the Terms of Service.

Politics on the Hudson