CAMARILLO : No Inquiry Planned in Hospital Deaths

The deaths of three patients at state mental hospitals, including a 28-year-old man at Camarillo State Hospital, were reviewed shortly after they happened, and further investigations are not planned, state Department of Mental Health officials said Monday.

The report was issued in response to allegations raised last week by Protection and Advocacy Inc., a federally funded group that protects the rights of mentally disabled patients statewide.

The advocacy group charged that hospital workers gave potentially lethal combinations of psychiatric drugs to the three men, including two at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, and then failed to monitor them properly. The Camarillo patient died in 1989 after he was given several drugs, including Cogentin, which can cause vomiting, and Thorazine, which can suppress the body’s coughing reflex.

But department officials said the deaths were investigated separately by both independent and internal hospital review panels soon after they occurred. “It is not anticipated at this time that there will be further review of these deaths,” said spokeswoman Janet Eaton.

As a result of the reviews, changes have already been made in how patients are monitored, including the development of a manual on how to deal with patients on psychiatric drugs during excessive heat, and changes in some nursing procedures, the report said.

The advocacy group requested that the staff be trained in the use of psychiatric drugs, but department officials said hospital staff members have already been trained in administering the drugs when they are hired.

In a letter to the group, William Mayer, director of the Department of Mental Health, said he has requested “that all hospital personnel are properly educated regarding the . . . danger of drug interactions and the absolute requirement for intensified close observation of patients on multiple medications.”

A spokesman for Protection and Advocacy could not be reached for comment.