Injunction Bars the Transfer of Fairview Patients

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday prohibiting the state from transferring developmentally disabled patients from Fairview Development Center to private group homes and other facilities.

The injunction was requested by a patient identified only as Richard S. and on behalf of about 800 other patients at Fairview, said plaintiff’s attorney Francis X. Hardiman. He is also representing Dr. William Cable, Fairview’s chief of staff who alleged in a separate lawsuit last week that some patients were being transferred to group homes, where they were inadequately supervised, resulting in injuries and death.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Taylor’s two-page ruling applies only to patients at Fairview. However, Taylor predicted that the case will ultimately become a class action affecting the state’s six hospitals which treat developmentally disabled patients.

“It appears to the court that class [action] certification will likely be granted,” said Taylor in his ruling. “There appears to be sufficient numerosity, commonality, typicality and adequacy for this matter to proceed as a class action.”

Hardiman said the next step will be “to file a motion in federal court for class certification.”

In issuing his ruling, Taylor dismissed arguments by officials from the California Department of Developmental Services that there are adequate safeguards in place to guarantee that the transfers will not be harmful to patients. The state has a policy of integrating those patients into community group homes in keeping with a 1994 lawsuit settlement requiring the state to reduce the number of residents in its institutions.

But in the lawsuit filed earlier, Cable alleged that severely disabled patients who have no legal guardians or conservators were transferred too hastily and without enough attention to their behavioral and medical needs. They include patients transferred to Fairview from other state hospitals.

On Tuesday, Developmental Services attorney Michael Mount denied Cable’s allegations but also said he was not surprised by Taylor’s ruling.

“It was consistent with what Judge Taylor said he was going to do in in-chamber conversations with both sides,” Mount said.

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Mount said all transfers, including those involving patients who are without guardians or conservators, “are done through a well-reasoned and thoughtful process.”

“It involves people from various disciplines and is intended to allow everyone who has an issue or concern to express it,” he said. “Even if the person is without family, the team still reviews that person’s placement and makes decisions on factors of what is the most appropriate placement for someone.”

In June, lawyers for both sides reached an agreement forbidding Fairview from transferring patients who were without guardians or conservators, pending a court ruling. Tuesday’s written opinion by Taylor makes the agreement official unless state authorities succeed in getting the judge’s ruling overturned on appeal.

However, the ruling will allow transfers in cases where a patient has authorized the transfer in writing or is “represented” in the decision making process by a guardian or conservator.

Cable had alleged that disabled patients had suffered a total of 10 bone fractures at Fairview. He said that most of the injuries involved patients recently transferred to Fairview from the now closed Camarillo State Hospital.

Mount said he did not have any information about the 10 fractures cited by Cable. But he said that injuries are common among Fairview patients due to their “behavioral and other types of problems.”

He said hospital staff is required to file a report of every injury.

“These reports are filed daily and reviewed to look for potential problems, like patient abuse,” Mount said. “The information is also put on a database for us to study to see if there are any trends to the injury cases.”

Both sides had different interpretations of the ruling as it applies to patient transfers ordered by other judges.

Mount said both sides had agreed in discussions with Taylor that transfers were permitted if they were ordered by a judge. But Hardiman said the injunction also prohibits court-ordered transfers of patients.

“It’s up to the state courts to interpret the federal ruling in this case, but what good is the injunction if the state and the courts don’t pay any attention to it?” he asked.

As a safeguard, Hardiman said he filed a notice of Taylor’s ruling in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday.