Metropolitan Hospital Chief to Resign Sept. 30

The longtime chief of Metropolitan State Hospital, which for three years has been scrutinized by federal investigators, announced his retirement Friday, hospital officials said.

William G. Silva, 57, has been the executive director of the hospital in Norwalk since 1987. He has worked there since 1976.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued two scathing investigative reports on patient care at the hospital, the first in May 2003 and the second in February 2004.

Silva declined to comment on Tuesday.

“He’s retiring for personal reasons,” said Catherine Bernarding, a hospital spokeswoman.

Kirsten Macintyre, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health, said that Silva is stepping down Sept. 30 and that the agency will advertise for his replacement.

The Justice Department found that the hospital regularly misdiagnosed and wrongly medicated patients, and wasn’t doing enough to keep patients safe from themselves or others.

Since the second report was released, four patients have died at Metropolitan under unusual circumstances. In the most recent incident, Maria Garcia, 18, hanged herself from a light fixture with a bed sheet in a hospital room May 27. She died of her injuries a week later.

The Justice Department and the hospital are negotiating over a plan of correction. If not satisfied, the Justice Department can sue the state under the federal Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act to force changes at the hospital.