SDC Staff Question Patient Transfer

The Kenwood Press is reporting a riff between the Sonoma Developmental Center administration and some staff at the Center over the transfer of a patient out of the facility. (see: SDC staff and administration at odds over transfer of patient, 2/1/2011)

At issue is the scheduled move of a 68-year-old developmentally disabled resident who has lived at the Center for sixty years. The woman, referred to as "Martha" in the article, cannot speak and is blind and hearing impaired. Despite her disabilities, however, she can walk and enjoys supervised outings. As part of the ongoing effort to downsize the facility, Martha has been identified for transfer to a smaller group home administered by an area regional center.

PHA member Pat Walters explained the general situation at the Center to the Kenwood Press reporter. "What is basically happening is that for various reasons the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) would like to downsize and close developmental centers and instead have persons like "Martha" live in group homes and other places," Walters is quoted as saying.

A force driving the situation is the 1969 Lanterman Act, which stipulates patient choice and placement in the "least restrictive" environment. While some people thrive in smaller facilities, problems have been reported for older clients removed from established relationships and for the most severely disabled, who don't receive the same level of care outside the developmental center. The concern is that the Lanterman Act is being zealously applied to force people out of developmental centers into inappropriate care situations.

"Martha" does not have parents or a conservator who can participate in determining her course of care, and so people on her care team have stepped in and taken the extreme measure of hiring an attorney themselves to argue on "Martha's" behalf. A psychologist, appointed by the court to evaluate Martha agrees with the SDC staff that the move would prove risky for "Martha," but the issue is not yet resolved.

"Martha's" is not an isolated case. Even though an important provision of the Lanterman Act was to ensure choice of placement, other families and clients have gone through protracted legal battles in recent years to gain or maintain placement in a developmental center.

More details are included in the Kenwood Press article. For more background on problems associated with client transfers from developmental centers, see SF Chronicle coverage of developmental center news and issues from 1997-1998, a list of articles PHA has collected on delicious.com.