 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Hearing ordered for five at Western Center
Tuesday, May 02, 2000 By Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
An Allegheny County judge has thrown an obstacle in front of plans by the state Department of Public Welfare to furlough the remaining employees at Western Center on Friday and to transfer the last seven mentally retarded residents out of the 38-year-old institution.
Yesterday, Senior Judge Paul R. Zavarella said he has a legal obligation to hold hearings for five mentally retarded residents from Allegheny County who still live there.
The residents were sent to the institution for the mentally retarded in Cecil many years ago through involuntary commitment orders by Allegheny County judges. Greene County Judge William Nalitz has not yet ruled on whether the remaining two residents also should have hearings.
"I think these individuals are entitled to a hearing," said Zavarella, who personally signed some of the commitments. "It has been the practice of this court to follow through on these cases."
Zavarella said he will schedule the hearings as quickly as possible. But the hearings won't be held before Friday, the day that the state welfare department planned to furlough the remaining employees at Western and have all residents moved to group homes or institutions.
Jay Pagni, spokesman for the welfare department, would not comment on the impact of Zavarella's ruling.
"We haven't seen the order and we will not comment," Pagni said.
During yesterday's hearing, James Conley, an attorney for the welfare department, argued that Zavarella did not have the authority to stop the closing of Western Center, which was set into motion by a settlement in U.S. District Court.
But if the state were to defy Zavarella's order and proceed to transfer the five residents to group homes or other institutions, Zavarella could hold the welfare department in contempt.
"We are having a clash of the courts," Conley said at one point.
Zavarella's ruling was greeted with jubilation by leaders of a parents group that has fought to prevent the closing of Western Center.
The purpose of the hearings is not to decide whether Western Center should be closed. The hearings will deal with questions about whether the transfers to the group homes are in the best interests of the individual residents, said Daniel Torisky, a leader of the parents group.
The parents group hopes to be able to present evidence showing that privately operated group homes are not properly licensed or inspected and that the mentally retarded don't have the same protections in group homes as in an institution like Western Center.
Michael Pribanic, an attorney for the parents and guardians of 51 Western Center residents, said he also would like to present a report from state Auditor General Bob Casey's office. He has said it found that more mentally retarded residents have died from abuse or neglect at group homes than at Western Center.
During yesterday's arguments, Pribanic raised rhetorical questions about the closure of Western Center. He asked why the state welfare department transferred residents out of Western before group homes are ready for them.
That action will force some mentally retarded residents to make two moves.
He argued that the state wants to close Western Center completely before Casey's report is released and before the Health Care Financing Administration begins inspecting the homes.
"We want to show in these hearings that there is no oversight in these homes," Pribanic said.
Whether the parents group will be able to turn the hearings into a full-fledged investigation into the state's use of group homes for the mentally retarded is uncertain. Zavarella did not spell out what kind of evidence will be admitted at the hearings.
The state began moving the last 56 residents out of Western Center on April 12.
A lawsuit filed in 1989, which alleged substandard conditions at Western Center, led to a 1992 federal court settlement that called for moving the center's residents into community-group homes if they were found to be able to live outside the center.
|
||||||||
