SPOKANE, Wash.  – DSHS Secretary Susan N. Dreyfus said Friday that she is concerned about lapses in hospital policy detailed in a critical incident review of a forensic patient’s three-day escape from an Eastern State Hospital field trip at the Spokane County Interstate Fair on Sept. 17.

Secretary Dreyfus said the suspension of field trips at the two adult psychiatric hospitals that she ordered during the escape would remain in effect.

She said she is looking further into the failure of the hospital staff to call 9-1-1 and the clinical decision making around this field trip to determine whether discipline may be appropriate.

“Once I have clear answers to those two questions, I will take any appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the Washington Administrative Code and the Collective Bargaining Agreements between these employees and the state,” she said.

Dreyfus said she is appointing a panel of experts chaired by Dr. Richard Veith, M.D., head of the University of Washington Department of Behavioral Health and Sciences, to look into those overall policies. She said members of the State Psychiatric Hospital Safety Review Panel include clinical, legal and security experts, a consumer advocate, and law enforcement – including Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

In addition to examining the Eastern State Hospital critical incident review, the panel will identify policy and procedures related to the incident that may need to be changed at either state hospital to improve community safety. Both Eastern and Western State Hospitals experienced forensic patient escapes during September.

“We want the panel members to verify that our critical incident investigation was thorough and to review policies and procedures related to this incident,” Dreyfus said.

She also would like the panel to submit recommendations on how the state assures patient, staff and community safety while providing appropriate therapeutic interventions and community reintegration support for the growing numbers of forensic mental health patients in the state psychiatric hospitals.

She said she expects the panel’s report and recommendations by December 1.

“Although public safety must be our first concern,” Dreyfus said, “it is important that we not let this unfortunate incident frame how we as a state see people who live with mental illness. Mental illness touches all of us, and people can indeed recover and lead successful lives.”

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EDITORS: A copy of the Critical Incident Review released Friday by Secretary Dreyfus is posted on the DSHS Web page at http://www.dshs.wa.gov

State Psychiatric Hospital Safety Review Board

A complete list of the panel members appointed Friday to the State Psychiatric Hospital Safety Review Panel:

            Chair: Richard Veith, M.D., Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington Medical School

Barbara Bate, president,Washington Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness

Christina Beusch, deputy attorney general  

John Chiles, M.D., University of Washington professor, psychiatrist and medical director for Western State Hospital

            Bret Farrar, Lakewood police chief

            Scott Frakes, Superintendent of the Monroe Correctional Complex for the Department of Corrections

            Ozzie Knezovich, Spokane County sheriff

            Dan Satterberg, King County prosecutor