Legislation has resurfaced in the General Assembly that would bring outside review of cases of patient abuse and neglect in state-run mental hospitals.

House Bill 535 would create a mental health ombudsman position to investigate complaints about state hospitals and community services. State legislators established an ombudsman position in 2000, but the office was never funded and the job never filled.

(ENLARGE)

Butler

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The funding hurdle remains, and timing also could be a problem. Just three legislative days are left before the bill must clear the House in order to gain passage this year.

Still, state Rep. Mark Butler (R-Carrollton) says an ombudsman pilot program would not cost much money — and that it's necessary to protect patients.

Mental health patients ''need a voice,'' said Butler, sponsor of the bill, which revises a similar proposal from last year that died before getting a House floor vote. "I believe that if we had this system in place, we would not have had the problems we've had in the past few years.''

When abuse or neglect occurs in a state mental hospital, the investigation is conducted by the same agency that runs the facility. Questionable deaths rarely get independent review.

Talk of an ombudsman position was revived last year after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the seven state mental hospitals have been chronically overcrowded, underfunded and understaffed, conditions that led to widespread medical errors and problems. The newspaper reported that at least 115 state hospital patients died under suspicious circumstances from 2002 through 2006. The newspaper also found almost 200 confirmed cases of patient abuse during the same period.

As many as 21 more questionable deaths occurred during 2007, the newspaper reported in December.

The newspaper's articles have sparked an ongoing U.S. Justice Department investigation into the hospitals. In addition, Gov. Sonny Perdue established a commission to study reforms in Georgia's mental health system.

Under Butler's bill, the new ombudsman office would be attached to the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs and operate independently of the Department of Human Resources, which runs the public mental health system, including the state psychiatric hospitals.

"We defer to the legislative process to determine the course of this bill,'' Kenya Bello, a spokeswoman for Human Resources, said in a statement. "At the same time, we also understand and respect the intent of this bill.''

State Sen. Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville), whose district includes Central State Hospital, also introduced a bill to create an ombudsman office, but says needed revisions can't be made in time for passage. Nevertheless, Grant said Tuesday that ''funding is something we can still handle. We have a lot of overall support to get a pilot started.''

Butler envisions a pilot ombudsman program in two regions, which he says would require less than $500,000. If it's not funded, he said, the state could potentially spend more money because of lawsuits and possible Justice Department requirements for changes in the mental health system.

The ombudsman legislation includes establishing a committee to review patient deaths. The state of Illinois has a similar panel, composed of outside medical experts.

Whatever the setup, the ombudsman office should be independent of Human Resources, said Ellyn Jeager of Mental Health America of Georgia, an advocacy group. But Jeager also expressed doubts about passage because no funding has been put into the budget. "If it's not in the budget at this point, there are some real challenges,'' she said.