Clinic, staffer enter 'no contest'
pleas in conjunction with child's death
December 15, 2006
By Eric Quade
Both Northwest Counseling and
Guidance Clinic, Inc., and one of the company's staff members pled
'no contest' Dec. 6 when felony and misdemeanor negligence charges
were read to them at the Barron County Justice Center, regarding the
death of a 7-year-old girl at a Rice Lake mental health facility.
The 'no contest' pleas were part of
a plea agreement the defendants had reached with State and County
prosecutors.
Speaking to the plea agreement
reached with the Rice Lake clinic, Assistant Attorney General
William Hanrahan said the State would recommend the maximum
sentence-a $100,000 fine-be lodged against the company.
Additionally, a corporate integrity
agreement was incorporated into the deal, which requires the company
to come up with a detailed, written policy regarding when and how
physical holds should be used on its patients. According to the
agreement, for the next two years, the company agrees to:
* Use restraints "only under
emergency circumstances, as the last resort and solely for the
prevention of likely great bodily harm or death." * Establish
criteria for staff members to use in evaluating the appropriateness
of restraint. * Pay for the retraining of all direct care staff in
the use of safe restraint techniques. * Have, at a minimum, "direct
care staff, a social worker, a day treatment program administrator,
a registered nurse" and/or a physician reviewing each instance of
physical restraint soon after it has been used on an individual. *
Comprehensively document all the reasons why a restraint was used in
each instance and to forward this information to the subject's
doctor. Northwest Counseling and Guidance Clinic, Inc., also agreed
to "not neglect or abuse" any of its patients, to stop doing
business in Barron County and to "comply with all lawful orders"
from various regulatory agencies, according to the agreement.
Defense attorney Lew Wasserman said
his client, the clinic, agreed to the terms of the plea agreement,
and he signed the corresponding document on its behalf.
Barron County Circuit Court Judge
Edward Brunner stated, for the record, why the defense was in court
that day.
"The count is for negligent abuse
of a resident, which is a Class D Felony, and the maximum penalty is
a $100,000 fine," Brunner said. "What plea is the corporation
entering to that count?" "No contest, Your Honor," Wasserman
replied. When the judge asked if the defense realized the
consequences of the plea, Wasserman further said, "It's a voluntary
and intelligent plea."
The court accepted the 'no contest'
plea and found the company guilty of the felony charge. A Dec. 27
sentencing date was set. Immediately following Northwest Counseling
and Guidance Clinic, Inc.'s initial appearance, the clinic's
embattled employee, Brad Ridout, was seated at the defense's table.
Ridout, 29, who was facing a
maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and nine months in prison if found
guilty on the misdemeanor charge of negligently abusing a patient,
similarly pled 'no contest.'
Ridout was the clinic employee who
had been covering the 7-year-old's upper body with his own in order
to restrain her as she lied face-down on the clinic's floor.
Brunner asked Ridout if he
understood he was giving up his Constitutional rights, including the
right to a jury trial and to have guilt proven beyond a reasonable
doubt.
He defendant acknowledged that he
knew what he was giving up. Brunner then found Ridout guilty and set
his sentencing date for Dec. 27. District Attorney Angela Holmstrom,
who is prosecuting the case against Ridout, requested a $1,000
signature bond be set for the defendant, which the judge granted.
After the court proceeding, Ridout
provided a prepared statement to the press. "My entire family and I
wish to express our deep sadness over the loss of Angie," Ridout
said in the statement. "I regret that any of my actions to help
protect this girl may have actually caused her harm.
"I understand the demand for
personal responsibility. I hope that my decision not to contest the
charge is the first step in allowing everyone involved with this
tragedy to begin to heal and to move forward."
Rick Pelishek is the regional
director for Disability Rights Wisconsin, a federally mandated
advocacy group that investigated the circumstances surrounding
7-year-old Angellika "Angie" Arndt's death. He said his organization
is pleased with the 'no contest' pleas that have been entered. "I
think the DA and DOJ did a good job in getting a conviction on the
negligent homicide on Northwest Counseling and Guidance," Pelishek
said. "I think the fine does not fit the crime, but that is the
maximum under Wisconsin law, and a corporation cannot be put into
jail.
"This is probably the first
organization that actually had negligent homicide charges stick. I
know there will be civil cases that will get more to the monetary
damages and making sure this will never ever happen again in
Wisconsin."
He also noted that having a
criminal offense on the company's record will disqualify it from
receiving a main source of income-Medicaid funding. Even though this
case might have its end in sight, Pelishek said Disability Rights
Wisconsin still has objectives it wants to accomplish relating to
Arndt's death.
"One of the things we want to
change legislatively is to get prone restraint banned in the state,"
he said. "Some are calling it 'Angie's law.' It is a horrible,
dehumanizing act.
"Try laying face down on the floor
and clasp your hands behind your back, or as close as you can get
them, and try counting to 20 slowly. May take about a minute. Now
think of having someone weighing as much as you or five times as
much as you laying across your back while you are doing this. Now,
imagine this going on for over an hour!"
A report by Randall Cullen, a
physician who reviewed the Rice Lake clinic's practices, found at
least 10 documented instances in a 32-day period preceding Arndt's
death where she had been physically restrained by staff at the
facility-once for as little as 17 minutes and twice for more than 95
minutes.
An affidavit filed with the
criminal information against the clinic states that from the time of
the 7-year-old girl's admission until her death, there had been
numerous acts and omissions by employees of the facility that had
compromised her safety. These omissions included staff failing to
adequately consult records containing Angie's medical history and
failing to consult the treatment plan prior to providing services to
her.
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