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Advocates seek more changes after
child's death
December 5, 2008
By Chris Vetter
Chippewa Falls News Bureau
It has been more than 2 1/2 years
since 7-year-old Angellika Arndt was held down at a Rice Lake day
treatment center until she stopped breathing and died, according to
her autopsy.
Rick Pelishek, an advocate for
Disability Rights Wisconsin, is disappointed that in the time since
her death the state has not passed legislation that outright bans
"prone restraint control holds," which were used on Arndt.
"For me, the key thing is this
happened because of the lack of oversight by the state," Pelishek
said. "And two, the state hasn't made any major changes to policies
and procedures to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Disability Rights Wisconsin issued
a 72-page report Thursday about Arndt's death, offering new details
about her history at the Northwest Counseling and Guidance Clinic in
Rice Lake up to the day she passed out on May 25, 2006, while being
held down by a staff member. She would never regain consciousness,
and she died the next day.
Karen Timberlake, secretary of the
Department of Health Services, said the state took immediate actions
to make sure the center was shut down and a fine was issued.
"The death of a child is a very
tragic incident and greatly affects all who work with children,"
Timberlake said in a press release. "After Angellika Arndt died, the
Department of Health Services took very strong actions against the
facility, which ultimately closed its doors after we rejected
several plans to correct deficiencies."
Timberlake acknowledged that
Pelishek's request for an outright ban on prone restraint holds has
not happened.
"The department decided not to
issue a blanket moratorium on the use of seclusion and restraints
without providing a training and technical assistance plan,"
Timberlake said. "The department will continue to work with our
partners to issue additional guidance on the dangers of the use of
seclusion and restraint."
Timberlake said the department is
promoting the idea of "reducing the use of seclusion and
restraints."
Without a ban, Pelishek fears
another death like Arndt's is possible.
"My question is do we have to wait
for something else to happen before (the state) reacts?" Pelishek
said. "This is a critical issue the state needs to act on."
Denison Tucker, president of
Northwest Counseling and Guidance Clinic, could not be reached for
comment.
According to the report, Arndt was
commonly placed in the prone restraint control hold, where she was
placed stomach-down on a thinly carpeted concrete floor, until she
had calmed down.
"One person would lie across her
legs, while a second person put his or her knees and legs on one of
Angie's arms, and then laid sideways across Angie's lower back,
grabbing her other hand, resting an arm on hers to secure it to the
floor," the report states.
However, on May 25th, Arndt was in
the control hold for 23 minutes before she stopped fighting. She had
already urinated in her pants and warned staff that she felt like
she was going to vomit and defecate. The girl then stopped
struggling.
"Staff waited for approximately
five minutes, thinking the client had fallen asleep," the report
states. "It was noted that it was not uncommon for Angie to fall
asleep after prone restraint holds in the past."
However, Arndt didn't respond to a
question.
"One of the staff rolled Angie over
and noticed that Angie's lips were turning blue," the report states.
"Another staff checked for breathing and could detect none."
Arndt was brought to the Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit of the Children's Hospitals and Clinics in
Minneapolis in full cardiac arrest, and she died May 26th.
The Rice Lake facility shut down,
and the organization was fined $100,000 after it was found guilty of
a felony count of negligent abuse of a resident.
Also, the day treatment facility
staff member who held Arndt down, Bradley Ridout, was ordered to
serve 60 days in jail in spring 2007 for his actions that led to her
death.
Pelishik said the report has been
sent to area legislators and the governor's office.
During Arndt's first day at the
clinic, on April 24, 2006, she was placed in a time-out room less
than two hours after arriving there. By the end of her first day at
the treatment center, she had spent five hours either isolated in a
time-out room or being restrained, the report states.
"Over the next 23 days until her
death, this same pattern would be repeated over and over, with Angie
spending many hours in cool downs or prone restraints," the report
states. "The RLDTC records substantiate a minimum of 20 hours in
cool downs and 14 hours in prone restraint, with at least 15 of
these restraints lasting from 35 minutes to over two hours."
The autopsy report shows that Arndt
was 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 67 pounds. She died of
complications of chest compression asphyxia, and she had hemorrhages
of the pancreas, colon and stomach from abdominal trauma while in
the control hold. The medical examiner's office ruled Arndt's death
as a homicide because the restraint impaired her ability to breath.
Vetter can be reached at 723-0303
or chris.vetter@ecpc.com.
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