A settlement is nearing in Massachusetts retardation case
A settlement is nearing in Massachusetts retardation case
Massachusetts is pledging to spend $114 million over five years to provide services to an estimated 2,400 mentally retarded adults who have been on a waiting list for the services for many years.
The state pledge is the basis for a settlement being negotiated as State Health Watch went to press to end a suit brought against the state by a group of mentally retarded adults and their families. Boston attorney Neil McKittrick, who filed the suit, confirmed the possible agreement to State Health Watch but said all the details still were to be negotiated and a news blackout has been imposed during the negotiations.
Moves to settle the case came as a federal judge who had indicated growing exasperation with what he saw as delaying tactics by the state prepared to order that the services be provided.
U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock first ruled July 14 that within 90 days the state had to provide Medical Assistance services under a waiver plan, including residential habilitation services in group homes, to mentally retarded adults already on a waiting list. In that order, Mr. Woodlock gave the state an opportunity to show why it could not comply with his timetable.
In a filing prepared for a hearing in late September, officials from the state Department of Mental Retardation said that vacant beds are not available in group homes for the adults certified by Mr. Woodlock as members of the class who will benefit from his decision. Therefore, the department said, it could not meet the 90-day requirements. The agency also said it is not possible to create new state-funded places to live or to place individuals into existing beds within 90 days. State officials asked the judge not to issue an order with a specific time requirement for reducing the waiting list for services, saying it had received additional state funding and had a plan for cutting the size of the waiting list.
On Oct. 25, the judge told state assistant attorney general John E. Bowman Jr., "I’ve found no justification for extending [the time] further. What have you done in 90 days?" Media reports say Mr. Woodlock also criticized Mr. Bowman for failing to focus on the issues and filing confusing court documents. "I have no tolerance for the soft language used by the commonwealth. You’ve given me all sorts of stuff unrelated to my timetable question."
Mr. McKittrick told reporters in Boston previously he anticipated that Mr. Woodlock would issue an "order with teeth," likely calling for nonresidential services such as workshops within 90 days and group home placements within 12 to 18 months.
"There are people who have waited for services from the commonwealth for years or decades," Mr. McKittrick said. "The government has had two opportunities to say when they would fix the problem but failed to do so. Now they are going to have to."
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