Connecticut State Senator Wants More Accountability in Psychiatric Patient Abuse Investigation

March 1, 2018

A Connecticut state legislator and hospital insider are calling for an investigation of some psychiatrists at the state’s maximum security mental facility, part of the Whiting Forensic Division on the Connecticut Valley Hospital campus in Middletown.

It was reported earlier this month that letters allegedly were written by the patient at the center of an abuse investigation.

A decade ago, the patient appears to have sent urgent pleas for help to some of the doctors entrusted with his care. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters obtained three letters written by him and people close to the patient confirm the letters are in his handwriting.

In a letter to Dr. Michael Tress, the patient wrote that someone had broken his leg. In another letter, he wrote to Dr. Michael Norko and said he had been beaten up in the bathroom and a forensic nurse was "trying to kill me."

The state acted after the abusive conduct of this patient was caught on video last year. Some say there needs to be consequences for those doctors who may have ignored a plea for help.

SOURCE: Len Bestoff, "State Senator Wants More Accountability in Psychiatric Patient Abuse Investigation," NBC Connecticut, 28 Feb 2018, https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/troubleshooters/State-Senator-Wants-More-Accountability-in-Psychiatric-Patient-Abuse-Investigation-475484763.html.