greystone park psychiatric hospital

Questions swirl around Greystone's ills

February 4, 1996 - New York Times

On New Year's Day, a 27-year-old patient escaped from a high-security ward at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. The patient, Lin Hong, who was admitted to the hospital in 1990, after he was charged with stabbing a teen-age girl, remains on the loose and is considered dangerous.

For Greystone, one of the state's seven hospitals for the mentally ill, Mr. Hong's escape was the latest in a series of humiliating incidents that have drawn unwanted attention to the sprawling 800-acre institution.

Last fall, four male employees were charged in separate incidents with sexually assaulting female patients. Last week, another patient filed a complaint of sexual abuse against one of the four employees, bringing the total number of alleged incidents to six.

Authorities also acknowledged last week that an employee was suspended last month after he was charged with repeatedly beating a patient. And legislators have questioned the competence and work habits of three $106,000-a-year physicians on Greystone's staff.

On the same day Mr. Hong escaped, a new patient, Marcus Marshall, walked away from Greystone during the admissions process.

George A. Waters Jr., who has served as chief executive officer of Greystone for five years, said recently that the institution's problems have been exaggerated. "What the public hears and reads is not a true reflection of Greystone," he said. t Contrary to public perception, he said, the number of escapes during his tenure dropped to 6 last year from a peak of 28 in 1992.

But just how Mr. Hong was able to slip out of a high-security ward for the criminally insane remains a mystery, Greystone officials said, because he would have needed keys to open a stairwell and an outside door. Since Chinese food was delivered to Mr. Hong's floor shortly before the escape, authorities are investigating whether he had help from a delivery man.

Greystone is not enclosed by a fence, and many patients are permitted to walk around the property. Mr. Marshall's escape raised concern about whether mentally fragile patients were being protected.

"He wound up on our street, wandering through the snow," said Elizabeth Bitterman, a Parsippany resident. "With a patient like that, I have a concern for his safety."

Police brought Mr. Marshall back to the hospital within an hour.

"I don't think in an institution that's working well you would have that pattern of events," said Senator Gordon A. MacInnes, Democrat of Morris Township.

Although critics have charged that workers at Greystone felt they could get away with mistreating patients, Mr. Waters said that workers have been put on notice that they will lose their jobs if they abuse patients.

A report issued in December by the State Department of Human Services concluded that the four reported cases of sexual abuse at Greystone were unrelated, but it said not enough was being done to train and screen employees.

State Senator Richard J. Codey, Democrat of West Orange, a vocal critic of Greystone, attributed some problems to the low wage scale at state mental hospitals. Salaries for orderlies start at $16,699. One of the men charged with sexual assault on a patient was a maintenance worker and another a laundry worker.

"You can't simply hire people off the street to work with your loved ones," Senator Codey said. "There's no education and no psychological training."

Gerald Newsome, the president of the union that represents janitors, repairmen, laundry workers and maintenance workers, also criticized the lack of training.

But one person who lives near Greystone and who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "Do employees really need training to know they shouldn't have sex with patients? Isn't that pretty obvious?"

Senators Codey and MacInnes have criticized Greystone for retaining a physician, Hasan M. Turgut, who was described by a review committee as "grossly deficient" in his knowledge of primary care medicine and was found to have "insufficient knowledge of current medications." The State Board of Medical Examiners has restricted Dr. Turgut to practicing under supervision. Yet during his overnight shift at Greystone, Dr. Turgut is the only doctor on duty, said John McKeegan, a spokesman for the State Department of Human Services. His decisions on treatment are reviewed the following day by the hospital's medical director, Mr. McKeegan said.

"We have found nothing to indicate we should have concern about the quality of care Dr. Turgut provides to a patient," Mr. Waters said.

Senators Codey and MacInnes said two of the psychiatrists at Greystone are stretched too thin. Both the chief of psychiatry, Dr. Imtiazuddin Siddiqui, and his wife, Nafeesa, who is also a psychiatrist at Greystone, hold two other jobs.

Mr. McKeegan said Human Services Department policy allows staff doctors to hold other jobs.

With so many clouds brewing around Greystone, Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, Republican of Scotch Plains, appointed a task force earlier this month to investigate allegations of patient abuse and mistreatment. A special State Senate committee is begin a series of hearings on Greystone on Thursday.

 

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