HB3075ham001 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Elizabeth Coulson

Filed: 3/19/2009

09600HB3075ham001 LRB096 07491 JDS 24087 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3075

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3075 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Developmental Disability Institutional Safety Act or Brian's Law.

Section 5. Legislative Findings. The General Assembly finds all of the following:

(a) Despite the national trend toward community integration of people with disabilities, the State of Illinois ranks 51st in the nation in funding for community-based services for people with developmental disabilities in settings of 6 or fewer individuals.

(b) Illinois continues to rely heavily upon large, congregate, residential facilities for the long-term care of people with developmental disabilities.

(c) There is a large body of evidence documenting that large, congregate settings for people with disabilities create a culture of abuse and neglect that victimizes our society's most vulnerable members and also creates an environment that marginalizes people with disabilities, inhibits their integration within society, and fosters dependence.

(d) Equip for Equality is the organization designated to implement the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) System for people with disabilities in Illinois.

(e) The Abuse Investigation Unit of Equip for Equality has investigated the deaths of individuals with developmental disabilities in State-run developmental disability institutions in Illinois, including the death of Brian Kent at the Ann M. Kiley Center in Waukegan, Illinois on October 30, 2002.

(f) Equip for Equality's Abuse Investigation Unit has issued a public report regarding its investigation of the death of Brian Kent and others, entitled "Life and Death in State-Operated Developmental Disability Institutions".

(g) The substandard medical care and treatment cited in that report necessitate that immediate action be taken to prevent further injuries to or deaths of individuals residing in those institutions.

Section 10. Independent interdisciplinary teams of monitors.

(a) The Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health shall develop and install independent interdisciplinary teams of monitors to ensure the safety and well being of the individuals residing at each State-operated developmental disability institution.

(b) The interdisciplinary monitoring teams shall be composed of nurses, social workers, psychologists, and quality assurance professionals with expertise in addressing the quality of nursing care and treatment.

(c) The interdisciplinary monitoring teams shall conduct a minimum of 2 unannounced site visits to each of the State-operated developmental disability institutions each quarter. However, additional site visits may be made as circumstances warrant. The teams shall monitor and observe conditions within and around the residential units, review relevant records, including injury reports, and conduct random audits of clinical files and reports of abuse and neglect at these institutions.

(d) The interdisciplinary monitoring teams shall produce quarterly reports of their observations and provide those reports to the Departments of Human Services and Public Health as well as to Equip for Equality. The Departments of Human Services and Public Health shall develop and implement appropriate action plans in response to those reports to ensure that individuals under the care of these institutions are safe and receive quality services and medical care.

Section 15. Independent team of medical experts.

(a) The Departments of Human Services and Public Health shall develop an independent team of medical experts from the private sector, including forensic pathologists, doctors, and nurses, to examine all deaths at State-operated developmental disability institutions.

(b) The independent team of medical experts shall examine the clinical records of all individuals who have died while under the care of a State-operated developmental disability institution and review all actions taken by the institution or other State agencies to address the cause or causes of death and the adequacy of medical care and treatment.

(c) The independent team shall produce written findings and provide those findings to the Departments of Human Services and Public Health as well as to Equip for Equality in order to prevent further injuries and deaths.

Section 20. Plans of prevention. Within 90 days after the completion of an investigation into the death of an individual residing at a State-run developmental disability institution by the Office of Inspector General or the Illinois Department of State Police, the Departments of Human Services and Public Health, in conjunction with the State-operated developmental disability institutions' administrators and medical directors, shall develop a plan of prevention to ensure that similar deaths do not occur at State-operated developmental disability institutions.

Section 25. Rights information. The Department of Human Services shall ensure that individuals with disabilities and their guardians and families receive sufficient information regarding their rights, including the right to be safe, the right to be free of abuse and neglect, and the right to receive quality services. The Department shall provide this information in order to allow individuals with developmental disabilities and their families to make informed decisions regarding the provision of services that can meet the individual's wants and needs.

Section 30. The Abused and Neglected Long Term Care Facility Residents Reporting Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(210 ILCS 30/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4163)

Sec. 3. As used in this Act unless the context otherwise requires:

a. "Department" means the Department of Public Health of the State of Illinois.

b. "Resident" means a person residing in and receiving personal care from a long term care facility, or residing in a mental health facility or developmental disability facility as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.

c. "Long term care facility" has the same meaning ascribed to such term in the Nursing Home Care Act, except that the term as used in this Act shall include any mental health facility or developmental disability facility as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.

d. "Abuse" means (i) any physical injury, sexual abuse, or mental injury inflicted on a resident other than by accidental means or (ii) inadequate medical care that, regardless of the final cause of death, compromises an individual's health or leads to serious medical consequences followed by the individual's death.

e. "Neglect" means (i) a failure in a long term care facility to provide adequate medical or personal care or maintenance, which failure results in physical or mental injury to a resident or in the deterioration of a resident's physical or mental condition or (ii) the failure to follow medical and personal care protocols, such as dietary restrictions, regardless of whether that failure causes injury.

f. "Protective services" means services provided to a resident who has been abused or neglected, which may include, but are not limited to alternative temporary institutional placement, nursing care, counseling, other social services provided at the nursing home where the resident resides or at some other facility, personal care and such protective services of voluntary agencies as are available.

g. Unless the context otherwise requires, direct or indirect references in this Act to the programs, personnel, facilities, services, service providers, or service recipients of the Department of Human Services shall be construed to refer only to those programs, personnel, facilities, services, service providers, or service recipients that pertain to the Department of Human Services' mental health and developmental disabilities functions.

(Source: P.A. 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)".