Death at locked (DHS operated) facility after a day pass away.
Eric Bentsen
Josephine Marcotty
Star Tribune
Published Jun 9, 2002
Authorities are investigating whether a patient who died May 13 at the
Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center had overdosed on drugs that had been
smuggled into the secure psychiatric hospital.
The death of Brandon Jarboe, 23, who had been committed March 20 after two
reported suicide attempts and a heroin overdose, lays bare long-held
concerns about the presence of illicit drugs in the facility.
The Department of Human Services, which operates the Anoka Treatment Center,
said it is investigating a death there, but declined to comment further.
An investigator in the Anoka County medical examiner's office said the cause
of Jarboe's death has not yet been determined. Police said there were signs
of drug use around his body, and the victim's father said he has been told
by an Anoka staff member that drugs were involved.
It apparently is the first overdose death since 1997 in any of the five
state psychiatric hospitals. It has shocked some in the mental health
community, and has left Jarboe's parents stunned.
His father, Mark Jarboe, said they had urged their son to accept the
commitment "because we wanted him to be safe." Brandon Jarboe was awaiting a
spot in a drug-treatment program at the time of his death.
Human Services officials acknowledge that illicit drug use occurs at Anoka,
a 230-bed facility for mentally ill or chemically dependent patients. But
it's a hospital -- not a prison -- even though patients are committed by
court order because they are considered a danger to themselves or others,
officials said.
Tougher security measures would interfere with therapy and treatment, so
patients are searched only if there is a reason, they said.
"Any time there is an indication there is a drug issue, we investigate it,"
said Rod Kornrumpf, a regional Human Services administrator who is in charge
of Anoka.
Brandon Jarboe had told his parents before he died that some patients were
dealing marijuana in the hospital courtyard, and someone had offered to buy
heroin for him and smuggle it in, according to his father.
"Anyone could bring it in," Mark Jarboe said.
Security issues
Mental health advocates said that 40 to 50 percent of people with serious
mental illnesses also abuse drugs or alcohol. "The presence of illegal drugs
threatens their ability to recover," said Sue Abderholden, director of the
Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
Sgt. Philip Johanson of the Anoka police said officers are called to the
Anoka hospital on drug complaints 35 to 40 times a year. Those calls most
often involve marijuana, but also methamphetamine, heroin, and other illicit
drugs.
Kornrumpf said Anoka, which is the largest state hospital, recorded 30
confirmed cases of possession or use among patients in the past year. Nine
of the cases occurred inside the facility. The rest involved patients who
were returning from visits outside, or who admitted using drugs to hospital
staff members, he said.
State officials declined to say whether they know how Brandon Jarboe
obtained drugs. Kornrumpf said he is prohibited by law from discussing
details of any death in a state-owned hospital.
The medical examiner's office said it could not disclose information about
the cause of death until its investigation is complete.
Troubled life
Mark Jarboe said his son's depression was diagnosed four years ago, and
court records say he'd been abusing drugs since he was a teenager. He had
struggled through high school, his father said, but seemed to be doing
better since he began attending the Art Institutes International of
Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he was learning Web page design.
But in early March he overdosed on heroin, his father said. Court documents
show that he was chemically dependent, and heroin was "his drug of choice."
He had attempted suicide twice, documents said. He was treated at
Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis, then at a drug
rehabilitation program, and was admitted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul,
which petitioned for his commitment.
Mark Jarboe said he last saw his son on Mother's Day, May 12. He and his
wife picked up their son, who had permission to leave the hospital for six
hours. They went to his apartment in Eagan, where he showered and changed,
and they ordered a pizza. They went to the Minnesota Zoo, and then his
parents took him back to the hospital. Mark Jarboe said that they were with
him the entire time, and that he did not think it likely that his son could
have obtained drugs that day.
The next day at 6 a.m. he was found dead in his room, and there were signs
of drug use in the immediate area, Johanson said.
Dakota County District Judge Michael Sovis, who had committed Brandon
Jarboe, referred questions about his death to Judge Richard Spicer, the
district's chief judge. Spicer said that because patients sent to Anoka are
a danger to themselves, "it seems to me safety would be a primary concern."
Intensive security measures should not be out of the question, he said. "We
do it on airplanes," he said.
If the medical examiner's investigation concludes that Jarboe died of an
overdose in the hospital, "that would be a violation of [Anoka's]
responsibilities," Spicer said. "It is our expectation that they will have a
safe existence."
Patients come and go
Anoka is a locked facility. Patients cannot leave without permission, and
they receive passes only if hospital staff members believe that they are
psychologically stable enough for trips outside, Kornrumpf said.
The decision to search returning patients is left to staff members who
assess them, he said. That procedure is used at other state psychiatric
hospitals and at psychiatric units in other hospitals, officials said.
Many hospital officials said they struggle to find the balance between
patient safety and dignity in psychiatric units. They are required by state
and federal law to provide a safe environment.
"A facility has an obligation to provide a therapeutic environment and an
environment in which people are safe," said Roberta Opheim, Minnesota
ombudsman for mental health and mental retardation. "If that system fails,
then I think that we certainly need to take a look at it."
State Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, said that people who are committed
as a danger to themselves or others do not have the same rights as other
citizens.
"If we can go to all the trouble we go to at prisons to make them safe, it
seems to me we can do the same here," said Greiling, who is active in mental
health issues. Her son was a patient at Anoka in 1999, and he complained to
her about patients smoking marijuana in the bathrooms, she said. When she
asked hospital staff members about it, they acknowledged that illicit drugs
were sometimes a problem in the facility, she said.
Others disagree that the hospital should adopt a tougher stance. Anoka is a
therapeutic environment, and increasing security measures would hurt more
people than it helps, said Sandra Meicher, executive director of the Mental
Health Association.
"They are not criminals," she said of the patients. "And while there is some
availability [of drugs], it's not wildly out of control."