Psychiatric Hospital Found Negligent in Teen Death

Mar 31st - 12:37pm

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new report by an advocacy group investigating the death

of a 14-year-old girl in the care of Riverside psychiatric hospital says the

staff did not monitor or treat the girl adequately.

University Legal Services Inc., a federally designated advocacy group for

District children, sent a report to the D.C. health department this month

saying that the girl died of a severe viral infection. It found gaps in the

documentation of her illness just before Thanksgiving -- such as no

recording of vital signs -- and no record of a doctor examining her after

she complained of a high fever and chest pain.

The report contradicts that of the city, which says the care was adequate

and that there was no delay in transferring her to Georgetown University

Hospital.

The girl was put in intensive care there, but died after being flown to

Inova Fairfax Hospital for emergency cardiac surgery.

___

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com