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State To Decide Whether To Shutter Rosewood Center
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 20, 2007

OWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND--The administration of Governor Martin O'Malley is deciding whether Maryland's largest institution housing people with intellectual disabilities should be shut down, Tuesday's Baltimore Sun reported.

The news comes following the latest in a series of reports by state and federal inspectors that revealed ongoing abuse and neglect of the 165 or so residents housed at the facility. Officials halted new admissions at Rosewood three times this year following earlier scathing reports.

Last week, Maryland's Office of Health Care Quality released a report that showed 130 incidents of abuse, mistreatment and "injuries of unknown origins" over a two-month period at Rosewood. In some cases, staff gave residents the wrong medication, improperly restrained some, and failed to protect them from assault by other residents.

The report also apparently gave graphic details of neglect, including the case of a man whose skin was broken down to the point that he was bleeding. Inspectors learned that the facility failed to properly investigate that case or report it to authorities.

In September, health officials reported that they found the facility unsanitary -- including cockroaches and rat feces in food preparation areas and sewage pipes leaking on medical equipment -- some residents not receiving enough nutrition, and staff failing to protect residents from assaults by other residents.

"My sense is that they're moving toward the closure of that facility," said Delegate Peter A. Hammen, a Baltimore Democrat that chairs the House Health and Government Operations Committee.

While family members of Rosewood residents have pushed for the troubled institution to stay open, the head of Maryland's Developmental Disabilities Administration acknowledged that doing so bucks a nation-wide trend.

"There is a national movement of de-institutionalization in favor of community-based services," said Michael S. Chapman, the DDA's new director.

Disability groups have been calling for years for Rosewood's closure and for the residents to be moved to homes in the community.

Related:
"Follow-up supports closure of Rosewood" (Washington Times)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/1220a.htm
"Lawmakers: Rosewood problems may lead to closure" (Baltimore Sun)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/1220b.htm
"Rosewood Center" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/md/rosewood.htm

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