MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A major legal battle is underway in West Virginia as Disability Rights of West Virginia has brought a lawsuit against top officials in the state health department. The litigation targets the alleged mismanagement and harmful behaviors perpetrated by contracted personnel at various state-run healthcare facilities.
The focus of the legal challenge is Secretary Michael Caruso of the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities and Chief Human Resources Officer Angie Jacobs-Ferris. Accusations laid out in the lawsuit assert that these leaders have failed to take action against contractors who have reportedly harassed and abused both co-workers and patients.
Mike Folio, the legal director at Disability Rights, intensively criticized the leadership. “What we’re seeing ranges from patient abuse to neglect,” Folio explained. “There is a worrying pattern of deception, leadership’s retaliation against those who report issues, and an overall concealment of crucial information and evidence.”
During the last fiscal year, upwards of $45 million was reportedly spent on contract workers at the William R. Sherpe, Jr. Hospital, a 200-bed acute care psychiatric facility. These employees, according to Folio, are implicated in numerous troubling incidents. Conspicuously, a contract worker still employed at the facility is under suspicion for the murder of her son. Further drawing concern is another contract worker formerly involved in a public shootout in Clarksburg, resulting in permanent injury, and another with charges linked to a motorcycle gang-related killing in Marion County.
The situation appears no better in other positions; a recently hired nurse, who had previously lost a medical license in Nebraska due to unethical behavior, was not only employed but also promoted to manage a 50-bed unit. According to Folio, it wasn’t until this individual was involved in repeated patient abuse incidents that any action was taken. “It took multiple abuses for intervention to occur, despite this individual’s disreputable past being known,” Folio stated.
Adding a layer of complexity, investigations and arrests have been made concerning two contract workers from Hopemont Hospital by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit led by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whose upcoming role as governor of the state places him directly responsible for these facilities.
Another lawsuit previously filed addresses the governmental tactics that allegedly intended to increase reliance on contract staff by underpaying state employees, compelling a dependency on potentially problematic contracted workers.
These unfolding events raise substantial concerns about the safety and cybersecurity of some of West Virginia’s most vulnerable residents, highlighting significant gaps in oversight and accountability in psychiatric and health facilities operated by the state.
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