Death of Former Camarillo Patient Is Probed

A Superior Court judge Monday asked state officials to investigate the unexpected death of a man transferred earlier this year from Camarillo State Hospital to a residential treatment facility.

Craig Black, 54, collapsed on Memorial Day at the Long Beach facility and was taken to Lakewood Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Black had been a patient at Camarillo for about a decade but was moved in February to the La Casa psychiatric treatment program as part of the state hospital’s pending closure.

Some advocates have criticized such placements, citing studies showing that patients funneled into community programs are at greater risk of dying prematurely than those in state institutions. But officials at La Casa say their own investigation of Black’s death indicated no problems with his treatment.

On Monday, Los Angeles Judge Diane Wayne asked representatives of the state attorney general’s office to look into Black’s death, telling lawyers she had received a letter expressing concern about the matter.

Wayne has been hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed on behalf of family members of Camarillo State Hospital patients aimed at sparing the mental institution from closure.

“She realizes it has nothing to do with the lawsuit,” said Y. Tammy Chung, deputy attorney general. “But she is very concerned and asked us to check it out.”

The Los Angeles coroner’s office said there is no apparent cause of death, but it is awaiting the outcome of toxicological tests.

A spokesman for the operator of the La Casa facility--Alameda-based Telecare Inc.--said an internal review of the matter concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the program or its staff.

Nevertheless, mental health advocates and members of Black’s family say the death has raised serious questions about the level of care patients are receiving in community settings.

According to family spokeswoman Carla Jacobs, Black had been doing well when he was moved from Camarillo to the psychiatric treatment facility.

In February, Black, who had long been diagnosed with schizophrenia, went to the La Casa facility on the grounds of Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. Then in March, when La Casa moved to a new facility in Long Beach, he and the other clients transferred as well.

Jacobs said that Black’s condition had deteriorated in the months before his death.

On the day of his death, Jacobs said, family members were told that Black had been complaining of a headache and stomachache.

That afternoon, Black began complaining about shortness of breath and eventually collapsed at the facility, according to the coroner’s office.

Jacobs worries that the trauma of transferring from one place to another contributed to his demise.

And she questions whether the residential psychiatric program was the correct placement for Black, a former youth minister and public schoolteacher.

“I’m not indicating there was any wrongdoing on the part of La Casa,” said Jacobs, a family friend who serves on the board of directors of the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

“But whenever someone goes downhill that rapidly, I think it’s imperative that we look at whether they were getting the level of treatment they needed,” she added. “Craig didn’t deserve to die. He is such a loss.”

Citing confidentiality laws, Telecare Vice President Ross Peterson said he could not discuss specifics of Black’s stay at La Casa or his death.

But he did say that the facility and its staff provided the highest level of care for him, as it does for all patients.

“We provided high quality service to him, and it wasn’t due to any malfeasance that he died,” Peterson said.

“We’ve been providing mental health services for about 30 years,” Peterson added. “We really haven’t had any issues around quality of care that would have us question whether someone’s care was compromised because they transferred to our program.”