At Home in Georgia; Respecting Choice and Ensuring Safe Care
November 19, 2013 (submitted)
Augusta Chronicle * Letter to the Editor
Ann S. Knighton, VOR President and President of East Central Georgia Regional Hospital
Dr. Kenneth Fuller’s editorial (“Closure of Georgia hospitals endangers mental health care,” Nov. 17) is like water in a dry desert: refreshingly right and necessary, but painfully scarce. I share completely his concerns about Georgia’s misguided effort to evict fragile, disabled citizens from their homes.
In 2010, without legislative approval or notice to individuals and their families, and contrary to the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision supporting choice, Georgia and the U.S. Department of Justice entered a settlement agreement that requires the closure of Georgia “hospitals” – specialized residential programs (ICFs/IID) for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Aptly called “safety nets” by Dr. Fuller, Georgia’s hospitals provide life-sustaining care to Georgia’s most fragile citizens.
