Story of abuse at brain-injury center demands action

By ROSEMARY GOUDREAU | Florida Voices Published: August 01, 2012 Updated: August 01, 2012 - 12:00 AM

It is impossible to look at the pages-long list of abuse allegations from a Central Florida facility for people with brain injuries and not wonder how the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation is allowed to remain open.

Sexual abuse. Mental abuse. Burns. Broken bones. Bruises. Cuts and punctures. Bizarre punishment. Excessive restraints. Inadequate supervision. Confinement. Exploitation. Harassment, belittlement, ridicule. Beatings. Asphyxiation. And death. Five times, death.

Since 2005, state investigators have received 477 allegations of adults and children abused at FINR. In one month alone, the institute racked up 10 calls to the Florida Abuse Hotline. Not infrequently, it's gotten six, seven or eight abuse-hotline calls a month.

It's hard to hear the stories from one of the nation's largest brain-treatment facilities, tucked in Wauchula, 50 miles southeast of Tampa. People like Peter Price, who swallowed five fish hooks and 22 AA batteries to facilitate his escape. Or Janet Clark, who keeps a picture of herself after she was "kicked in the eye with a boot." Or watch the video of a man who is picked off the couch by a staffer and thrown to the floor. Or the video of a brain-damaged man punched, elbowed and slapped by a staffer who says, "You are getting on my damn nerves."

But for the investigative work of reporter David Armstrong of Bloomberg, we still would not know about the abuse at this 196-bed facility.

Surprisingly, FINR is not some financially strapped, government-run facility for the down-and-out. Rather, Armstrong reports this is a for-profit facility paid big bucks to care for insured people with brain injuries caused by car accidents, on-the-job injuries or medical mishaps.

In a majority of the abuse complaints, state investigators were unable to substantiate the allegations for reasons we will never know because state law keeps it all secret.

Still, on 36 occasions, patient abuse was verified, and the matter turned over to law enforcement, though no one can say what happened next.

The District of Columbia took action, Armstrong reports. It recalled 21 patients from FINR after investigators found the institute's seclusion and restraint policies violated patients' human rights.

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Story of abuse at brain-injury center demands action