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They were building the young man’s coffin in the front yard when we arrived. The men worked steadily and quietly in a manner that suggested front-yard coffin construction was a routine task. I soon learned that it was.
In Georgia, parents of developmentally disabled children fear what might happen should the state go ahead with plans to put more patients in community placements. In 2014, a total of 498 patients died in community care, making the total nearly 1,000 deaths in two years.
Cornelius James Evans had just turned 18 when he died, before his mother could establish formal legal guardianship, and the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities is now using that to deny her a copy of its investigation into his death.
The state has not put a good system in place to support developmentally disabled patients moved from state facilities into community care, and it’s unclear if it is following recommendations to better investigate patient deaths, according to an independent monitor.
Joaqlin Estus produced this story while participating in The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, a program of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism. It was originally published by Alaska Public Radio.
Rose Domnick, a Yup'ik woman in Bethel, Alaska, was incapacitated by fear until she confronted her traumatic past and found healing by exploring her spirituality.
Christen Shermaine Hope Gordon was one of 500 patients in 2013 who died in community care while under the auspices of the Georgia Dept. of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. While the community placements were halted, parents are worried over state plans to resume the program.
What began as two Georgia mental health patients seeking community care has become a national crusade by the U.S. Department of Justice to move patients out of state facilities and into community care, with what some say are fatal consequences.
The Augusta Chronicle requested the investigative reports of all 2013 deaths of developmentally disabled people living in community-based care homes. Here's how the reporters used those records.
