SUPERVISORS CRITICIZE
METHADONE REPORT
SUPERVISOR BOB BUSTER SAYS A LETTER
FROM MENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR JOHN RYAN ONLY
SCRATCHED THE SURFACE OF PROBLEMS UNCOVERED BY A TASK FORCE.
Published: Tuesday,
October 26, 1993
Section: LOCAL
Page#: B01
Skip Morgan
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE
Two county supervisors sharply criticized Riverside County's
mental health director for sending the board a summary of an
investigation into a methadone treatment program that differed
markedly from the investigators' findings.
Mental Health Director John Ryan in
July sent the board his summary of a probe into allegations by
addicts and former employees of abuse, harassment and racism,
generally clearing the methadone program
of the charges. The original investigative report, composed
by a task force of five Mental Health Department
employees, was not sent
to the board.
"There is a huge difference between the report and the
summary," said Patricia "Corky" Larson, head of the
board of supervisors, after seeing the full report.
Supervisor Bob Buster agreed. He said Ryan's letter only
scratched the surface of problems uncovered by a Mental Health
Department task force.
"He picked out a couple of things, but seems to have
missed the broader problems found by the (investigating)
committee,"
Buster
said.
The investigation was launched after an article June 27 in
The Press-Enterprise reporting on complaints about the program.
Ryan, who is responsible for the methadone program headed by
Carol Addiss, said his
letter to the board was "an accurate reflection of the task
force report," based on his review of the
report and discussions with members of the task force.
After being made aware of apparent discrepancies between the
investigative report and the summary, Larson said she talked to
Ryan, who said that his letter to the board was an attempt to
summarize not only the investigation but also his own review of the
program. Larson said she did not believe Ryan was trying to deceive
the board, and that his summary reflected his more positive view of
the program.
Ryan's letter, after describing how the study was conducted,
said: "A summary of their (the investigative team's) findings
and the agreed corrective actions, where appropriate, are as
follows:"
The
letter then went on to the specifics. In summing up the task force's
investigation in his letter to supervisors, Ryan stated: "No
poor services and good state audits/reviews."
Supervisors did not agree.
"The program seems to be operated at a D-minus
level," Buster said. "It seems pretty evident that there
is a real lack of supervision."
Supervisor Norton Younglove said Ryan's summary was more
upbeat than the task force report.
"Some of the troublesome things in the report were sort
of smoothed over," Younglove said. "It didn't give quite
as strong a negative statement as the report."
But Younglove added: "I
didn't feel deceived."
The summary and the report varied on several points: In
the summary to the board, Ryan stated that "All staff (both
current and former) denied that counselors abused ("yelled
at") clients or discriminated against clients based on their
ethnic backgrounds."
The task force report states that "a counselor was
identified as having yelled at clients" and identified former
employees, including a counselor, "as individuals who yelled
and verbally abused clients."
Ryan said his summary dealt only with abuse that was racially
motivated.
"The issue raised in the (Press-Enterprise) article was
racial and that's what I responded to," he said.
Although Ryan told supervisors that the task force did not
find any evidence of staff members making racial slurs, the task
force report stated that three former employees indicated that they
and others "regularly complained about a female counselor
repeatedly making racial slurs."
Program Manager Addiss said previously, before the
investigation, that neither she nor any supervisors in the methadone
program were aware of anyone making racial slurs or yelling at
clients.
Ryan's letter to supervisors stated that some staff members
found Addiss to be a "tough taskmaster."
Ryan assured supervisors that the "strong and directive
manager does not yell at staff or clients."
In fact, the task force stated that several staff members
reported being yelled at by Addiss. Staff members described the
manager as "having an authoritarian style of management; being
ruthless; abrupt; gruff and a tough taskmaster," according to
the report.
Addiss herself said, before the investigation, "I may
have raised my voice in the office setting."
In addition, the task force found little communication
between Addiss and the staff and concluded that "the described
management style has a negative effect on the program staff."
Ryan said he interviewed task force members and determined
that the yelling described in the report was in keeping with Addiss'
firm management style.
"I did not get the impression that she raised her voice
so everyone in the office could hear," Ryan said. "I heard
it to the effect that when staff members do not meet her
expectations, she
lets them know about it."
Ryan's letter did not mention a recommendation by the task
force to change the policy of allowing a nurse to decide whether to
withhold methadone doses from addicts.
The task force stated that addicts should be allowed to seek
a second opinion when their methadone doses were withheld by a
nurse.
One nurse was described by several addicts as "having a
very condescending, harsh and unprofessional, demeaning manner of
interacting with clients," according to the report.
Buster was particularly critical of the policy of not
allowing addicts to get a second opinion when the nurse decided to
withhold doses of methadone, a highly addictive drug with severe
withdrawal symptoms.
"It seems to be giving God-like power to people who may
not be competent to judge people," Buster said.
Ryan did not know what the current policy was.
Addiss said that addicts are not allowed a second opinion on
withholding methadone doses.
"Only when the nurse is in doubt about withholding a
dose does he ask for a second opinion," she said.
Buster questioned the value of county departments and
agencies conducting internal investigations of their own programs.
"There should be some independent body that can step in
and investigate when there are complaints about programs," he
said.
Larson said she has no problem with directors of county
departments investigating their own programs.
"I expect a department head to be accurate," she
said.
Younglove said directors of county departments are capable of
investigating their staff except in cases of suspected criminal
wrongdoing.
Zone: RIVERSIDE;
ALL ZONES
