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Montana health bills to increase safety for 'vulnerable adults,' shore up reporting requirements – Daily Montanan [1]

['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- January']

Date: 2023-01-05  

A caregiver physically assaulted the late Joe MacDonald in a care facility, and he was left with a black eye, fat lip, bruises on his buttocks and marks around his neck.

“He was grabbed and shaken like a doll,” said his brother, John MacDonald, in testimony to legislators.

MacDonald shared the story about his brother Wednesday with the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee in support of Senate Bill 34, one of three pieces of legislation up for public hearing.

He said the person who abused his brother was sentenced to just five days in jail, and he believes the bill would help hold employees and others who work with vulnerable adults more criminally accountable.

(MacDonald is a lobbyist, but he noted he was testifying on this bill as a family member.) Joe MacDonald died July 31, 2022, and in a civil case against the facility, the family alleges the assaults hastened his death.

No one testified against the bills.

Sen. Ryan Lynch, D-Butte, sponsored SB 34, which was requested by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

He said the changes were mostly updating language. The bill replaces the terms “older person” and “developmentally disabled person” with “vulnerable adults,” a change one supporter said would mirror national verbiage.

The bill also would give people who work with “vulnerable adults” the ability to provide emergency services to “stop further abuse,” which Lynch said is currently not an option. Instead, he said workers must apply for a transfer to a safe space or engage with law enforcement, a more traumatizing option.

The legislation notes it requires additional professionals to report abuse and neglect, and it provides a penalty for false reporting as well.

From just the 2021 to 2022 fiscal years, Lynch said referrals to adult protective services have gone up by 86 percent, an increase he characterized as “staggering.”

“Each one of those numbers is certainly a life, and it’s a loved one,” he said.

SB 4

Senate Bill 4, requested by the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee, would require the health department to provide reports of abuse and neglect at the Montana State Hospital to the state protection and advocacy program.

Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, said the bill would bring more accountability to the state hospital.

She reminded legislators the hospital lost accreditation, $7 million in federal money and federal oversight — and four people died there in five months during an outbreak of COVID-19.

“Those deaths could have been prevented, and they should have been prevented,” said Gross, the sponsor.

Bernie Franks-Ongoy, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, said “many good people internally” monitor the records — and the bill will allow an outside set of eyes to do so as well.

Disability Rights Montana is the “federally-mandated civil rights protection and advocacy system” for the state, according to its website. Franks-Ongoy said it already receives other similar reports from another center.

“This will provide more transparency and accountability at the state hospital, particularly as a result of CMS no longer being present in the facility,” Franks-Ongoy said of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

SB 26

Senate Bill 26, also requested by the Health Department and sponsored by Lynch, would exempt fentanyl testing strips from the definition of drug paraphernalia.”

Those strips are used to detect fentanyl in other substances. Supporters argued the bill offers a harm reduction strategy that would help Montana prevent overdoses and increase the chances someone will call 911 if they run into trouble.

Rebecca de Camara, with the Health Department, said fentanyl overdoses have increased in the state, as have drug seizures.

“It’s a very real problem for our communities,” de Camara said.

The committee did not take action on legislation Wednesday.

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/01/05/montana-health-bills-to-increase-safety-for-vulnerable-adults-shore-up-reporting-requirements/

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