ACLU-DC Testimony at the D.C. Council Committee on Health Oversight Hearing of the Department of Behavioral Health

Statement on behalf of the
American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia
before the
D.C. Council Committee on Health
Oversight Hearing on the Department of Behavioral Health
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church
3000 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
by
Natacia Knapper, Organizer

Good evening, Councilmember Gray and members of the committee. My name is Natacia Knapper and I am an organizer with the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC). I present the following testimony on behalf of our more than 14,000 members in the District.

Thank you for this opportunity to testify in regard to the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH). I will focus my testimony tonight on the ACLU-DC’s significant concerns about the District government’s problematic response to the recent water crisis at DC’s only public psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeths, and our recommendations for increased oversight and transparency to ensure the safety of the hospital’s patients and staff.

On October 2, the Washington City Paper reported that St. Elizabeths hospital had been without running water since late September, when legionella - the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease - was found in the water supply during routine testing. An official from the Department of Behavioral Health, the agency that is tasked with providing oversight of the hospital, then communicated that patients were using bottled water and sanitary wipes instead of showers. Several days went by before portable toilets and showers were brought in, exposing patients and staff to dangerously unsanitary conditions. Additionally, the portable bathrooms and showers that were brought in for patients to use were placed outside in a courtyard, and groups of patients had to take turns using them outdoors as temperatures began to drop into the 40s. These showers were not compliant with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), were unsanitary, and the water supplying them was unreliable and sometimes ran cold.

As the public demanded to know more about how DC was responding to this emergency, District leadership from the Department of Behavioral Health to Mayor Bowser and even Councilmembers remained frustratingly quiet. Aside from assurances that patients’ needs were still being fully met despite the water shutdown – a claim that was not supported by evidence on the ground – there was little communicated to the public that the District government was treating this situation as an emergency and that the well-being of patients and staff at the hospital was a number-one priority.

Not only did the District government fail to communicate an urgency in responding to this crisis, it shockingly continued to admit new patients to the hospital during this crisis. Meanwhile, existing patients at the hospital reported severe cuts to their essential treatment plans and services, including cancellations of Narcotics Anonymous meetings and halting of all dentistry and podiatry services.

The response to this most recent crisis at St. Elizabeths demonstrates a failure in the Bowser Administration’s stated commitment to government transparency and accountability. It also demonstrates a serious need for increased oversight of DBH to ensure the agency has clear policies and protocols in place to both prevent future crises and to respond speedily and appropriately if such situations do arise.

And finally, we cannot ignore the race and class implications of this situation. Let’s be clear - if the water had been contaminated at Sibley Memorial Hospital or George Washington Hospital, it would not have taken several days to supply portable toilets and showers to patients, it would not have taken weeks for District leaders to publicly comment and for this Council to hold a hearing, and it certainly would not have taken a lawsuit and twenty-seven (27) days – nearly a month – to restore services. More likely, the Mayor, the Director of DBH, and the Council would have held a joint press conference immediately to communicate a coordinated emergency plan to address the problem and would have ceased all admissions to the hospital until the problem was resolved. But that is not what happened here. The response from District leadership varied from downplaying the problem to utter silence.

District residents deserve better than this - particularly those who are already the most vulnerable, the most in need, and the most ignored. As an organizer, I often interact and work with those who are impacted by varying levels of violence in their communities, and I firmly believe that forcing people—who do not have the option to leave a hospital—to live in inhumane conditions is a form of state violence. Given the way the District handled this crisis, it is understandable that community members and advocates remain skeptical that the District, and DBH specifically, have a plan in place to ensure that these conditions do not re-emerge.

While the District has represented that operations are back to normal, DBH has not shared any information with the public on what steps are being taken by leadership to ensure that this isn’t going to happen again. It is the shared responsibility of the hospital leadership and the District government to ensure that a facility whose core purpose is to provide health care, safety, and treatment can actually provide these things.

To our knowledge, DBH still has not shared any detailed plans to develop and adopt an Emergency Water Supply Plan with input from key stakeholders. This must happen. It is also our recommendation that the Council ensure regular and independent testing and reporting on water conditions, a plan for timely communication with the staff and the general public, and a reassessment of what funding and other resources are needed to make all this possible.

The Council, and the Health Committee in particular, should exercise its oversight role to demand that these policies and protocols be shared with the public, and should then provide an opportunity for public comment, including from patients of St. Elizabeths, their family members, and other directly impacted individuals. Important decisions about the well-being and autonomy of people with disabilities requires an opportunity for public comment. Denying that opportunity ignores the agency of impacted communities in informing the policies that affect their lives.

We trust this committee to exercise strong oversight to ensure that DBH takes all necessary steps to ensure safe and humane conditions for St. Elizabeths patients, and as budget season approaches, it makes funding decisions that reflect the resource needs of this hospital’s patients and staff. It is our hope that the patients and staff of this hospital never again have to experience something like this and that a hard lesson was learned here on how to do better for them in the future. Thank you for your time.