Patient at Minnesota state mental hospital abused, wrongly strapped to restraint chair, report says

The Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter violated state law and its own policies last fall by strapping a patient with developmental disabilities to a restraint chair and then pulling a hood over the patient's face, even when the patient posed no imminent threat, according to a state investigative report released Tuesday.

The state's largest psychiatric hospital, which treats about 360 of Minnesota's most psychiatrically complex and dangerous patients, has significantly reduced incidents of restraint and seclusion over the past decade. Even so, the recent incident highlights how the facility is still struggling to adhere to state regulations designed to phase out the practice except in extreme circumstances. The hospital has been cited 11 times since December 2016 for violating state licensing rules governing the use of restraints, state records show.

http://www.startribune.com/report-patient-at-minnesota-state-mental-hospital-abused-wrongly-strapped-to-restraint-chair/567780962/