Death of Autistic Man Leads To Closure of Facility
The state Department of Welfare is moving to shut down one of several dozen Bucks County facilities run by Woods Services, where a young man with autism died after being left for hours in a hot van last month.
KYW's Tony Romeo reports a Welfare Department spokesman, Michael Race, says the department has revoked the license of one facility on Woods Services' Bucks County campus and has placed a ban on admissions to 36 other Woods facilities as a result of an investigation into the heat-related death of a 20-year-old autistic man. (see previous story) :
"During the course of that investigation it became clear that there were, what we termed in our letter to Woods' facility, there is evidence of gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating the facility. And the degree of negligence and misconduct was such that we decided to take swift action."
Race says the ban on new admissions will allow time for a thorough review of all of Woods Services practices and programs to see if the problems are more widespread.
(photo: victim Brian Nevins, courtesy cbs3)
