Home for Retarded Is Investigated Over Death

A home for the retarded in South-Central Los Angeles with a long history of alleged substandard living conditions and improper care of clients is under investigation by social service officials after the sudden death of a 39-year-old resident.

Debra Hawkins, who was described as severely retarded, died of bacterial pneumonia Dec. 31, at the A&S; Guest Home, according to the county coroner’s office.

Hawkins reportedly failed to join other clients when she was called for lunch and was found by staff members not to be breathing and to have no pulse. Staff members told investigators from the state Department of Social Services that they thought Hawkins had been sleeping because she was sitting in a day room for an hour with her head on a table as she had done on other occasions. They said they “did not want to disturb her.”

A severe deformity of the spine impaired Hawkins’ right lung from functioning properly, making it susceptible to infection, according to Dr. Christopher Rogers, deputy medical examiner for the coroner’s office.

“As to how fast the disease would have taken to kill her,” said Rogers, “I really don’t know. . . . I would expect her at some point to have a fever.”

State licensing officials are investigating the death in an effort to determine whether Hawkins had received proper care at the facility, which is licensed to care for 33 developmentally disabled clients.

In a series of articles last January outlining problems in community care facilities for the retarded, The Times reported that the A&S; Guest Home had been cited by state inspectors for run-down, dirty living conditions.

It was also reported that Bessie Anderson, operator of the facility, runs a second facility for the retarded in South-Central Los Angeles that had been accused by licensing officials of improper care that contributed to the deaths of two clients in 1987. Anderson denied the accusations and continues to operate the facility, called International Castle Guest Home, also known as Handicapped Castle.

The A&S; Guest Home is operated under a license issued to the N&S; Investments Corp., which owns the cluster of structures that provide dwellings for the retarded clients. N&S; Investments is jointly owned by Anderson and Leon Shrager, a resident of Redondo Beach, according to state documents. Anderson and Shrager also jointly own apartments across the street from the A&S; Guest Home, according to property records.

Anderson and Shrager refused to comment on their business relationship.

The A&S; Guest Home is paid up to about $1,900 in public funds per month per client, depending on the amount of care needed, according to Dexter Henderson, executive director of the South Central Regional Center, the private, nonprofit agency responsible for placing clients at the facility.

The A&S; Guest Home’s state licensing record from 1983 to 1989 provides a litany of accusations involving run-down conditions and neglect of clients, such as inadequate food, improper handling of medicine, inoperable plumbing, broken-down beds and other furniture, cockroach and rodent infestations, lack of hygiene and clean clothes for residents.

Anderson denies that clients are poorly fed and not kept clean or that medicine is mishandled. She maintains that she makes repairs as needed but says the residents are “very destructive people.”

A little over a year ago, in November, 1988, Anita Blyth, head of the Los Angeles community care licensing office for the state Department of Social Services, threatened to deny renewal of the A&S; Guest Home license, according to state documents.

“Mrs. Blyth stated that if any of the discussed . . . deficiencies (are repeated) in the future, the license may be denied,” says a state document.

Two months later, an official of the Barbara Dawson School in La Mirada complained to state licensing officials that A&S; Guest Home clients attending the school appeared malnourished and regularly went to class dirty and in soiled clothing. One client had bruises and another regularly had sores, according to the complaint.

Anderson denied the allegations, but said one of the clients did have a urine rash.

Last Nov. 5, state licensing officials renewed A&S; Guest Home’s license for one year.

On Nov. 22, officials from the South Central Regional Center inspected the facility and reported finding roaches, trash in the kitchen, broken beds, dirty linen and generally dirty living quarters.

The agency reported less than a week later that the problems had been corrected.

This month, after visiting the A&S; Guest Home during the investigation of an alleged rape of a blind, mildly retarded client, Los Angeles Police Detective Carolyn Flamenco described the facility as a “pig sty.”

“I certainly wouldn’t want to have anybody in my family living there,” she said. “I could just tell from looking at the place that it’s a health hazard.”

Flamenco said the client who alleged that she was raped in separate incidents by three staff members has refused to press charges. The staff members, who denied the allegations, were fired.