Wednesday, February 12, 2003

BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff

Contradicting the findings of another state agency, the Division of Youth and Family Services has concluded that a South Jersey treatment center did not medically neglect a teenage boy with autism before his death last year.

Six months ago, the Division of Developmental Disabilities concluded that Bancroft Neurohealth Inc. in Haddonfield improperly restrained the boy, Matthew Goodman, and on several occasions left him unattended.

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Now top officials of the Department of Human Services want to know how two of its divisions could reach opposite conclusions about the same case.

Bancroft officials announced DYFS' finding yesterday, applauding the agency for completing "an exhaustive investigation."

"We have believed all along that the medical care provided in this case was appropriate and continuous, so we are pleased -- but not surprised -- at the division's conclusions," said Bancroft spokesman Paul Healy.

However, Assistant Human Services Commissioner Arburta Jones, who oversees the department's new Program Integrity and Accountability Office, has ordered an investigation into whether DYFS' probe was "thorough and complete," a spokeswoman said.

Jones' unit will review 1,000 pages of documents, conduct its own interviews, and render a decision within the next 30 days, department spokeswoman Pam Ronan said.

Neither division's investigation linked Goodman's treatment at Bancroft to his death Feb. 6, 2002, of pneumonia, acute respiratory distress and a blood infection at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His parents contend Bancroft used excessive restraints and heavy medication on their son and that his treatment compromised his immune system.

Last month, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office concluded after its own investigation that Bancroft was not criminally responsible for Goodman's death.

A confidential medical report generated during the criminal investigation, obtained by The Star-Ledger, indicates there were clear signs the boy was seriously ill days before he was taken to the hospital. The report said the boy lost 23 pounds in the final six days of his life, had an erratic body temperature and was known to be at risk of pneumonia.

"There are clear indications that the severity of Matthew's clinical condition was not appropriately assessed prior to his obtaining further medical care," according to the May 2002 report by Pediatrics Professor Marita Lind of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Healy said he had not seen the medical report and could not comment on anything involving "confidential medical information."