Father urges bill's passage after daughter's throat was slit at disability care facility

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – After a woman with developmental disabilities had her throat slit at an Ohio care facility, her father is urging the state legislature to pass a bill he believes would help families keep their loved ones safe.

House Bill 465, known as Lauren’s Law, would force facilities for the developmentally disabled to allow cameras in resident's rooms at their request or the request of their guardian or attorney. Through the Medicaid Waiver Program, it would also pay family members who want to care for their loved ones at home nearly the same as those who work in intermediate care facilities. 

The bill is named after a 36-year-old woman with developmental disabilities. Her father said he fought “tooth and nail” to keep her home and out of a care facility, but it was not practically possible. During the three decades she has been living at care facilities, he said she has been repeatedly abused and neglected. 

“The system is willing to pay for facilities and for group homes to do this job, but those facilities, group homes ignore and abuse these people,” said Lauren’s father and advocate, Greg Carter. “Right now, as it exists, families are dumped on and told that we're dangerous, it's a dangerous precedent to pay families to be caregivers.”

In 2021, when Lauren was staying at Takoda Trails in Fairfield, her throat was slashed, resulting in a 4x1 1/2-inch cut that required 12 sutures to close. Her father said all medical personnel who treated Lauren said they believed it was done deliberately – an employee was fired for not cooperating with the investigation, but no one was held legally responsible.

“I can’t begin to imagine the ongoing pain and suffering inflicted on Lauren and her family,” said the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton). “Lauren’s Law is a step in the right direction to help families who are in desperate need of better care for their loved ones.”

During her stay at the same facility, her father said Lauren was left on a bus for hours in the summer heat – twice. The first time occurred in July 2011, when she was left on a bus for more than an hour. She was discovered soaked in sweat with an elevated body temperature. In July 2022, Lauren was left on a hot bus again, this time for five hours. Greg Carter said employees downplayed the incidents.

“Several times the actual investigation will disprove the initial statement as being a little weak,” Greg Carter said. “There's video evidence that she was left on the bus for five hours. Why was the initial statement that she was left on the bus for three hours?”

Major Unusual Incidents are defined as reported incidents adversely affecting the health and safety of individuals with developmental disabilities. Lauren experienced 16 incidents during her time at care facilities. 

“For 30 years, 20 in one facility, no one put an end to it,” Greg Carter said. “No one stopped it, no one with the county called me and said, ‘Mr. Carter, we have a concern here that your daughter's not going to survive.’ … They just accepted it. So there's no accountability, no repercussions, no consequences for anybody involved.”

Esther’s Law, which was passed in 2021, allows residents and family members to place a camera in their loved one's nursing home room, but a loophole exists for other care facilities. 

“Intermediate care facilities and group homes literally can and will and have stated, ‘We're not a nursing home, that law doesn't apply to us,’” Greg Carter said. “‘Sorry, you can't put a camera.’”

During the bill’s three hearings to date, it has received opponent testimony once, from Esther's son who pushed for the passage of Esther's Law. Steve Piskor stated he opposed Lauren’s Law in favor of amending Esther’s Law to fix the language and add assisted living facilities.

“I don't care who gets credit, just do it for crying out loud,” Greg Carter said. “Let families put cameras on their loved ones. Lauren is blind, Lauren can't speak. And she can't defend herself, she doesn't see something coming. And so there's only one way to be able to monitor what's going on in her life, especially in her room. And that is to be able to watch her.”

Greg Carter said while he has been closely documenting Lauren’s case because she is his daughter, there are other families in similar situations. With the bill already facing hearing reschedulings, he said he does not have faith he will see progress any time soon due to the upcoming legislature summer break and elections. 

Lauren now lives in a group home which has allowed her father to place a camera in her room. The bill named after her is scheduled to have another public hearing on June 25.