Mother blames son's death on closure of Va. training center for people with disabilities

Martha Bryant laid her 23-year-old son to rest Monday afternoon in a grave next to one that she will someday occupy in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Last week, Tyler Bryant became the ninth person since 2013 to die after being transferred to Hiram W. Davis Medical Center in Petersburg from one of the state's training centers for people with disabilities.

His death has prompted a call for an investigation by a state senator, and it has raised fresh questions about Virginia officials' decision to close all but one training center as part of a 2012 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Martha Bryant said she believes Tyler would still be alive if he had been allowed to remain in the skilled nursing center at Central Virginia Training Center in Madison Heights, where he lived for 20 years with his twin brother, Taylor.

"I just feel betrayed," Bryant said in a telephone interview Monday before her son's funeral.

Tyler and Taylor were born 11 weeks prematurely and were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Their triplet, Timothy, died at birth.

From birth, they were unable to control their arms and legs or their bowels and bladders. They were unable to speak, and their minds functioned at the level of 9- to 15-month old infants.

Hiram Davis, where Tyler and Taylor were transferred in January, is certified as a skilled nursing facility and provides services that qualify it as a training center, said Maria Reppas, spokeswoman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Taylor is still a resident there. Tyler was only there for about 10 days after his transfer in January, but he became too ill and was transferred to a hospital. He died Thursday at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond of respiratory failure.

Twenty-nine people have been transferred to Hiram Davis from the state's training centers, said Deb Smith, director of community integration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Eight of the 29 have moved to community-based housing, nine have died, including Tyler, and the rest remain at the facility.

Smith said she wasn't able to discuss Tyler's case specifically because of federal privacy laws, but she said she did not see the number of deaths as alarming.

The residents at Hiram Davis "are there because of their intensive medical support needs, and often with people with intensive medical support needs ... will eventually pass away," Smith said. "So I'm not seeing this as out of the ordinary. I think often we're supporting folks who require care, and Hiram Davis was highly qualified to provide that care."

The facility director and medical director of Hiram Davis weren't available for comment on Monday.

CVTC, where Taylor and Tyler had been living, is one of four training centers designated for closure under the 2012 agreement with the Department of Justice.

The state was not required by the justice department to close the facilities, but officials opted to shut them down in order to afford to boost services for the more than 11,200 people on a waiting list for services on the community level, Smith said.

Two of the four training centers are already closed. Southwestern Virginia Training Center in Hillsville is set for closure in 2018, and CVTC is scheduled to fully shutter in 2020.

Because of a staffing shortage at CVTC, the state opted to decertify the skilled nursing center earlier than planned and send the remaining patients elsewhere in January. Southeastern Virginia Training Center in Chesapeake, with 75 beds, will be the only remaining facility, although Hiram Davis will continue to take residents in its skilled nursing facility, Smith said.

Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg, has called for an investigation into not only Tyler's death but also into the closure of the skilled nursing center altogether. He disputes the state's contention that an equivalent level of care is available for residents at Hiram Davis.

"If we knew then what we know now, would we have done that?" Newman said of the accelerated closure of CVTC's skilled nursing center. "Would we have rushed it? Would we have brought in the personnel? Hindsight is always 20/20, but those are legitimate questions we need to ask."

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which oversees training centers and the community-based system of care for people with disabilities, "welcomes and will cooperate with any investigation into a training center-related death," said Dr. Jack Barber, interim commissioner of the department.

Martha Bryant, who took a leave of absence from teaching in January to be with her sons, believes Tyler's death was caused by the decision of Hiram Davis doctors to stop using a particular drug that had helped his bowels function for years while he was at CVTC.

On March 13, Martha Bryant, a nurse who teaches health professions, said she decided to order hospice care for Tyler because he was suffering from the latest of multiple bowel obstructions. Still, she didn't expect him to die so quickly.

"I wasn't ready for that phone call on Thursday night," she said.