The Woods Services in Pennsylvania claims a New York disability advocate’s report caused harm
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. — The Woods Services lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that a New York disability advocate’s report released last year is filled with misleading exaggerations, missing critical facts and context and false information that have caused it “substantial and continuing reputational and economic harm.”
A Bucks County residential campus serving adults and children with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities is suing a New York disability rights organization, claiming a widely published report it released last year alleging abuse and neglect on its campus is rife with “unfounded accusations, misleading characterizations and outright falsehoods.”
Woods Services Inc. filed a 38-page defamation suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia seeking to have Disability Rights New York (DRNY), of Albany, retract and apologize for its Oct. 30, 2017, report and require that any future inspections the agency conducts at Woods be approved by a “neutral third party,” according to the suit. Woods also is seeking monetary damages.
The Woods suit alleges that the DRNY report is filled with misleading exaggerations and false information, is missing critical facts and context, and has caused “substantial and continuing reputational and economic harm.” It also alleges that the purpose for the report was to provide “ammunition” supporting DRNY’s agenda, specifically to reduce the number of out-of-state residential placements.
New York residents account for 107 of the roughly 600 adults and children from 23 states and Puerto Rico living at Woods, whose campus straddles Middletown and Langhorne Borough. Woods Services provides residential, educational, rehabilitative, vocational and day treatment programs for medically complex and behaviorally challenged individuals who are unable to be placed in appropriate programs within their home states.
As a result of the DRNY report, Woods said it received numerous investigative visits from oversight agencies, suspensions of new resident referrals, and inquiries from family members and the public regarding its practices. The resulting investigations and inquiries have “generally” found no basis for DRNY’s allegations of abuse and neglect, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit also noted the DRNY allegations are in stark contrast to the feedback Woods has received from families, annual licensing inspections and outside state regulators.
“The DRNY Report presents a grossly misleading picture of Woods and falsely casts Woods in a highly unfavorable light,” according to the suit. “The findings and conclusions in the DRNY report are fundamentally inconsistent with the findings of the numerous other agencies that oversee activities at Woods.”
DRNY spokesman Forest Cotten did not respond to an email inquiry for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.
In its 26-page report, DRNY, which serves as the designated protection, advocacy and assistance program for New York residents with disabilities, contends that Woods “facilities and programs have serious and troubling deficiencies” and that New Yorkers placed there are “at risk of serious injury, death, psychological harm, and trauma.”
DRNY initiated an investigation into Woods in June 2016 after receiving multiple complaints alleging abuse and neglect. The agency’s representatives made an unannounced visit to the campus in October 2016, where they interviewed at least 25 New York residents and family members and reviewed resident records and state records for allegations of abuse and neglect of New York residents between 2014 and October 2016.
The subsequent report detailed allegations including excessive use of physical restraints resulting in injuries to residents and restraint methods that New York state does not allow. It also contained allegations of staff abuse or mistreatment of residents and allegations of poor sanitary conditions, poor internal investigation practices, improper reporting of incidents, employment abuses and staff retaliation.
“Woods consistently ignored directives from New York State to reform its practices. Consequently, New York’s children and adults are at constant risk of death, serious injury, psychological harm, and trauma,” according to the DRNY report, which was released publicly and had copies sent to New York State oversight and regulatory agencies.
Woods contends that some of the alleged abuse incidents and other information in the report are completely false or so vague that Woods could not investigate, respond or take corrective action.
Jo Ciavaglia is a reporter for the Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times.