Editorial: Steve Sabock’s final hours
You've probably read about the atrocious treatment patient Steve Sabock received at Cherry Hospital, a state mental facility in Goldsboro, last spring. About how he sat in a day room for 22 hours after choking on medication, falling down and hitting his head, with staff mostly ignoring him. About how he went for almost a day without eating or drinking. About how he died shortly after his ordeal from a heart condition that likely was aggravated by the treatment he received.
Now you can see for yourself how the 50-year-old spent his final hours. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services released footage of it Tuesday. The News & Observer of Raleigh and other media covering the story worked with Sabock's widow to get it released.
With the action - or, rather, staff inaction - spread over many hours, the footage probably won't be viewed by as many who saw a shorter video earlier this year from a Brooklyn psychiatric emergency room. It shows a woman fall on the floor and later die. It took 45 minutes for someone to attend to her.
Still, the Cherry Hospital footage, like its New York counterpart, shows appalling treatment of the mentally ill. As Sabock sat in his urine, employees played cards. One even seemed to dance while taking his vital signs.
The footage also puts the lie to some hospital records. Care that they indicate Sabock received isn't seen.
Rightfully, the federal government has pulled funding from the facility. A consulting firm's report spells out many changes the hospital must make before reapplying for it, including this obvious one: more oversight of staff.
Gov.-elect Bev Perdue has vowed to "help prosecute the people" responsible for Sabock's death and "fire the administrator who was in charge." She also has said she will personally inspect state facilities unannounced.
Perdue must walk the halls of Cherry Hospital soon after taking office. The sad video of Steve Sabock demands that the new governor make Cherry Hospital and the state's failed mental health "reform" program priorities.
