9 deaths, no charges raise questions about oversight agency

The one-page list titled "Abuse and Neglect with Death Involved" surfaced as part of a Freedom of Information request by an advocate who called it only the latest example of how New York's oversight agency for the disabled in state care, the Justice Center, is not doing enough to pursue suspicious cases.

Seeking to find out exactly how often the Justice Center refers deaths in state care to local officials for criminal investigation, Carey filed a sweeping public records request of every county prosecutor and medical examiner in New York.

The list from Suffolk's medical examiner's office contained no details, and the Justice Center refused to elaborate about individual cases, citing privacy laws that entitle only relatives to health records and abuse reports.

Pouletsos, a former training coordinator for Maryhaven who helped care for Schuele from 2006 through 2013, said sepsis developing from a urinary tract infection could be a sign of negligence and may have been prevented "if he was in a different housing situation with medical oversight."

Under state law, the Justice Center must immediately notify the local district attorney and medical examiner of deaths involving allegations of abuse and neglect, even while the center conducts its own investigation.

Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said it "has not received referrals from the Justice Center, the county medical examiner or any county or state agency regarding the deaths of these individuals."

The Suffolk County medical examiner's office said that, out of the nine cases, it received seven notifications, was able to conduct four autopsies that resulted in two possible homicide cases referred to the Suffolk County Police Department.