A Western State Hospital mental patient who has been kept in seclusion or restraints for some 20 years was singled out a decade ago in federal investigations of the Staunton facility and in other reports on the hospital's shortcomings.

In addition, allegations of broad human-rights violations in the care of the patient, Cesar Chumil, were reported by his family publicly in March 1999.

Lawyers for Chumil said yesterday they are reluctant to publicly confirm Chumil's identity until his family gives permission; proceedings over the past 12 months before the hospital's independent Local Human Rights Committee were public.

"The tragedy is that our client is living in virtually the same illegal conditions today at Western State that he was living in when his care first came to light more than a decade ago," said Alex Gulotta, executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville and one of Chumil's lawyers.

Chumil's treatment and years of confinement first came to public attention in a September 1998 report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The article described a cinderblock cell, adjoining bathroom and a small, outdoor patio enclosed by a chain-link fence at Western State, where he still is held.

Treatment providers were quoted then as saying that the unnamed patient's isolation was necessary because he had attacked hospital workers.

But at a news conference in March 1999, Chumil's family said they did not trust state mental health officials who misrepresented Chumil's care and dangerousness.

"My family blames the hospital for my uncle's aggression," a niece said then.

Chumil, then and now, was allowed to leave the hospital with his family for short visits.

"It is an irreconcilable conflict that he needs to be in seclusion but is considered safe enough to go shopping with his family outside the hospital," Gulotta said this week.

This week, Western State's Local Human Rights Committee found the hospital in violation of state law in connection with Chumil's longtime, forced seclusion and recommended that he be transferred to a facility closer to his family in Northern Virginia.

Gulotta said yesterday that hospital officials routinely rubber-stamped new seclusion orders every 24 hours for years.

"It was all about convenience, not medically necessary care," he said.

The state Department of Mental Health is expected to file responses to the hospital committee's findings next week.

In October 1999, the federal Department of Justice issued a stinging report on seclusion practices at Western State that also noted staffing shortages and poor funding.

"In sum, seclusion and physical restraints at Western State are used excessively, for the convenience of staff, in lieu of treatment, and in circumstances which represent substantial departures from accepted professional judgment," a 16-page report said, citing Chumil's case.

Chumil, now in his 50s, and a native of Guatemala, has a schizophrenic disorder; he was institutionalized by his family more than 25 years ago and barely speaks English, his lawyers said.

Valerie Marsh, a mental-health advocate who 10 years ago championed Chumil's case, was shocked yesterday to learn that he remains in seclusion.

"This saddens me deeply," she said. "Everything was supposed to be in place for him [to receive a new treatment program], and it appears nothing ever happened. It's a tragedy that sickens and saddens me. He is continuing to be treated like an animal."

Gulotta said that the hospital has attempted different treatment regimens, but all have occurred in seclusion.

Outside experts used by Gulotta stressed the need for new surroundings.

"We are not saying that this man should be set free; but it is clear his care is in violation of the law and something else needs to be done."
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.