TRENTON — The family of a disabled woman at the state-run Woodbridge Developmental Center has announced its intention to sue the state for neglecting her medical needs and contributing to her death in September.
Maureen Doran, 68, had lived at the institution for people with developmental disabilities for nearly 17 trouble-free years until the last four months of her life. From May to August, she was assaulted by a cottage-mate, fell and broke her leg, and while recuperating in bed, developed aspiration pneumonia and septic shock, according to accounts from her sisters and co-guardians and the state Department of Human Services.
Doran died at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway on Sept. 3.
David Corrigan of Eatontown, the family's attorney, confirmed Tuesday he had filed a "notice of tort claim" with the state, signaling his intent to sue. A tort claim notice is required when someone intends to sue a governmental entity. The family then has to wait six months before it files the complaint, Corrigan said.
In a Star-Ledger report in November, Doran's sisters, Lori Centrella of Brielle and Kathy DeCicco of North Haledon claimed that supervision and care declined at Woodbridge after the state determined the facility would close and the number of resident and employee transfers rose.
"If the evidences bears out the she was fed improperly, contrary to the doctor's suggestions and that led to her aspiration, we will file a wrongful death lawsuit," Corrigan said. "It appears this woman was either not properly taken care of or abused and neglected."
Doran's death is under investigation by the Human Services Police Department and the State Police. The family is awaiting autopsy results and an official cause of death, Corrigan said.
Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vaineri Huttle (D-Bergen) who each chair committees that oversee the Department of Human Services, have said they intend to call Commissioner Jennifer Velez and her staff to a hearing to describe its plans to phase out the center. Huttle said wrote a letter to Velez asking she stop all transfers temporarily but the commissioner never responded.
A spokeswoman for Human Services declined to comment.
Centrella, Doran's sister, said she is angry — not only for what happened to her sister, but for the lack of response from the state that was responsible for her care and safety.
"Those responsible for the abuse Maureen has suffered are still taking care of people at the Woodbridge Developmental Center, and still potentially abusing other residents," Centrella wrote in an email. "If a child were abused or killed by a caretaker at a residential facility, those directly responsible for care would at least be put on leave while an investigation is under way. No such thing has been done at WDC leaving me to feel that there is a less significant level of care given to the developmentally disabled people in New Jersey."
"Friday, February 7th would have been Maureen's 69th birthday. This birthday, without her, and the silence from New Jersey authorities is an outrage," according to Centrella's email. "Why is there no urgency in investigating the abuse and death of my sister?"
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