Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett is reviewing criminal charges in connection with two attacks at Larned State Hospital last month.
McNett said there were two attacks reported in the hospital’s forensic unit in the Isaac Ray Building on Oct. 22. The attacks occurred within minutes of each other at about 2 p.m.
In one incident, a patient was severely beaten by another patient and is now in a brain injury rehabilitation facility in Texas.
In the other assault just minutes later, a patient’s jaw was broken and underwent surgery.
The state does not track the number of violent incidents involving patient against patient.
Larned State Hospital “does not keep criminal statistics delineated by specific types of criminal acts,” said Cara Sloan, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
The Isaac Ray Building houses the State Security Program, where individuals are committed for forensic evaluation and psychiatric inpatient treatment.
There are 142 patients in that unit, which is staffed with 160 employees, the agency said. There are, however, 38 nursing vacancies in the State Security Program.
Larned also is where the state confines people who have completed their sentences for sex crimes but are committed for further treatment because they present a threat to the community.
McNett said the seriousness of the October assaults reported at Larned was rare. There has not been a homicide reported at Larned in at least five years.
“In terms of serious attacks, we don’t get this degree of attack very often,” McNett said. “Does this happen very often? No. This severity of attack is quite rare.”
The 525-bed facility serving western Kansas has suffered from chronic staffing problems for years, although it was unclear to what extent that might have prevented the attacks.
Citing federal privacy laws covering patients, Sloan would not answer questions about whether the alleged attackers were confined elsewhere in the institution or whether the victims were left in a vulnerable situation. She also would not say whether staffing was an issue in the attacks.
Earlier this year, the hospital started requiring mental health technicians to work 16-hour shifts to cover staff shortages.
At that time, there was a 22 percent vacancy rate for mental health technicians, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
There are currently 522 people employed at Larned, and there are 136 vacant positions.
The staffing problems date back to at least 2012 when Larned’s administrator resigned in the face of staffing shortages.
Two years ago, another Larned top administrator resigned as the facility groped with similar staffing issues.
