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Woman brutalized on video at SLO County Mental Health

September 29, 2011

Valerie Lane following the assault at the hospital

EDITOR’S NOTE: See the video of the assault in the text and William Shirreffs’ criminal past at the bottom of this story.

By KAREN VELIE

If Valerie Lane had been a stray dog she would have received better protection from San Luis Obispo County. As it is, she is still suffering from a brutal attack that occurred more than two years ago at a San Luis Obispo County Mental Health facility, Lane’s attorney James McKiernan, said.

At San Luis Obispo County Animal Services, animals arriving from different homes are housed separately to determine if they have a “propensity for violence.” Even so, most animals are caged separately for the duration of their stay, Dr. Eric Anderson, animal services’ manager, said.

Lane was put in a chain link enclosure with a man who had a history of violence and who had been brought in by law enforcement officers.

There, she was attacked in an assault captured on a video camera. She suffered a gash to her head that required staples, an injured finger that still does not bend, bruised lungs, and a battered and cut face with eyes swollen shut, Lane said. Today, she is losing vision because of damage to the retina in her right eye. It is still primarily blood red because of a hematoma, a collection of blood outside of the blood vessels.

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Lane said weeping as she talked about the attack.  “You go in to try to protect yourself and this happens.  There is something wrong.”

Warning: This video depicts a disturbing violent assault. We are showing you the entire video but the assault does not start until about two and a half minutes into the recording.

Lane, 52, who suffers from severe migraines and depression, checked herself into the county facility. She had been experiencing a severe migraine and depression and called her therapist. Lane’s therapist told her to check herself into the mental health facility to protect herself.

On Sept. 4, 2009, Lane was spending her second day at mental health when she asked if she could smoke a cigarette. A staff member took her outside to a metal enclosure that consists of chain link walls and ceiling. The staff member lit Lane’s cigarette and left.

William Shirreffs’ bloody handcuffed hand

Lane sat on a bench weeping because of a severe migraine. A facility staffer brought in William Shirreffs, lit his cigarette and left.

Unlike Lane, Shirreffs, 59, had been involuntarily placed into SLO County Mental Health by law enforcement officers and was known at the time to have an extensive history of criminal convictions for violence, drugs, molestation of children, indecent exposure and theft, according to his criminal case information from Kern County Superior Court.

After a few minutes of silence while both smoked, Shirreffs put out his cigarette and asked Lane, “What is wrong?” Lane said.

Lane did not answer and Shirreffs began to hit her and after about a half minute, he stopped and stepped away.

A few minutes later, staff found Lane with blood running down her face. Her white T-shirt was splotched with the blood.

Emergency personnel transported her to French Hospital Medical Center where she was treated for her injuries before being released back to the mental health facility. Photos taken after the attack show Shirreffs’ bloody knuckles.

McKiernan filed a lawsuit against the county in which he asks for damages because of Lane’s ongoing physical and mental impairments. In his Sept. 11 filing, McKiernan lists a number of state laws that require seclusion for dangerous patients, minimal staff to patient ratios as well as health and safety codes that mandate that the facility develop and follow a safety plan designed to protect patients.

“It seems to me that the mental health intervention program itself needs intervention,” McKiernan said. “I am just proud she has the courage to take on the unmotivated, non-listening establishment to make it better for others during their worst moments of crisis.”

Attorney Greg Coates, on behalf of the county, replied to the lawsuit, arguing that the county is not liable for damages because liability only exists if minimal standards for personnel, equipment and facilities are not met.

County mental health officials refused to comment, citing law that makes it a crime to discuss a mental patient’s case.

“Even with the successful conclusion of this case she will be left with lifelong emotional and visual scars from the inexplicable and societal unacceptable incident,” McKiernan said. “Every citizen of the community should be outraged, embarrassed and scared for their loved ones.”

 

William Shirreffs’ criminal past

William Shirreffs shortly after his arrest for assault

William Shirreffs, 59, has an extensive history of criminal convictions for violence, drugs, molestation of children, indecent exposure and theft, according to his criminal case information from Kern County Superior Court.

In 2008, Shirreffs was sentenced to 100 days in jail for assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily harm. In the spring of 2009, the court sentenced Shirreffs to another 100 days, this time for battery of a police officer.

After an early release for good behavior in late 2009, Shirreffs again found himself back in court after another arrest for battery with serious bodily injury.

June 13, 2008 – assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily harm

January 7, 2009 – trespassing and refusing to leave property

April 14, 2009 – battery on a person

April 17, 2009 – battery against a police officer

June 30, 2009 – petty theft and possession of marijuana

October 19, 2009 – battery with serious bodily harm

May 15, 2010 – child molestation and indecent exposure

June 10, 2010 – possession of a controlled substance


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Why is a man put into the same area as a woman? Asking for trouble isn’t it? And I agree, we get what we (don’t) pay for. People think this could never happen to them and the mentally ill are one of most misunderstood segments of society.


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It doesnt surprise me, knowing the incompetent traveling psychiatrists they hire out there, if that is any indication of their doing things all wrong. look at the latest Garda-Ward. He needs treatment himself and they are using him and paying him 15 grand a month to treat these people? He is a sick sick person in need of deep psychiatric help himself.


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They staff their psychiatrist by locum tenens?


Well, that’s not a good arrangement.


And the county is saying they have no responsibility for what happened to Mrs. Lane? I think the county needs to be put on a 72-hour involuntary hold because they are not competent to make decisions for themselves or others.


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The problem with that is where will the people go that use there services?


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{their}


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Clarification: When I wrote “I think the county needs to be put on a 72-hour involuntary hold because they are not competent to make decisions for themselves or others,” I meant “the county” as in “the county administrators who get paid for making decisions which end up putting mental health workers in a position where it is difficult to provide the type of mental-health care needed to those in the County facility.”


If the county administrators were in the mental-health facility their decisions sculpted into a dickinsonian gothic nightmare, and ended up got their face bashed in, bruised lungs, and a vision-threatening eye injury that, two years after the assault, still has not resolved–I think the county might make more intelligent decisions in the future.


This is especially true if the county administrators were forced to spend a 72-hour hold in the county mental-health facility once a year, as part of their employment/contract.


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One of the biggest travesty’s at Mental Health in SLO is that the big wigs sit upstairs pushing pencils and RARELY, IF EVER come downstairs on the unit while they are collecting a six digit a year salary PLUS benefits. The place is full of incompetent protected civil service employees.


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I think the same can be said for the vast majority of acute-care hospitals’ “big-wigs.”


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Has anyone checked to see the pay difference between nurses on this mental health unit, and nurses at Sierra Vista, or French? I have. The mental health unit can’t get nurses to work there and have been short nurses for over two years. (They did of course fire a number of incompetents) and they haven’t had a

psychiatrist on staff for the longest time. Would you want their job? Every guy who knows the system

knows that if you get picked up by the police, tell them you’re suicidal. No jail for you! No paper work for them! It’s straight to county mental health where you can then assault staff or other patients.

Hell you got to be a danger to yourself as the price of admission. Everyone is suicidal and any good

psychiatrist will tell you there is no sure way to tell who is malingering and who is not. And this unit is

suppose to dealexclusively with those who are suicidal or a danger to others. And FYI, if you really want to kill yourself, you will. Ultimately, no psych unit or jail will keep you from it. You sure you don’t want this job?

Take a look at ASHospital, where the lead story is just the opposite. Staff are being constantly

assaulted by the patients, AND THEY HAVE THEIR OWN POLICE FORCE!

Look don’t get me wrong, this women is the victim of both her assailant and a system that was

not functioning and does need changing. And she deserves her day in court and compensation. But I

just know that James had something to do with releasing this “confidential unless waived by client” video, to whip up a lynch mob to go after those who are willing to take their chances working on unit like this. Increasing the damages for all those who insist on lower taxes and usually tort reform in the same breath.

But after all the griping about not wanting to pay for a county wide general hospital, closing that hospital because no one wanted the tax burden, and now complaining of lack of services? Well the unit, I hear, needs aides. Pay slightly higher than minimum wage. Must be able to deal with suicidal/homicidal

patients and criminals in a calm professional manner. Back up for assaultive patients is only twenty to

thirty minutes away. Apply county Gov. Center……No? didn’t think so. Not everyone who works with

the mentally ill, or the just plain violent, deserve to be strung up. We, as a community, need them. BADLY.


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They have to have a psychiatrist if they are accepting 72-hour holds.


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No one could have said it BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Look, I have a lot of compassion for those who work at those facilities. I good friend, a psych tech, who worked at Patterson, is permanently disabled from a job-related injury. He will never be the same, and his life will be shortened by decades because of his work-related injury.


However, Mrs. Lane’s was injured due to mistakes made by the County’s staff and contractors. There may be valid excuses for the mistakes, but that doesn’t change the fact that County staff and contractors made mistakes that allowed Mrs. Lane’s horrific injuries to occur.


The excuses for why staff made those mistakes is a separate, but related, matter that needs to be addressed.


But those excuses do not in any way lessen the fact that County staff and contractors made mistakes that led to Mrs. Lane’s horrific injuries.


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To those of you who think this is because of cutbacks, and that they are doing “more with less”… I think that with Karen’s help you’re all about to find out that only could apply if they were doing more with less for the last 30 years.. There is something rotten in the state of SLO…


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Hey Cindy.. remember my questions over on the original Shumey murder story? This may seem unrelated to my ponderings there, but I think this is all part of a very curious and disturbing situation that has been going on in SLO for a long time.


Go Karen! This is just the tip of the iceberg on this subject.


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Read the first sentence, “If Valerie Lane had been a stray dog she would have received better protection from San Luis Obispo County.”

That’s the problem with this site. Writer has an agenda, and when that happens accuracy suffers. Those of you who join me in despising Fox News should agree.


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If you would have actually read the article, instead of the first paragraph, you might have been able to form an informed opinion rather than just a knee-jerk reaction.


The comparison in the story is valid: the County’s animal shelter would not put a dog with a history of repeated violent attacks on other dogs into the same cage as a known docile dog, not until a danged good evaluation of the violent dog was done and the previously violent dog was judged–if ever–to be suitable for associating with nonviolent dogs.


County Mental Health, when they placed Shiffers–a human with a known history of repeated violent attacks on others–in an unsupervised small area, allowing him access to her and the ability to block her escape–treated Mrs. Lane worse than County Animal Services treats the nonviolent dogs it brings in. They would never put a violent dog in with a nonaggressive dog, because the outcome would likely be very bad.


It is a valid comparison, and if you had bothered to read the article before you belched out an uninformed opinion, you would have seen that it is a valid comparison.


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Yeah I think the writer is pretty open about her agenda.. it’s called journalism. Relative to the generally fictitious misleading press-release anonymously-sourced garbage that passes for news in other newspapers/new sites, I’m rather surprised that anyone wpi;d choose this site about which to say that..


Maybe she is not the only one with an agenda here hmm?


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I like CCN, I like that they have different articles and that they get more in depth and investigative than the Trib.. But I have to agree with you. I have brought this up a few times. Not many though because I have come to learn that this is a different medium. They are very good journalists, but they take a few liberties and do cast a judgemental or biased tones on some articles. That being said, I know what I’m getting and to me its okay, it’s their forum and I know what I’m getting, I don’t mind a little bias as long it’s blatant. It’s human nature to get that pack mentality ‘yea, she was treated worse than a dog’ and people do jump on that band wagon and the next thing you know they want to lynch SLO Co. Mental Health and the entire US Government.


Mary, I know what you’re saying but I don’t think that the LA Times would have started the article like that. They would have first stated the facts and then said something to the effect of ‘When Ms. Lanes attorney was reached for comment today James McKiernan said bla bla..’ and it would have been after straight forth explanation of the story using just the facts of the case. Plus it would have been in quotations, at first I thought that the writer was saying it. Although it MIGHT be a valid statement it is an opinion. We don’t have statements from the other people in that video so we really don’t know all sides. The opening statement was used a dramatic lead into the story more like a magazine story or a novel rather than a news article. So I respectively disagree with you on this one Mary.


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QUOTING TQ: “They are very good journalists, but they take a few liberties and do cast a judgemental or biased tones on some articles.”


————–


We disagree on this one, TQ.


CCN gives all sides of an issue. What they don’t do is sugar-coat the truth when malfeasance is afoot.


I think comparing CCN to the LATimes is an illogical comparison. The two publications are completely different in everything, except that they both report the news and they both have writers whose articles are written to provide a stark and shocking take on the underlying reality of the story.


And, for the record, the Pulitzer-Prize winning LATimes articles and series are the ones who take the approach of Velie’s opening paragraph. Have you ever read “Orphans of Addiction”? or “Marlboro Man”? Both are breathtaking in their impact. They pull no punches in bringing the guts of the reality of the story straight to the heart of the reader. Both haunt me to this day. I still check in occasionally with the author of Marlboro Man, who was so traumatized by the impact of reporting the reality of Corporal Blake Miller, the “Marlboro Man.”


Also, for the record, I’d put Velie’s opening paragraph to this story right up there with the most heart-wrenching paragraphs in either of the two Pulitzer-winners mentioned


In addition, both the LATimes and CCN have writers who approach stories differently. Lisa Rizzo does not take the passionate approach that Velie takes. If there were more reporters here, you’d see more different styles of writing. The fact is, there is a very limited reporting staff here, so the styles to which we are exposed here are limited.


I think Velie’s opening paragraph is brilliant, and it is 100% accurate. It’s not the mealy-mouthed TT approach, and I think that is the problem with some who object to passionate reporting. When the dominant local paper is a mealy-mouthed eunuch of a publication, serving the best interests of those in power, at the expense of the rest of us, it is assumed by most that the mealy-mouthed way is the way a “real” news outlet should take.


That is not the truth. Some of the best journalists are the ones who call a spade a spade, and, by words alone, convey the tragedy of the stories about which they write. That’s what Velie does. It may not be easy to read, but it is still damned fine reporting.


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Well, I’ll agree to disagree.


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TQ, You’re forgetting that this site has a top notch editor. Bill took over after George Ramos passed away and like George, Bill is a CalPoly professor of journalism. These Editors are out there teaching the next generation and I can assure you that they aren’t promoting bias reporting.


Don’t you think Bill goes through articles like this before he allows then to go to print? Don’t you think he confirms all the fact checking? I think it might be YOU who is BIAS because you work in the capacity of the county health profession.


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I’m not forgetting about the editor or Karen. I know that they are both very competent and very good writers. The poster that started this threat was right though. I like CCN and if I thought the writing was bad or not accurate then I wouldn’t read it everyday. But I do have a different opinion than you and Mary do on type of medium that this is. This IMO is more comparable to news magazine or perhaps a news hybrid. They are very good at investigative reporting and reporting the news but they have a more personal or editorial format than just a regular news paper. The New Times used to be more like this, they used to write more personal or do more editorializing than they do now IMO, and I loved the old New Times. I really like the current New Times but it’s not like it used to be. This is IMO the similar to the old New Times.


I’m not questioning the editor or the writers of CNN, I feel that they do a very good job. People that read in this forum need to understand they type of medium that it is IMO.


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TQ your still #1 with me and as far as I’m ed concerned ,


“It’s human nature to get that pack mentality ‘yea, she was treated worse than a dog’ ,”


You hit the nail on the head, that’s why they always kick you when your down, and this creep, this woman’s doctor should be sued for telling her to go to such a dreadful place.


My god the place has to face some kind of music too, she should of never been put in there with the likes of the dog that attacked her.


He should be put to sleep.


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I hope you see how closed your mind is to information.


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Three Strike is for those in CDC not county jails, AND slo county jail should have it’s own mental ward in the JAIL, AFTER ALL they are get a contract from the state to house CDC INMATES why can’t they get funds to house dangers inmates like him?


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Very sad story, but I don’t think the staff at county did anything wrong . Lane checked herself in on the advice of a therapist, at that point she gave up her civil rights, it’s the therapist who is to blame here.


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@stopagenda21

I disagree strenuously with the idea that county staff did nothing wrong. They put a non-violent woman together unsupervised with a known criminal with an extensive history of violent assaults. That was wrong. The beating stopped only because the perpetrator decided to stop – certainly not because staff did anything to intervene. He could have just as easily continued the beating, killed, or raped this woman (remember, he was a sexual predator as well), and staff wouldn’t have even known it was happening. Apparently, staff was only clued in to the fact that something bad had happened when Shirreffs walked by with bloody knuckles!

I hope Ms. Lane takes the county to the cleaners, especially since they won’t even offer an apology, let alone admit they did anything wrong.


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The state is under NO OBLIGATION to protect you from other inmates, VERY VERY SAD!!


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According to Wikipedia (resources cited at their webpage), rights for a 5150 involuntary hold are as follow. I could find no documentation indicating that someone on a voluntary stay would have different rights. In fact, for some patients, at the end of their 72-hour involuntary holds, staff may try to convince them to submit to a 72-hour voluntary hold while they become further stabilized, while staff is trying to find a place to discharge them to, etc.


***************

“Patient rights while under section 5150


Patients admitted under section 5150 retain all rights under the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act (Begins with WIC-5000) and under the Constitution and other laws. As citizens, patients do not lose their rights by being hospitalized or receiving services. With the exception of being able to freely leave the facility they are placed in, patients have all rights accorded to a voluntarily admitted client. Waivers signed by the patient, responsible relative, guardian, conservator cannot be used to deny a right. California Code of Regulations, Title 9 Section 865.2 (c); California Welfare & Institutions Code Section 5325.


Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5325 and § 5325.1 codify the statutory patients’ rights in California:

[edit] Undeniable rights


Under California law, the following rights may never be denied (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5325.1):


The right to treatment services which promote the potential of the person to function independently. Treatment should be provided in ways that are least restrictive of the personal liberty of the individual.


The right to dignity, privacy, and humane care.


The right to be free from harm, including unnecessary or excessive physical restraint, isolation, medication, abuse, or neglect. Medication may not be used as punishment, for the convenience of staff, as a substitute for, or in quantities that interfere with the treatment program.


The right to prompt medical care and treatment.


The right to religious freedom and practice.


The right to participate in appropriate programs of publicly supported education.


The right to social interaction.


The right to physical exercise and recreational opportunities.


The right to be free from hazardous procedures.


[edit] Additional rights


Additionally, every mental health client has the right to see and receive the services of a Patients’ Rights Advocate. All patients also have the following treatment rights:


The right to give or withhold informed consent to medical and psychiatric treatment, including the right to refuse medications (WIC-5325.2) except in emergency (W&I 5008 (m)) situations where danger to life is present; or by court order where the patient is found to lack the capacity to give or refuse informed consent via either a Capacity Hearing (see W&I 5332) and also known as a Riese hearing or via conservatorship.


The right to refuse psychosurgery (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5326.6).


The right to refuse electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) unless court ordered (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code 5326.7.).


The right to confidentiality (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5328).


The right to inspect and copy the medical record, unless specific criteria are met (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 1795).


The right to have family/friends notified of certain treatment information with patient’s permission (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5328.1).


The right to an aftercare plan (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 5622).”


**********************


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5150_%28Involuntary_psychiatric_hold%29


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Pardon, but are you on crack or what?


Based on the information the therapist had at hand, and the concerns of Mrs. Lane’s daughter, he made a good call. The therapist had no way of knowing that County Mental Health would put a man with a repeated history of violent assaults, out of the blue, on strangers, into basically a small cage where he could block her escape, and then assault her.


If ANYONE knew the Mental Health staff was so freely allowed to break regulations and set up voluntary admits for assaults from their violent patients, they would not admit anyone to the hospital.Truly, this is something that one would expect from a Charles Dickinson novel, not from real live in 2011


The County is clearly at fault in this situation. I guarantee you there are regulations about isolating known violent patients away from mental health patients who are not violent. They didn’t even bother to supervise him there, OR USE THE SECURITY CAMERA TO MONITOR HIM.


The staff broke regulations and Mrs. Lane paid a terrible price and, thanks to the poor excuse for a County DA, Shiffers was not arrested, prosecuted, and was not inconvenienced in any way for so viciously beating Mrs. Lane.


Who makes the determination for SLO to be the happiest place in America? They need to be bombarded with these articles about County Mental Health, the psycho firefighters the fire department and police departments coddle and protect, the DA who allows psycho police officers to, in a fit of road rage, assault and attempt to murder a disabled man, going so far as to bust in the front door of the man’s residence, and all of the horror stories we seem to get confronted with on at least a once-a-week basis.


Oh, and let’s not forget the millions of gallons of raw sewage John Wallace allows to contaminate our local streets and beaches just because he’s too lazy to get proper certification so he can still be the administrator of the SSLOCSD WWT facility if it finally gets the upgrades it so desperately needs.


We can’t allow innocent tourists to come here, not knowing they are risking their lives when they are in a bar or restaurant downtown, or that the lovely beach setting they are experiencing may be contaminated with John Wallace’s raw sewage, letting them return home with a hot case of hepatitis or worse.


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Where was the oversight, where were all the guards, why was a female placed in the same cell as a male?

This is an outrage and not a matter of funding or budgets…


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Guards? Are you joking? This is not a facility designed for criminals, and there is no funding for “guards”. Don’t confuse this with ASH. There are no cells. Clearly you don’t know anything about the mental health system. It IS a matter of funding, budgets, levels of staffing, and in general, the public doesn’t care a whit about people who enter the inpatient facility.


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@Regina

Do you think that might be because most people who enter the inpatient facility don’t leave in an ambulance?


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County mental health facilities, if they accept patients with violent histories, have protocols to keep these violent patients isolated from the rest of the patient population. Otherwise, they would not allow violent patients to be admitted there.


There is no doubt that the facility’s regulations, policies and procedures were ignored and/or broken, and Mrs. Lane paid the price for it.


Now the county wants to assault Mrs. Lane again, this time by denying her compensation for the county’s failure to operate the mental health facility in a legal and responsible manner.


I’m hoping an employee of the facility will let Velie take a peak at their employee manual. Then we’ll see how many policies and regulations were broken when staff allowed Shiffers to assault Mrs. Lane.


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I’d like to know why, after two years, she still has red blood in her eye.


That would indicate she continues to bleed.


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