Patients Endangered by Hazardous Conditions at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital!
Hello, Human Family,
Read a shocking complaint below!
I have written hundreds of complaints and, unsurprisingly, when DMH investigates itself it finds it has done nothing wrong. (Sound familiar?)
I have been trying to raise awareness to the inhuman conditions at Lemuel Shattuck for years. I find this example particularly easy to verify and evidence of staff’s, particularly those in administrative positions, lack of consideration for patients comfort and safety.
I overheard a patient recently desperately begging staff to turn off their radiator. They'd been asking since Monday 10/19/26. Their room is so small there bed is pressed against a hot radiator and their air conditioner wasn't working. Staff kept giving them the same response, "We put in a work order." (These can take weeks, if they get done at all.)
I sent out a mass email on 10/23/26, and within minutes the air conditioner was fixed, but this patient is still forced to sleep against a radiator with the air conditioner running 24/7.
At least 4 other patients are in a similar dangerous living situation.
Lemuel Shattuck decided to convert 5 tiny rooms, that were previously offices, into patient bedrooms, ignoring fire codes to do so, and chose instead to put patients in direct harm, both physically and psychologically, in order to make profit.
I personally have been asking to use a simple cold-water diffuser (humidifier) for about two years to treat dry eyes, throat, ears and asthma because of the conditions created by both heating and cooling an our rooms at the same time.
Accommodations are almost universally denied. "Safety issues." Is what we we are told. When I pressed for a further explanation all I received was, "We'd have to let all patients have one if we let you have one." (Wouldn't that be awful?).
You can help. copy and paste this complaint at: HERE, and email a copy to: bfdfirepreventioninfo@boston.gov, and JCIQuality@jcrinc.com.
DMH complaints almost never result in accountability. It's up to us pressure these systems to stop this abuse.
-And Steiner
_____________________
Name of complainant: Andrew (And) Steiner
Status: Patient
Program: Lemuel Shattuck Hospital
Client(s) thought to be harmed: Self and all other DMH clients at Lemuel Shattuck
When did the matter occur: Ongoing
Where did the matter occur: A minimum of all DMH floors at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital.
I am filing this complaint regarding hazardous environmental conditions at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital that endanger the health and safety of, at least, DMH patients and the hospital's systematic denial of reasonable accommodations.
The facility heats every patient room with radiators, and indoor temperatures are so consistently excessive, particularly in patient rooms, that nearly all patients are forced to run window air conditioning units periodically in early winter and continuously mid to late winter, meaning the hospital is simultaneously heating and cooling the same spaces.
The resulting dry air has caused me recurring sinus, throat, eye, and respiratory problems, for which I have sought relief for years. My request for a reasonable accommodation, specifically a small humidifier in my room, was denied, and although my radiator has been shut off, ambient heat remains so high that I must still run my air conditioner frequently. Typically later in the winter I will have to run it around the clock. Every accommodation request I have made has been denied.
These conditions affect all patients, and the immediate cause of this complaint illustrates the pattern: a patient on a DMH floor 9 South, whose room is one of many so small that his bed sits directly against the radiator, had been requesting since Monday, October 19 that his heat be turned off and had reported a broken air conditioner, yet staff took no action until I escalated the matter by mass email; even then, only the air conditioner was repaired, and he remains forced, as many patients throughout the hospital are, to sleep beside an operating radiator while running an air conditioner to compensate, creating safety risks and medically hazardous conditions.
Because DMH has unsubstantiated nearly all complaints regarding this facility, I do not believe a referral to DMH or DPH will produce meaningful accountability, and I therefore request that state officials from outside the DMH and DPH umbrella conduct an independent, on-site investigation of these conditions, which are readily verifiable simply by walking onto the units in mid to late winter.
1. Beds placed directly against radiators (fire safety). A DPH inspector informed me that everything must be kept at least 18 inches away from radiators. A minimum of five rooms on DMH floors are so small that patient beds are placed directly against the radiators, making compliance with that instruction physically impossible. This is a fire hazard for the patients occupying those rooms. Heating appliances are regulated under Chapter 11, Section 11.5 of 527 CMR 1.00, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code, and as a hospital the facility must comply with the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code under 42 CFR 482.41(b). It is my understanding that these rooms were initially offices. The decision to turn them into patient rooms is questionable from both a legal and safety standpoint.
2. These same rooms, unlike all others, are without closets or storage. Under M.G.L. c. 123, § 23, every person receiving services from a DMH facility has the right "to keep and use his own personal possessions including toilet articles" and "to have access to individual storage space for his private use," and any denial of this right requires good cause documented in the patient's record. In addition, the FGI Guidelines, which DMH facilities must document compliance with under 104 CMR 27.03(10)(c), require "storage for patients personal effects in each patient bedroom" and "storage for daily change of clothes for seven days" (FGI 2022, section 2.5-2.2.2.8).
3. Overheated, extremely dry air, and the denial of humidifiers. Periodically during early winter and constantly during mid to late winter, radiators are running at the same time as window air conditioners, and patient rooms are extremely hot and dry. I have already reported to staff that these conditions are causing and worsening sinus problems, throat problems, and breathing problems for me, and other patients have reported the same. I have already requested a small humidifier for my room, and that request was denied. These conditions violate my right to "a humane psychological and physical environment" under M.G.L. c. 123, § 23(d) and 104 CMR 27.13(6)(d), and they conflict with 42 CFR 482.41(a), which requires the physical plant and overall hospital environment to be maintained so that "the safety and well-being of patients are assured," and 42 CFR 482.41(d)(4), which requires "proper ventilation, light, and temperature controls."
Industry guidance, including the ASHRAE Handbook, recommends maintaining relative humidity between 30 and 60 percent and states that low humidity dries the mucous membranes of the nose and throat and increases respiratory complaints.
4. Concern for the safety of all patients at this facility. My concerns are not only for myself. At least one room on every DMH ward in this building is so small that the bed must sit directly against the radiator, which means patients on every ward are being housed in rooms that cannot meet fire safety clearance requirements. Other rooms are so small that, while they barely meet the 18 inch clearance guideline, may be causing significant physical and emotional distress including to elderly and disabled patients. Most, if not all, patients are being exposed to the same overheated, extremely dry air, which is causing respiratory, sinus, and throat symptoms among patients generally, depriving every patient housed in them of a right guaranteed by M.G.L. c. 123, § 23.
Patients in psychiatric facilities are a vulnerable population with limited ability to leave, control their own rooms, or seek relief elsewhere, and we depend entirely on the facility to keep our environment safe. I ask the facility to treat these conditions as the building-wide patient safety problems they are rather than as individual requests, and to note that 104 CMR 27.03(23)(h)5 requires the facility to notify the Department of any "condition at the facility which poses a threat to the health or safety of patients or staff; for example... fire hazards, loss of essential services such as heat."
5. Denial of reasonable accommodation for disability (ADA and Section 504).
This facility is operated by the Department of Mental Health and is therefore a public entity subject to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq., and to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794, as a recipient of federal financial assistance. Breathing is expressly identified as a major life activity under 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A). As documented in my record, I have sinus, throat, and breathing problems that are worsened by the hot, extremely dry air maintained on this unit. Under 28 CFR 35.130(b)(7), a public entity must make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, or procedures when necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless it can demonstrate that doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of its program. I requested a small humidifier as exactly such a modification, and that request was denied outright. I understand the facility may have concerns about humidifiers, including infection control. However, a blanket ban is not an individualized assessment: under 28 CFR 35.139, any claimed safety risk must be based on an objective, individualized assessment using current medical knowledge, and the facility must consider whether reasonable measures would mitigate that risk, for example a facility-supplied unit, an evaporative cool-mist unit maintained according to a cleaning protocol, or clinically ordered humidification through the medical staff. I therefore request: (a) that this section be processed through the facility's ADA grievance procedure and assigned to the facility's ADA Coordinator; (b) a written, individualized determination of my accommodation request, signed by the ADA Coordinator, explaining what was assessed and what alternatives were considered; and (c) in the interim, medically ordered humidification, so that I am not left without any accommodation while this is decided. I also note that 28 CFR 35.134 prohibits retaliation, coercion, or intimidation against any person for asserting rights under the ADA, and I expect that filing this complaint will have no adverse effect on my treatment or standing on this unit.