Investigation Finds Fault With Tammy Lynn Center in Death of Resident

Posted 11:00 a.m. Oct 27, 1999 — Updated 11:00 a.m. Oct 27, 1999

RALEIGH — Since July, the state has beeninvestigating the deathof a 23-year-old resident at Raleigh'sTammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities. David Hamrick died after being severely burned in scalding hot bath water.

There are three investigations surrounding this case.

The Division of Facility Servicesis investigating the Tammy Lynn Center, theHealth Care Personnel Registryis checking the caregiver, and the District Attorney is looking for any criminal wrongdoing.

Now, the first of those investigations is placing some of the blame.

In its report, the Division of Facility Services has ruled on what role the Tammy Lynn Center may have played in Hamrick's death.

The Division of Facility Services found the center in violation of three regulations:

"Protection From Harm, Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation" meaning the center was negligent in providing adequate care.
"Governing Body Policies," faulting the center for not having a written policy for testing the temperature of bath water.
Facility Design and Equipment," meaning a safe hot water temperature was not maintained.

The Tammy Lynn Center is required to submit a response to the report. Mary Freeman, president of the center, responded with a prepared statement.

"We'll be submitting our response in the next ten days and our response and details of that report will be public at that time. Since that process is still ongoing it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of our report until our report is complete."

DFS has the power to take away the center's license if the problems are not corrected.

The District Attorney may have their criminal investigation completed in a couple of weeks.

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