AUGUSTA -- The Augusta Mental Health Institute's superintendent has resigned, little more than a week after the court official appointed to take charge of the state psychiatric hospital said she planned to make major leadership changes. Lisa C. Kavanaugh, head of the troubled state hospital for the past three years, agreed to resign early this week, court receiver Elizabeth Jones said. Jones was appointed by Superior Court Chief Justice Nancy D. Mills in November to oversee AMHI after the judge ruled the state had failed to meet many requirements of the so-called AMHI consent decree. The decree was signed by state officials in 1990 to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by patients who decried conditions at the hospital. It requires improvements in community and hospital mental-health treatment.
Posted by Editor at January 24, 2004 05:14 PM