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HHS responds to ‘sadistic’ abuse of Beatrice residents

Jodi Fenner, Director, Division of Developmental Disabilities

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – At least five staffers hit, pushed or choked developmentally disabled residents of the troubled Beatrice State Developmental Center, according to investigative reports. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services released the center’s 78-page internal report on the alleged abuses happening earlier in the year, with the names of accused staffers and at least seven center victims redacted. The report details incidents in which center residents were routinely slapped, punched, ridiculed and choked, sometimes into unconsciousness. Jodi Fenner, the director of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disabilities, says the suspected abuse occurred at one of five homes on the Beatrice grounds. Fenner says among the 15 staffers currently suspended are a manager and nine other staffers suspected of knowing of, but not reporting the abuse.

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