Psychiatrist with drug conviction loses Delaware medical license

From The News Journal

Adam Scioli, a psychiatric resident hired by the Delaware Psychiatric Center in early July who had a previous felony drug conviction in Pennsylvania and a suspended Pennsylvania medical license, lost his Delaware medical license last week.

Scioli had been a resident at Temple University until Nov. 2, 2004, when he was arrested for selling a potential date-rape drug to an undercover police officer.

Scioli was sentenced to two months in jail and then placed on probation until 2010, according to court records. But on July 1, Scioli began a new residency program in psychiatry at DPC.

On Thursday, at a public hearing of a legislative committee investigating DPC, Dr. Gerard Gallucci, medical director for the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, told lawmakers that he had been responsible for hiring Scioli.

After a story about Scioli was published, James Collins, director of the state Division of Professional Regulation, said Scioli’s medical license was “erroneously issued” and may be annulled.

This week the status of Scioli’s Delaware medical license changed from “active” to “null and void.”

“The Division’s proposed course of action to annul the license issued to Dr. Adam Scioli became moot based upon information that Dr. Scioli is no longer employed at the facility for which the license was issued,” Collins told The News Journal in an e-mail.

Scioli’s Delaware medical license, Collins said, was a training license, and therefore was “institution-specific.”

The News Journal has not been able to contact Scioli, despite messages left with his friends and attorney.

Last month, Sen. Robert I. Marshall, D-Wilmington West, sent a letter to the president and members of the Board of Medical Practice and the Division of Professional Regulation, who oversee how physicians and other medical professionals are licensed in the state.

Marshall, a longtime patients’ rights advocate, included draft legislation that could slightly alter the requirements of applicants for physician licenses.

Marshall’s bill would change the wording of the state code governing background checks for physician license applicants, requiring the board to actually possess the applicant’s criminal background checks before issuing a license.

The proposed legislation, Marshall said, would not alter or remove the discretionary power of the board.

“I’m looking forward to early action in January, to see the bill move forward in the Senate, hopefully move through the House, and onto the governor’s desk,” Marshall said last month.

Convicted Psychiatrist loses Delaware Medical License

As seen in this report

Adam Scioli, a psychiatric resident hired by the Delaware Psychiatric Center in early July who had a previous felony drug conviction in Pennsylvania and a suspended Pennsylvania medical license, lost his Delaware medical license last week.

Scioli had been a resident at Temple University until Nov. 2, 2004, when he was arrested for selling a potential date-rape drug to an undercover police officer.

Scioli was sentenced to two months in jail and then placed on probation until 2010, according to court records. But on July 1, Scioli began a new residency program in psychiatry at DPC.

On Thursday, at a public hearing of a legislative committee investigating DPC, Dr. Gerard Gallucci, medical director for the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, told lawmakers that he had been responsible for hiring Scioli.

After a story about Scioli was published, James Collins, director of the state Division of Professional Regulation, said Scioli’s medical license was “erroneously issued” and may be annulled.

This week the status of Scioli’s Delaware medical license changed from “active” to “null and void.”

“The Division’s proposed course of action to annul the license issued to Dr. Adam Scioli became moot based upon information that Dr. Scioli is no longer employed at the facility for which the license was issued,” Collins told The News Journal in an e-mail.

Scioli’s Delaware medical license, Collins said, was a training license, and therefore was “institution-specific.”

The News Journal has not been able to contact Scioli, despite messages left with his friends and attorney.

Last month, Sen. Robert I. Marshall, D-Wilmington West, sent a letter to the president and members of the Board of Medical Practice and the Division of Professional Regulation, who oversee how physicians and other medical professionals are licensed in the state.

Marshall, a longtime patients’ rights advocate, included draft legislation that could slightly alter the requirements of applicants for physician licenses.

Marshall’s bill would change the wording of the state code governing background checks for physician license applicants, requiring the board to actually possess the applicant’s criminal background checks before issuing a license.

The proposed legislation, Marshall said, would not alter or remove the discretionary power of the board.

“I’m looking forward to early action in January, to see the bill move forward in the Senate, hopefully move through the House, and onto the governor’s desk,” Marshall said last month.

Outspoken Official Critical of Delaware's Mental Health System Departs Amid Rumors She Was Forced to Leave

Of course, this could all be a legitimate departure for the reasons given. But nobody is talking on the matter, and it looks suspicious. As seen in this report.

An outspoken and well-respected critic of the state agencies responsible for treating the mentally ill -- including the Delaware Psychiatric Center -- is out.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware, or NAMI, longtime executive director, Rita Marocco, is leaving her position with the advocacy group, "to pursue other interests."

For many patients and their families, Marocco was NAMI in Delaware. Marocco said she has yet to receive official confirmation of her status with NAMI-DE.

As she was preparing to testify Thursday night before a legislative committee investigating patient abuse and retaliation at DPC, several lawmakers told her they'd received a letter from NAMI-DE, which stated she was "leaving NAMI to pursue other interests."

Marocco has repeatedly stressed the need for systemic improvements at the state hospital, which caused several lawmakers to comment about the timing and possible motivations behind her dismissal.

"I've heard rumors that Secretary [Vince] Meconi has been involved, but I have nothing to substantiate that," Marocco told The News Journal.

But Meconi, secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, said in an e-mail to The News Journal: "I have no information about Ms. Marocco's employment status. I would suggest you check with NAMI."

The News Journal sought to interview all 22 members of the NAMI-DE board of directors. Most refused to comment, or never returned phone calls.

"I'm not at liberty to talk about it," said board member Chuck Tarver.

"She wasn't fired," said board member Mary Berger, who added, "I don't feel comfortable answering questions."

Board member Julius Meisel said Meconi wasn't behind and changes to Marocco's employment status.

"That's bunk," he said. "This is an internal matter. I'm not going to comment further."

John P. Smoots, another board member, said nobody at the state orchestrated Marocco's departure.

"That's absolutely false," he said.

Edward N. McNally, president of the NAMI-DE board of directors, said "the board and Rita had a difference of opinion with regards to management of NAMI's housing operations, particularly our 55 group homes.

"As a result, when we could not reach an agreement on that part, she asked for a severance package and we worked it out."

Marocco presents a different version: "I did not receive the letter from the board, and I have not heard from them as of yet."

McNally said Meconi, whom Marocco has asked to resign, had nothing to do with the board's decision.

"NAMI-DE completely supports everything Rita had to say about the DPC situation," he said.

McNally sent the letter to the legislative committee investigating DPC because he "wanted everyone to understand about who to get in touch with if they had questions."

"What I was trying to do was head off the rumors," McNally said. "There's no tie to Rita's position on DPC."

Board member Janis Chester, a psychiatrist and past-president of the Psychiatry Society of Delaware, said she never witnessed any conduct by Marocco that could have merited discipline, or possible termination.

"She is NAMI-DE," Chester said. "I always saw her as a role model. I had the pleasure of working with her in a variety of settings. I always thought I should be more like her. She can get her message across in a strong assertive way, without ever being impolite. It's such a loss to NAMI. I hope it's not a loss to the mentally ill in Delaware."

"I joined the board and was recruited there because of Rita," Chester said. "She's really been a beacon and has been devoted and capable and irrepressible as an advocate for the mentally ill."

When The News Journal began investigating conditions at the Delaware Psychiatric Center, exposing cases of patient abuse and allegations of rape, Marocco expressed frustration with DPC administrators. She suggested there were coverups as well as shortcomings.

"It's obvious they're not adhering to any standards known to good-quality care," she said at one point. "What we expect from a psychiatric hospital is that their people work toward providing what's best for the patients in their care. In my opinion, they've come up short."

Asked Friday if she regrets her statements, Marocco said no.

"I've gone over and over it in my mind," she said. "I can't think of a single thing I'd have done differently."

Feds, state warn Delaware Psychiatric Center about shredding evidence

From Delaware's The News Journal

Revelations that documents were being shredded at the Delaware Psychiatric Center at the same time federal and state agencies were investigating the hospital have prompted stern warnings from the United States Attorney's Office and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.

In a letter Friday to DPC, U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly's office warned Vince Meconi, secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, that Connolly did not take the possible destruction of evidence lightly.

"We are concerned about this reported document destruction, and write to remind you and your employees of your duty to preserve any materials that may be relevant to reasonably foreseeable litigation, as well as your duty to not destroy or impair any documents so as to interfere with their availability in an official proceeding," wrote First Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss. "Accordingly, we ask that you cease any document destruction efforts that relate to DPC."

After revelations about patient abuse and retaliation against nurses who report the abuse were first chronicled last month in The News Journal, Connolly notified Justice Department regulators in Washington about possible civil rights violations at DPC. At least six state and federal agencies are examining conditions at the trouble-plagued state hospital, including a task force recently established by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.

The News Journal broke a story about the shredding program last week. Meconi and other state officials said DPC was not involved, even though DPC's administration building was on the list of buildings visited by the contract shredding firm. According to the firm, the shredding operation ended Friday.

Connolly and Biden declined to comment for this story.

DPC director Susan Watson Robinson said only that she received Connolly's letter Monday, which "reminded us of our obligation not to shred any documents."

In a written response to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which Robinson provided along with the Justice Department warning, Meconi said that "no DPC documents have been destroyed or discarded, nor will they be destroyed or discarded during the course of any state of federal investigation or inquiry."

"All records pertaining to DPC remain intact and accessible to any law enforcement or monitoring agency," Meconi wrote. "In addition to your directive, we have previously been directed not to destroy or discard DPC documents by the state Department of Justice."

The "document shredding program" has prompted calls for Meconi's resignation from Rep. Gregory F. Lavelle, R-Sharpley, who described the shredding as "the straw that broke the camel's back."

It also prompted action from State Treasurer Jack Markell.

Markell sent a letter to the co-chairs of Minner's task force, Rita Landgraff and Peter Ross, requesting they "make every attempt to address a series of pressing questions being raised by Delawareans."

"Over the past several weeks, I have heard again and again while traveling the state a deep level of concern over the many and continuing unanswered questions about ongoing care at the Delaware Psychiatric Center," Markell said. "With this letter, I am hoping to bring a more focused voice to many of those concerns that I share with so many other Delawareans, and to request of Governor Minner's task force that they try to make every attempt to provide these answers to the concerned families and friends raising them."

In his letter to the task force, Markell asks a lengthy series of questions, covering a broad scope of problems identified in the ongoing News Journal special report.

"There's a lot of unanswered questions," he told The News Journal. "I think the task force's work could benefit the state and the public if they tried to answer some unanswered questions. The commission they've been given is important, but I think there's a lot of unanswered questions that could restore public trust. The letter speaks for itself, in terms of my motivations."

Markell wants the co-chairs of Minner's task force to determine whether security cameras -- promised early on during The News Journal's investigation -- have been ordered, and whether DPC would be better off with a psychiatrist in charge.

He also wants to know why a request made by The News Journal under the state's Freedom of Information Act for copies of every patient-abuse report filed since 2001 was rejected. He hopes that the task force reviews the forms.

Another series of Markell's questions pertains to documented patient abuse. On July 2, patient Preston Hudson's jaw was broken in three places inside DPC's admissions unit.

On July 15, The News Journal quoted Jay Lynch, spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Services, saying that Hudson's claims of being beaten by employees of the hospital "are not credible" and that Hudson tripped on the edge of a mat.

On Aug. 6, an attendant was indicted for second-degree assault and patient abuse in the case. Anthony R. Liggians Jr., 32, of Wilmington, was fired by DPC shortly before the charges were filed. His criminal case is pending.

"The original statement by DPC that the patient 'tripped' is, frankly, suspect, in light of this indictment," Markell wrote. "The Department's spokesman said hospital investigators initially relied on internal reviews and medical records to conclude Hudson's claims were not credible. What exactly did those medical records say? Did the doctor who performed the surgery indicate that the patient likely tripped? Is there to be any accountability beyond the indictment of the attendant?"

Of the shredding, Markell asked: "What is the shredding policy for DPC if one exists at all? What exactly was shredded and why was this particular time chosen for the shredding?"

On Monday, Robinson said Markell will get his answers during an upcoming public hearing by the legislative committee investigating DPC.

"All of these questions are the ones that we're looking forward to answering at the Sept. 11 hearing," Robinson said. "We're happy that in his letter, he acknowledges there are a lot of employees that are dedicated to providing high-quality patient care."

Markell is expected to face Lt. Gov. John C. Carney in a Democratic primary next year to replace Minner. On Monday, Carney said he called Meconi about the shredding.

Last week, Gov. Minner has expressed her "utmost confidence in Secretary Meconi and his leadership team."

Asked Monday if he shared the governor's confidence in Meconi, Carney repeated his concerns about the shredding.

"I am very concerned overall about this issue of public trust," Carney said. "I think the administration out there needs to change their attitude a little toward the whole process, and be more responsive to the questions being asked."

Legislative Panel Begins Hearings into Troubled Mental Hospital

From WBOC in Delaware

Tales of patient abuse and poorly trained employees highlighted a legislative hearing Tuesday into problems at the state-run Delaware Psychiatric Center.

Relatives of patients at the New Castle hospital told lawmakers of loved ones being sexually assaulted and beaten by staffers, and of difficulties trying to get information from state officials about their welfare.

Pleading with lawmakers for help, Janice Ambrose tearfully told of her 21-year-old daughter, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, being sexually assaulted at least twice and put in restraints for long periods of time.

Ambrose recounted one visit in which she saw drugged patients sitting in chairs in a common room while staffers watched TV with their feet propped on chairs, laughing as a naked man ran down the hallway.

"This state has a problem from the bottom up and the top down," said Ambrose, who fears leaving her daughter at DPC but said she has nowhere else to turn.

"I can't even get an outpatient psychiatrist to see her," she said. "I need some help, my daughter needs help."

Margaret Losink said she learned of a November incident in which her daughter allegedly was gagged and restrained so severely that she was left with bruises only by reading about it in the news.

"She never told me because she said she had to go back there," said Losink, who said her daughter has been in and out of DPC for 12 years. "The hospital says she bruises easy, and she's a spitter."

Preliminary results from an investigation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that was prompted by the newspaper articles cited nine patient safety incidents during the past 12 months in which federal regulations were not met. In one case, a DPC staffer was indicted for assault earlier this month after a patient's jaw was broken. Hospital officials initially said the patient had slipped on a mat and hit his face on a bed.

Also this month, a former DPC attendant was indicted on three counts of rape and six counts of patient abuse after allegedly raping a patient in a toilet and a staff break room last year.

Gloria Christmas, a nurse on duty when Losink's daughter was restrained last fall, denied that she was gagged.

"She talked during the whole seclusion and restraint," Christmas said. "... At no time was the towel put in her mouth."

Other DPC employees also defended the facility Tuesday night, saying the hospital staff generally is concerned about patient care and that a few bad actors should not be allowed to bring the institution into disrepute.

"I take my job very seriously and I do it to the best of my ability," said Zanthea Benson, a 17-year employee. "... We can't let a few bad apples spoil the bunch."

Asked by members of the committee how the hospital could be improved, Benson and Kenneth Burton, a DPC licensed practical nurse, both suggested stronger hiring practices to ensure that employees have the skills and temperament to deal with difficult situations and patients.

"You have those who are there for the patients, and you have those who are there," Benson said. "If you're not there for the patients, I don't think you should be there."

Before convening the hearing, committee members wrangled over allowing DPC employees and others to testify behind closed doors, and over obtaining confidentiality privacy waivers from employees and patients so that Department of Health and Social Services officials can respond to allegations.

Democrats on the committee urged chairman Richard Cathcart, R-Middletown, to shorten the panel's schedule so DHSS officials can testify before its scheduled second meeting on Sept. 11 in Wilmington.

Rep. Melanie Marshall, D-Bear, also asked Cathcart to allow DHSS Secretary Vincent Meconi, who has called the committee's format unfair, to speak for a few minutes Tuesday night. Cathcart denied the request, adding that Meconi's complaint of unfairness "doesn't hold water."

"We are going to give him every opportunity to present his comments," said Cathcart, adding that he hopes the panel can hear most or all of the closed-door testimony before the Sept. 11 meeting.

Delaware Psychiatric Center staffers indicted in abuse, rape cases

From the News Journal (Also see this report)

Two former attendants at the Delaware Psychiatric Center were indicted Monday for multiple felonies, including rape, assault and patient abuse, stemming from two separate incidents that occurred at the trouble-plagued state hospital during the past two years.

Former attendant Woods Etherington Jr., 45, of Hockessin, was indicted on three counts of rape and six counts of patient abuse. According to documents filed with Delaware's Justice of the Peace Court, Etherington raped a patient three times in April 2006, in a toilet and a staff break room.

This isn't the first time Etherington has been accused of abusing a patient. In August 2000, he was arrested on charges of offensive touching and patient abuse, and pleaded guilty in 2001 to the offensive touching charge. The charges of patient abuse were dropped.

After those charges were settled, Etherington was brought back to work at DPC with the help of his union, whose president is Gregory Boston, himself a convicted felon. DPC administrators would not say why Etherington was allowed to return to work.

"We have no comment on employment decisions others made during a previous administration, nor on the length of time between our reporting of the substantiation of the allegation and today's decision to prosecute the individual," Jay Lynch, spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Services, said in a statement to The News Journal.

Lynch said Etherington was removed from direct patient care and suspended without pay in April 2006 following an internal investigation. A month later, he resigned from DPC.

The second attendant indicted Monday, Anthony R. Liggians Jr., 32, of Wilmington, faces two felonies: second-degree assault and one count of patient abuse.

The indictment stems from a July 2 incident involving Preston Hudson, a 44-year-old patient at the state hospital. According to documents filed with the court, Liggians punched Hudson in the face, after which he fell onto a bed in the admissions unit. Hudson's jaw was broken in three places, on both sides of his face.

"Anthony Liggians no longer works at DPC," Lynch said. "Woods Etherington has not been at DPC for over 15 months."

The News Journal was unable to locate Etherington or Liggians for this story.

Felons on staff

Last month, when the state hospital's troubles were documented by The News Journal, state House Majority Leader Richard C. Cathcart, R-Middletown, organized an investigative committee that will meet for the first time later this month to examine patient safety and operations at the center.

Among the new developments are statements by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health administrators that no official "affiliation" exists between their institutions and the residency program at DPC, despite a letter from Health and Social Services Secretary Vincent P. Meconi touting the affiliations to Delaware lawmakers and the public.

Meconi's letter was sent three weeks before The News Journal exposed the felony drug conviction of Adam Scioli, a psychiatric resident hired by the state hospital in early July.

Boston's felony record stretches to the 1970s, when he was convicted of shooting two men in the face with a shotgun. Boston has not been convicted of a crime in Delaware since 1993, six years before DPC Director Susan Watson Robinson said he was "grandfathered" into employment despite his prior criminal history.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment for this story. In an interview last month, Minner said she did not believe DPC needed to be investigated.

Since that interview, a half-dozen federal and Delaware probes of the state hospital have been launched, focusing on patient abuse, staff intimidation and the hiring of felons to work with mentally ill patients. Reports of abuse, mistreatment and neglect increased at the hospital from 35 in 2001 to 119 last year.

"The vast majority of DPC employees do a good job providing patient care," Lynch said. "When one does not, it is deeply distressing and we take swift action to remove or correct that employee."

Rape charges

According to documents filed with the court, Delaware State Police Cpl. Michael Willey went to DPC on April 12, 2006, to investigate a complaint of a staff member having sex with a 23-year-old female patient. Willey interviewed the victim, who said she had "consensual sex" with Etherington on two days in April. Both incidents occurred between 9:30 and 10 p.m.

The next day, a state police investigator interviewed the victim's mother, who said her daughter was "not capable of making rational decisions" and unable to consent to sex.

According to court documents, Etherington admitted to investigators that he had been "making out" with the victim, and that the victim performed oral sex on him. Investigators interviewed the victim's psychiatrist, who told them the she was "severely mentally ill, suffering from schizophrenia and a personality disorder, and in his opinion was incapable of consenting to sexual conduct."

Investigators interviewed Etherington's co-workers in the Kent 2 unit of the New Castle-area state hospital. Court documents state that Etherington was warned that the victim was "sexually preoccupied, and staff should not be alone with her." Etherington, in another interview with police, said he knew the victim's history and that "she did not fully comprehend what she was doing at the time of the incident."

A broken jaw

When Preston Hudson told his sister he was attacked by two attendants, she called 911.

At first, DPC officials denied Hudson's claim, saying he tripped and hit his chin on a bed frame. "Mr. Hudson was having an episode, running around the room and tripped on the edge of the mat," Lynch said during initial interviews about the incident. "As he went down, his jaw or chin hit the bed."

After The News Journal reported the incident, Lynch said two employees "were removed from direct patient care."

DPC re-examined the case after the state police opened a criminal investigation. According to documents filed with the court, state police interviewed several staffers, including Liggians, to determine how Hudson, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, was injured.

The troopers found an internal "Incident Report" regarding Hudson's injuries, signed by Liggians and another staffer. The DPC report classified the incident as a "Slip/Fall-Witnessed." The report stated that Hudson "tripped over the mat and hit his face on the iron bed post."

Liggians was interviewed several times and gave several versions of the night's events.

A female DPC employee told investigators she "witnessed Liggians punch Hudson in the face." She stated that at the time, Hudson was "drugged up, medicated, and not very stable on his feet," and that he was not acting in a "menacing fashion or in a manner which would require that level of force."

Hudson's sister, Doris Scott, welcomed news of the criminal indictment. "It means that justice has been served, and that you can't treat a human being like that," Scott said Monday. "No one wants to be treated like that. They want to feel safe in a hospital."

Two days after the assault, doctors wired Hudson's jaw together, and he was returned to the state mental hospital. He hasn't eaten solid food for more than a month.

Hudson's family will meet with his treatment team today. They hope he will be released from the state hospital.

"Delaware citizens living with severe and persistent mental illness must have protection from those who wish to do them harm," said Rita Marocco, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware. " 'To do no harm' represents the most basic of expectations NAMI-DE families demand of professional caretakers," Marocco said. "Not only does it appear that the DPC administration failed to achieve this basic need for Mr. Hudson, but it seems likely that the administration of DPC took steps to cover up the assault on Mr. Hudson."

Delaware State Senate panel releases bill on sexual abuse suits

While the first apparent target of this bill are wayward priests, the fact that others such as wayward psychiatrists would also be covered under this proposed change in the law is a very good thing. we cite the recent case in California of the infamous psychiatrist Dr. William Ayers as an example where there are many potential victims who are outside the statute of limitations there. As reported in the Daily Times

After a five-hour hearing Tuesday in which the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington warned of possible ministry cutbacks and an industry representative warned of the potential for higher-cost or nonexistent insurance coverage, the House Judiciary Committee voted 5-0 to release a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases.

In all, the committee heard eight hours of comment on the bill, including a three-hour hearing May 10.

S.B. 29, sponsored by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, has far-reaching implications for victims of child sexual abuse, most of whom have been unable to sue their abusers because of Delaware's two-year statute of limitations. Many sexual abuse victims require decades before they come to terms with the offense enough to tell anyone, and some never do, experts say.

In addition to eliminating the two-year time limit, the bill would provide a two-year window during which claims previously barred by the statute could be filed. Institutions that allowed the abuse to occur through gross negligence also could be sued.

Catholic pastor in favor

The Rev. Richard Reissmann, pastor of St. John the Baptist-Holy Angels parish in Newark and a Diocese of Wilmington priest for 44 years, urged lawmakers to pass the bill unamended to correct a statute of limitations he says is "unjust." Reissmann has been an advocate for victims for years.

"We must give the courageous ones the opportunity to make their case," he said. "If we as a society place money, power or privilege as superseding justice, then we are a society that has become tepid, weak and immoral."

Wilmington dentist Dr. Tom Conaty urged lawmakers to pass the bill unamended.

"The 150,000 Delawareans whose lives have been ruined by these reprehensible criminals have had enough," Conaty said. "Don't let another year go by without bringing them to justice."

Steven Abrams, 43, traveled from Los Angeles to support the bill, saying California's decision to allow previously barred cases enabled him to sue a psychiatrist he says sexually abused him as a boy.

His case prompted dozens of other alleged victims of the doctor to come forward with claims of abuse that stretched back almost 40 years, and law enforcement officials found enough recent evidence of continuing abuse to arrest the 75-year-old man.

"I came to Delaware in the hope that you will pass the same kind of legislation so predators can be exposed and kids will be healed," Abrams said.

A $41 million jury verdict last month against a Norbertine priest accused of abusing a former Archmere Academy student during the 1980s has church officials and leaders of some nonprofit organizations concerned about opening court doors to previously barred cases.

Anthony Flynn, attorney for the Diocese of Wilmington, said the diocese supports a change to the statute of limitations -- perhaps 25 years after a person turns 18, or perhaps allowing suits against cases that date to 1987, consistent with Delaware's criminal statute.

"The diocese is looking for some recognition of the legal and practical problems of simply eliminating the statute of limitations," he said.

Impact on diocese

The diocese would feel the greatest impact of the bill, Flynn said, and in light of the $41 million verdict it expects the bill to produce more lawsuits and fewer settlements. That would cut into ministries.

"The Diocese of Wilmington has an obligation to those victimized by clergy to help them heal," he said. "If that is a significant financial burden on the diocese, so be it. ... But the impact on ministry is undisputable."

George Krupanski, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware, said any organization that knowingly allowed abuse to occur should be shut down. But, he said, records do not exist that would enable his organization to investigate or defend itself against allegations of incidents that might have occurred decades ago. He urged limits to the retroactive part of the bill.

Matthew C. Doyle, commercial marketing executive for the Zutz Group insurance firm, said only a handful of insurers will write supplemental coverage for sexual abuse and molestation liability in Delaware. He predicted that such coverage would be prohibitively expensive for some groups, and some organizations catering to youth and children would be forced to shut down for lack of insurance.