CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolinas Medical Center will review how it handled the treatment of a man who sought help at the hospital just hours before he killed three family members.
The probe, announced by county commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts, came as relatives, other county officials and mental health advocates said authorities should take a closer look at the case.
On Tuesday, commissioners met behind closed doors to discuss how the hospital - run by Carolinas HealthCare System - handles patients who show up threatening to hurt themselves or somebody else.
It was unclear Tuesday night how closely commissioners examined the case of Kenny Chapman, a package handler who twice sought help at the hospital but still went on to kill his wife, two daughters and himself.
Roberts told the Observer of the review after Tuesday's meeting.
Scott White, a spokesman for the hospital system, could not be reached Tuesday.
Shortly after 2 a.m. on March 16, Chapman went to Mecklenburg's mental health center and wrote in a questionnaire that he was thinking of killing his wife. Around 6 a.m., he was given medication for anxiety and depression and released.
Later that day, police say, Chapman killed his wife, teenage stepdaughter and toddler.
"He was aware that he was unstable and that was a cry for help, which nobody recognized - not even the professionals," Chapman's stepfather, James Cosby, said Tuesday.
Authorities "need to re-evaluate the situation," he said earlier Tuesday.
The Observer detailed in a Sunday article Chapman's attempts to get help at Carolinas Medical Center-Randolph on Billingsley Road, where he told staff he was having thoughts about hurting - even killing - his wife.
Police say Chapman killed his wife, Nateesha, and daughtersNa'Jhae, 13, and Nakyiah, 1, on the same day of his second visit to the hospital. CMC provides mental health services under a $16 million contract with the county.
Area Mental Health Director Grayce Crockett met with commissioners Tuesday but would not talk publicly about the Chapman case because of confidentiality laws.
Generally, she said, the county - and possibly the state - investigates cases in which a person who has been treated at the hospital goes on to harm himself or somebody else. She said the county could also investigate whether protected health information has been released, and try to identify the source of that information.
But the public isn't likely to learn the results of such investigations, because Crockett says officials consider the information private. Roberts said Tuesday night that commissioners could get information about the case, but she wasn't sure how much they could disclose to the public.
Last week, Crockett told the Observer: "It is very difficult to determine imminent risk with someone ... (and) whether or not they will take action on thoughts or feelings that they have."
She also said the county has "expectations of our providers that they provide competent and quality services."
Records show that during Chapman's second hospital visit, he told staff that he could refrain from harming anyone.
Independent mental health advocates also have raised questions about what happened in Chapman's case.
The fact that Chapman appears to have gone to the hospital on the day of the killings is "quite alarming," says Ellis Fields, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Central Carolinas.
"You just wonder what went wrong in the system, and that's just something that the system will have to address," Fields said.
Commissioner Bill James said he wants some answers.
"Given the severity of this and the fact that it's so closely tied to the question of whether someone got adequate treatment, I think we should know whether the mental health authority that has this contract did the right thing," James said.
Commissioner George Dunlap said earlier Tuesday that he was hesitant to call for an investigation into the Chapman case.
"Certainly I think that if the family feels that he was misdiagnosed and their loved ones died as a result of that, they can take the legal action," Dunlap said.
"I'm not one for digging into stuff just to know."
