Federal Regulators Reviewing North Carolina Mental Hospital

A review team is looking into operations at a North Carolina mental hospital where a patient died in April after he was left unattended in a chair for 22 hours.

A team of state employees working on behalf of the federal government was sent to Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday the hospital also had complaints that another patient was beaten by employees and yet another patient fell down a laundry chute.

Federal officials threatened to withdraw insurance reimbursements for the hospital after the April death. Officials said the patient choked on his medication and died after staff members played cards and watched television as he sat unattended.

State official Jeff Horton said reviewers are “going to look at everything.”