REPORT FAULTS STATE AFTER 2 DIE IN HOME FOR MENTALLY ILL.(Local)

Byline: Associated Press

A watchdog group on Wednesday criticized state and local social service agencies for a "total system breakdown" linked to the death of two patients in an illegally run adult home for the mentally ill.

Patients in the Suffolk County home lived under deplorable conditions and their complaints went unanswered, said the state Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled. One patient died of tuberculosis and another of pneumonia after being hospitalized for hypothermia, the commission said.

The state Department of Social Services knew for more than five years before the 1989 deaths that the home's operator took care of …