Diagnoses Differ Regarding Doctor

* Thank you for the Aug. 2 article about Dr. William Cable, chief of the medical staff at Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa.

He is a remarkable man and an exceptional physician to stand up and fight for what he believes to be the right thing for his patients and their families. He is a shining example of personal and professional integrity. What he is doing is so important. It’s too often true today that the bottom line in our hospitals has become money instead of caring for people.

Dr. Cable has not lost his perspective. It takes a man of strength and courage to persist in an adverse situation such as this. He is to be commended and supported and enabled to continue his work and care for his patients properly.

JANET KING

Irvine

* Re “O.C. Doctor to the Disabled Painted as Hero, Villain,” Aug. 2:

I am the conservator for a young adult who lives at Fairview Developmental Center. Although severely disabled, he has indicated that he would like to move into the community, and we are proceeding cautiously in that direction.

Dr. William Cable’s lawsuit has drawn attention to the deinstitutionalization movement in California. However, his perception that “if the community setting doesn’t work, then don’t place anyone there” primarily serves to maintain the status quo, institutionalization, without attempting to correct things so that less restrictive settings will work.

Many disability advocates, including myself, focus on developing those services and supports necessary for people with disabilities to live in the community. Our recommendations include:

* Higher wages for group home staff, comparable to the developmental centers, to ensure better stability and less staff turnover.

* Improving statewide standards for group home staff training comparable to those required of developmental center staff.

* Improving the availability and access to medical care in the community, particularly the ability of managed care programs to accept and treat persons with severe and multiple disabilities without the discrimination and red tape that seems to accompany such cases.

* Improving the quality-assurance responsibilities of regional centers, the state Department of Health Services and the state Department of Social Services, so that group homes are monitored more frequently and the substandard ones receive quick disciplinary action.

Cable is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Deinstitutionalization is not inherently bad; its implementation has been poor because the provision of community services and support is weak.

The solution to the problems of deinstitutionalization is not to stop doing it. The solution is to provide appropriate, individualized and readily accessible community services and supports.

BARBARA BROMLEY

Associate professor

Cal Poly Pomona