D.C. Police Failed To Notify Family of Relative in Hospital

An ambulance worker told police that Morris had a severe case of diabetes, the report says. Officers were unsure what led to his injuries. Morris was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition.

Four detectives were notified of the incident, the report states. The report identified the man with the head injury as Richard Morris but listed an invalid address.

Family members searched for weeks, coming up empty on phone calls to hospitals, jails and the morgue. Another daughter, Carlita Morris, said she had asked officials at George Washington University Hospital if a man named Richard Morris was there, or if a man who might have had a stroke and could not speak was a patient. She was told that no such person was admitted.

A spokeswoman for George Washington University Hospital declined to comment, citing privacy laws.

The family finally turned to Barry. On April 9, Barry's staff started an e-mail chain that ran to Lanier and Cmdr. Joel Maupin, head of the 7th Police District. Hours later, police said they had found Morris at the hospital, where he had been all along.

From the start, Morris's prognosis was poor. Chayan Chakraborti, one of Morris's hospital doctors, wrote in a report that Morris had "suffered a traumatic head injury" that left him unable to communicate, make decisions or swallow food or liquid.

In late April, the family moved him to Washington Nursing Facility in Southeast, where he continued to deteriorate and later died.

The case highlights continuing problems with procedures to notify families of dead or injured people. In April, the body of Jeremy Miller, 35, a computer technician from Spotsylvania, lay unclaimed at the medical examiner's office for two days after he suffered a fatal seizure on a Northeast street. His parents learned of his death when contacted by a Washington Post reporter.

Police also failed to inform the family of Marvin Leftwich Jr., 53, that his body was found May 27 in his Northwest home. Relatives learned of the death three days later from one of his neighbors.

Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he felt deeply about the "very regrettable grief" the Morris family must have suffered. "A citizen shouldn't have to resort to contacting council members to find out what happened," he said.

Mendelson said he expected much better, particularly since the city promised to make reforms in emergency response after the case involving journalist David Rosenbaum in 2006. Rosenbaum, 63, died of a brain injury two days after a mugging. D.C. firefighters and emergency medical workers failed to notice a severe head wound that had been inflicted with a metal pipe, and they treated him as a drunk, investigations found.

Lanier acknowledged in an interview that internal affairs investigators have launched a probe into the Morris matter but declined to comment on the facts of the case because it remains pending.

Lanier said she will not accept "sloppy police work." She said that since she became chief in 2006, her office sends quarterly memos telling officers how to handle reports of injured people taken to hospitals.

"What I tell my officers is, everybody should matter, as if it was one of their family members," Lanier said.