Report: ‘Troubling’ woes at 17 labs
An outside review of 17 state labs in the same Jamaica Plain building that housed the scandal-plagued drug lab found they are riddled with their own oversight problems, raising questions about the embattled Department of Public Health’s ability to ensure yet another Annie Dookhan-like fiasco isn’t looming.
While a top DPH official defended the labs, Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr. (D-Clinton), co-chairman of the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee, called the report’s findings “troubling,” raising concerns that management problems at the drug lab “may be indicative of management throughout the other (state) labs.”
More than 200 drug defendants and convicts have been released since state police reported that drug test findings had apparently been fabricated — possibly jeopardizing up to 34,000 cases. Naughton said he is concerned about whether other scandals may yet emerge from other labs.
“I don’t think the question has been fully answered, and I think the report will fuel the questions more,” Naughton said.
The Association of Public Health Laboratories report, obtained by the Herald, makes 18 recommendations for the Hinton State Laboratory, where 17 labs test for mosquito-borne illnesses, rabies and other infectious diseases, among other things.
The report found the facility generally maintains “good laboratory practice.” But it notes that the labs face “threats,” including:
• A top-heavy leadership structure without enough quality assurance training;
• A “perceived lack” of communication between lower-level workers and upper management;
• An inconsistent employee performance review system that is “at worst, simply not applied in any meaningful way at all.”
Larry Madoff, the interim director of the Hinton facility, told the Herald the report “on balance” found no “major uncorrectable issues.” Since the state received the final report Dec. 6, he said officials have taken steps to implement changes, including posting jobs for two new officers dedicated solely to quality assurance and safety. Unlike the drug lab — now under state police control — he said the other 17 labs are accredited by a variety of agencies and subject to “rigorous” inspections.
“I have complete confidence in the public health labs,” Madoff said. “We have certainly taken this (report) to heart. I think the cloud that the drug lab has left really has made us redouble our efforts to ensure the quality of the labs.”
Departing Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby testified in November before Beacon Hill committees investigating the drug lab scandal, and cited the report and other reviews by federal agencies, saying they found “no major deficiencies.”
Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick), chairman of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, countered, “Any deficiency in quality assurance is a major deficiency. The public is owed a public health laboratory with no deficiencies.”
More than 200 drug defendants and convicts have been released since state police reported that drug test findings had apparently been fabricated — possibly jeopardizing up to 34,000 cases. Naughton said he is concerned about whether other scandals may yet emerge from other labs.
“I don’t think the question has been fully answered, and I think the report will fuel the questions more,” Naughton said.
The Association of Public Health Laboratories report, obtained by the Herald, makes 18 recommendations for the Hinton State Laboratory, where 17 labs test for mosquito-borne illnesses, rabies and other infectious diseases, among other things.
The report found the facility generally maintains “good laboratory practice.” But it notes that the labs face “threats,” including:
• A top-heavy leadership structure without enough quality assurance training;
• A “perceived lack” of communication between lower-level workers and upper management;
• An inconsistent employee performance review system that is “at worst, simply not applied in any meaningful way at all.”
Larry Madoff, the interim director of the Hinton facility, told the Herald the report “on balance” found no “major uncorrectable issues.” Since the state received the final report Dec. 6, he said officials have taken steps to implement changes, including posting jobs for two new officers dedicated solely to quality assurance and safety. Unlike the drug lab — now under state police control — he said the other 17 labs are accredited by a variety of agencies and subject to “rigorous” inspections.
“I have complete confidence in the public health labs,” Madoff said. “We have certainly taken this (report) to heart. I think the cloud that the drug lab has left really has made us redouble our efforts to ensure the quality of the labs.”
Departing Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby testified in November before Beacon Hill committees investigating the drug lab scandal, and cited the report and other reviews by federal agencies, saying they found “no major deficiencies.”
Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick), chairman of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, countered, “Any deficiency in quality assurance is a major deficiency. The public is owed a public health laboratory with no deficiencies.”
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