Report clears Massachusetts hospital after stabbing rampage

July 19, 2016 9:33 am

By: Rebecca Turco

With contributions by The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

TAUNTON, Mass. — A Massachusetts hospital and a contracted mental health worker have been cleared of wrongdoing for the way they treated an apparently suicidal man who hours after he was discharged went on a rampage that left two people dead.

The multi-agency report released Monday by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) found that a licensed social worker contracted by Morton Hospital who evaluated 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa was "thorough and comprehensive."

The report didn’t identify DaRosa by name.

DaRosa went to the hospital on May 9 and was discharged the next morning.

Authorities say he fatally stabbed an 80-year-old woman in her home and a 56-year-old teacher having dinner with his wife in a Silver City Galleria mall restaurant in Taunton.

DaRosa was fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy.

DaRosa’s next-door neighbor, Tom Schoener, is in disbelief by the report’s findings. "Somebody dropped the ball," he told ABC6 News. "How can [the hospital] be cleared when you say, oh he’s okay, and then a short while thereafter there are dead people."

An EOHHS spokesperson released a statement, saying in part: "Upon review, it was determined that the intervention provided by both Morton Hospital and the ESP (Emergency Services Program were appropriate…We realize that this report does not diminish the pain of those who lost loved ones."