Romney appointing panel to help DSS improve service

Governor Mitt Romney, saying that the Department of Social Services made ''errors in judgment" in the case of 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre, announced yesterday that he will appoint an independent panel to review the case and help improve how the state cares for children.

With Haleigh, a Westfield girl allegedly beaten into a coma by her adoptive mother and stepfather, reportedly showing signs of improvement, Romney cited what he said were two errors by the state and others involved in her case: concluding her injuries were self-induced, and determining she was in a permanent vegetative state and should be taken off life support.

''My heart goes out to her, and now I ask the question: What could have been done better to help her and protect her?" Romney told reporters at a news conference outside his office, his first substantive comments on the high-profile case. ''She was not someone who fell through the cracks. Doctors and social workers were watching, but errors in judgment were made."

Romney said he read Haleigh's DSS case file Sunday and that even as a ''nonprofessional" it was clear to him better decisions could have been made. He wouldn't elaborate.

Romney's call for an investigation came as DSS said it was convening outside medical specialists to assess Haleigh's condition, and House lawmakers plan their own probe of the agency's handling of the case. Romney said he expected to appoint his panel by the end of the week, and that he wanted recommendations within 30 days.

Despite the apparent missteps by DSS, Romney said, he has confidence in the agency's commissioner, Harry Spence, calling him ''a good man with a big heart."

Spence, appointed by former acting governor Jane M. Swift in 2001, issued a statement yesterday saying he looked forward to the scrutiny.

''We welcome the opportunity to obtain any expert review of one of the most complex and confounding cases that the department has encountered," he said. ''We believe there will be immense learning value for all involved in the case and for the many concerned observers of the department's performance."

DSS has custody of about 10,000 children, all of whom suffered abuse or neglect by parents or guardians.

Haleigh's case has drawn the attention of groups such as the Massachusetts Family Institute, whose president, Kris Mineau, said yesterday that his organization would have tried to block any decision by the state to end life support for Haleigh.

''We were ready to take them on on this decision," he said. ''We're so grateful that she's showing some positive signs now, so that everybody has stepped back from this situation, from the brink of this thing."

End-of-life cases -- the best-known in recent years being that of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman who died last year -- are watched carefully by conservatives around the country. Romney's involvement in Haleigh's case could come under close scrutiny if he seeks the Republican nomination for president in 2008.

Haleigh has been in an intensive care unit at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for more than four months in what doctors had deemed a ''persistent vegetative state." She was hospitalized on Sept. 11 and DSS sought a court order to remove life support as early as eight days later. (DSS has declined to say exactly when they sought the order, acknowledging only that it was before Sept. 30. But Jack Egan, an attorney for the stepfather, Jason Strickland, said he has documentation showing that DSS asked to remove Haleigh's life support Sept. 19.)

The request by DSS was approved Oct. 5 by Juvenile Court Judge James G. Collins. Strickland, who faces assault charges but could be charged with murder if Haleigh dies, appealed that ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld it last week.

But the case has grown more complicated since the SJC decision last Tuesday. The next day, DSS, citing reports from doctors, said Haleigh could be emerging from what was thought to be a hopeless condition, and that the agency had no plans to remove her feeding tube.

A panel of medical specialists will begin tests this week to determine Haleigh's condition, Denise Monteiro, a DSS spokeswoman, said yesterday.

Monteiro declined to give specifics but said the panel would include four or five specialists from areas such as neurology and biomedical ethics. She said the agency sought new tests after becoming concerned that its original medical information was ''not really accurate."

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, meanwhile, will meet tomorrow with the chairman of the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee to plan a House investigation into the case, said DiMasi spokeswoman Kimberly Haberlin. Unlike the governor's panel, the legislative committee has subpoena power.

''This investigation must be independent, it must be thorough, it must be done quickly," Haberlin said.

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com; Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com.