Trial Begins In Lawsuit Over Drug Tampering

Small cameras hidden in a clock radio and an air purifier helped a North Stonington woman nab the worker responsible for stealing and tampering with her daughter's medication in a Westbrook home for the mentally disabled.

The worker, an employee of Vista Vocational & Life Skills Center, was fired, prosecuted and sent to prison in 2007 for two years.

Now the employee's transgression is surfacing again, this time in a civil courtroom where Vista is defending itself against a lawsuit filed by Jane and John Couto on behalf of their daughter, Melissa.

The lawsuit says Melissa Couto suffered "serious and severe consequences and damages" as a result of being deprived of her proper medication. The Coutos charge that the damages were caused by Vista's "negligence and carelessness" in failing both to supervise the proper administration of their daughter's medication and to investigate why her behavior changed.

Vista has insisted that it did nothing wrong and has vowed to fight the civil suit.

The lawsuit also accuses the facility of failing to supervise personnel, failing to hire "a sufficient number of competent, qualified personnel," and hiring "incompetent and unqualified persons."

Jane Couto sent her severely mentally disabled daughter to Vista in 2005 so she could learn life skills and get vocational training and counseling. Throughout her stay, Melissa Couto would need the medication Focalin, a stimulant, that prevented her from becoming lethargic and depressed.

At first, Melissa Couto seemed to do well at Vista. In January 2006, however, the Coutos noticed their daughter was becoming so tired that it was difficult for her to stay awake and alert. They wondered why medication that was once effective was no longer helping the young woman's fatigue and depression.

Then one day when Melissa Couto was visiting at home, sunlight shining through a window revealed that a capsule of medicine for Melissa was nearly empty. It appeared that someone at Vista was tampering with her medication.

With the help of her younger daughter, Ashley, Jane Couto hid small cameras inside Melissa's room at Vista. When the tape showed someone was entering Melissa Couto's room in the middle of the night and stealing her medicine, the Coutos called police.