NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
Officials have announced a leadership change at the state mental hospital at the center of a series of Channel 4 I-Team investigations.
Candace Gilligan, the CEO of Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute, has resigned, the state announced Thursday.
The I-Team uncovered a number of problems inside the institution, including unsupervised patients who died at the hospital, patients escaping and employees sleeping on duty.
The state is not saying why Gilligan resigned. A spokesman would only say it came after discussions between Gilligan and Doug Varney, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health.
I-Team reporter Kimberly Curth asked Varney this week what is being done to make sure employees aren't sleeping on the job.
"Anytime we have had concerns about employees not being diligent for their duty, we act on that, and, again, we did in those cases too," Varney said.
Varney said after patient Cody Skelton died at MTMHI, the department ordered two outside independent reviews.
And while multiple employees were fired, he said the auditors determined, "there were not any major findings or areas of concern."
Curth asked how Varney would respond to patients' families who say their loved ones are not safe in the institute.
"I think we do an amazingly good job. Does that mean we're perfect? No. Does that mean we fail? We're dealing with very difficult cases," Varney said.
Varney did not mention in his interview that Gilligan planned to resign, so we didn't get to ask him about that.
He did say in a prepared statement Thursday:
"I appreciate all the hard work and dedicated service shown by Candace Gilligan during her three-plus years as CEO of MTMHI and nearly 10 years working with this department."
The I-Team has asked for a copy of her resignation letter, but it is unclear if it will elaborate on why she resigned.
Bob Micinski will now serve as interim CEO. Micinski most recently worked for the Department of Mental Health in East Tennessee.
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