The state has delayed closing the Virks Building at Eleanor Slater Hospital, in response to a suit by the state mental health advocate.

The advocate, H. Reed Cosper, alleges that the state has been moving elderly, mentally ill patients into an inappropriate setting where they can’t get adequate treatment and supervision. He called it “patient abuse” and a violation of the state Mental Health Law.

But Ellen R. Nelson, director of the state Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, said she is as concerned as Cosper about patients’ well-being and that “running to court” was counterproductive.

“We’re on the same side of the issue here,” Nelson said. “We’re trying to make sure we have adequate facilities and clinical care and medical care for all patients, and do that with a facility that’s less than ideal.”

Only nine people remain at Virks, which until recently had 50 patients. For more than a year, the state has been gradually moving patients to nursing homes or other buildings in the state-run hospital, which has campuses in Cranston and Burrillville. Some of the patients had lived for decades at Virks, which is in Cranston.

The state agreed to temporarily stop those discharges after a hearing in Superior Court on April 11, according to Cosper. The two sides met in a status conference at Superior Court yesterday, and now plan to hire an expert to try to reach agreement about the patients’ care, Cosper said.

Virks specializes in elderly, mentally ill patients who cannot live in nursing homes because of combative, inappropriate or dangerous behaviors. But the building is decades old, and located apart from other hospital buildings. Food has to be trucked in and patients needing medical care have to be transported in ambulances to other parts of the hospital. Nelson wants to consolidate hospital services in and near the six-story Regan Building, in Cranston.

Recently, the fourth floor of Regan received designation as a “mental health facility” by the state Division of Mental Health. That means that the unit meets standards for the housing of mental patients who have been involuntarily committed. The state wants to move the rest of the Virks patients to Regan 4, which has 28 beds and currently 18 patients.

Cosper said he will take his suit to trial unless the state can convince him that Regan 4 will not be more restrictive or less safe than Virks. He also is seeking a promise from the state to accept elderly mentally ill patients who have failed in nursing homes. And he said he would oppose housing more than 24 patients in Regan 4.

“I anticipate we can reach agreement,” Cosper said. “Or else we’ll have a hearing. There are issues that are non-compromisable.”

Nelson said she learned about Cosper’s suit from a reporter, and until then had not heard of his objections. “He couldn’t have a more cooperative director than me. I take his phone calls any time. I meet with him any time. I always listen to his point of view,” she said. “… If you can’t go with cooperation and collaboration first as an approach, it’s counterproductive in the long run. We’re hopeful that we can settle this thing soon.”

ffreyer@projo.com