Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog
In national news, our Maryland-based nursing home abuse lawyers have been reading about a recent lawsuit filed against the operators and four former aides of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society Home in Albert Lea, Minnesota, where nursing home residents were reportedly subjected to a five month pattern of nursing home abuse that involved verbal, sexual and emotional abuse.
According to the Star Tribune, the four former nursing assistants are facing criminal charges for the alleged nursing home abuse of up to fifteen Alzheimer’s and dementia patients in 2008. This lawsuit comes in addition to criminal charges that have already been filed in the case in Freeborn County Court. The incidents reportedly surfaced in May of 2008, and became public after the release of a report from the Minnesota Department of Health that concluded that the four nursing aides who were teenagers at the time were involved in nursing home abuse and neglect.
The former nursing aides, Ashton Larson and Brianna Broitzman, Alicia Heilmann and Kaylee Nash are being accused of abusing residents, by entering their rooms and locking the doors in order to sexually grope and poke at the breasts, genitals and rectums of the residents, spit in residents’ mouths, and simulate sexual activity with residents, among other charges. The suit also accuses the former nursing assistants of video taping the sexual acts and battery and laughing while the frail and vulnerable adults are screaming from the abuse. Broitzman and Larson are scheduled for trial later this year on a total of 21 criminal charges.
In the lawsuit, the nurses are being accused of civil assault and battery, causing emotional distress, and failure to report the unlawful treatment of the residents. Good Samaritan is being accused of failing to protect the elderly residents from abuse and negligence in management and supervision of the nursing aides. The suit states that Good Samaritan owed a duty to the residents to protect them from abuse and neglect, to ensure that the nursing staff were properly supervised and train to care for the needs of vulnerable adults and residents in the nursing home.
Under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, all residents living in nursing homes are entitled to receive quality care and attention in an environment that improves and maintains the quality of their mental and physical health. It is a violation of State and Federal law for any person including nursing staff, visitors, family members or guardians to neglect or abuse a resident. Nursing homes are required by federal law to perform regular monitoring and intervention strategies to maintain the protection of residents and prevent neglect and abuse. Violation of these laws may prompt families to stand up for resident’s rights, and file abuse and negligent lawsuits against nursing home facilities.
At Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, we represent nursing home and neglect victims and their families in Maryland and the Washington D.C. area who wish to recover personal injury compensation from a facility that has caused harm and suffering to an elderly or sick person during their stay. Contact us today.
Albert Lea Nursing Home, Aides Face Abuse Lawsuit, Star Tribune, January 25, 2010
Lawsuit Filed Against Nursing Home & Former Aides, KIMT.com, January 26, 2010
Lawsuit Filed Against Good Sam, Albert Lea Tribune, January 26, 2010
Lawsuit Filed in Albert Lea Nursing Home Abuse, Fox9.com, January 26, 2010
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