Nursing Home Abuse

Two Charged with Elder Abuse after Videotaping the Abuse

May 20, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, police caught up with two employees of the Emeritus at Farm Pond in Framingham, Massachusetts, who had videotaped themselves abusing elderly residents in the nursing facility. According to a report by a local news affiliate, one of the employees had several videos on her phone detailing a number of abusive situations including:

One video of a female employee hitting a 78-year-old Alzheimer’s patient on the arms, flicking her ears, and then pinching her nose closed. Once the woman was let go, the employee wiped mucus from the patient’s nose and rubbed it on her mouth.

Another video shows a male employee taking a boxing stance opposite a 71-year-old Alzheimer’s patient, slapping the patient as he tried to defend himself. When the man turned away to escape the assault, the employee slapped the man on the buttocks, nearly knocking him over.

There were also photos of partially nude residents on the female employee’s phone.

In an interview with investigators, the female employee claimed that the attacks were a poor attempt at humor, indicating no ill-will towards the patients. The male employee claimed that his behavior was necessary to get the man back into the room which he was supposed to be in. He did not comment when asked if he thought that there was a better way of handling the situation.

Both employees have been fired from the nursing facility and are facing criminal charges of assault and battery against an elderly person. The female employee is also facing charges of unauthorized nude photography.

Seventeen Employees of Michigan Nursing Home Facing Charges for Patient Abuse

May 13, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Seventeen employees of the Highpointe nursing facility have been accused of patient abuse and will be facing charges filed by the State’s Attorney General. According to a report by BuffaloNews.com, the employees are all facing felony charges for alleged abuse committed against patients. Highpointe is owned and operated by a larger corporation, Kalieda Health, which owns several nursing home facilities.

Highpointe is a 300-bed facility that cost $64 million to build back in 2011, when it first opened. In the most recent report, the nursing home was operating at 97% occupancy (April).

Over the past few years, Highpointe has had a higher-than-average complaint ratio, averaging 44.8 per 100 residents. The average is closer to 34 per 100 residents. The nursing home also had more citations issued after inspection than comparable nursing homes. For instance, in 2014, the citation ration was 6.6 per 100 occupied beds, which was almost three times the rate for other nursing homes in the area.

Maryland Nurse Convicted of Sexual Abuse Against Pregnant Patient

April 9, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In truly disturbing news out of Ohio earlier this week, a Maryland man was convicted of abusing a patient after having unwanted sexual contact with a pregnant patient. He plead guilty to the charge and is now serving his sentence of 11 to 60 days in jail and 2 years of probation. He will also be forced to register as a sex offender for 15 years. According to a report by the Baltimore Sun, the man was a nurse in Ohio but was found and arrested in Maryland. He is serving time in an Ohio jail for the offense.

The man had a record of assaulting patients in Ohio. Back in 2012, at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, he was accused of touching the breast of a woman during her delivery. He also forced her to touch his penis over his pants.

In the most recent case, the man initially plead not guilty to more serious charges, but accepted a plea bargain. He does not have any patient complaints, nor a criminal record, here in Maryland. It is unclear if the man was working as a nurse after the incident but before his arrest.

Nursing Home Employee Facing Assault Charges for the Abuse of a Resident

April 2, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Pennsylvania, a nursing home employee was charged with the assault of an elderly patient for whom she was in charge of caring for. According to a report by a local news agency, the nursing home employee was employed by Guardian Elder Care Center.

The court documents indicate that the patient got into a fight with the nursing aide, and the aide eventually covered her face with a pillow, took some of her belongings, and the left her room. The aide responded that the patient was scratching and biting her, and she held down the patient to prevent injury to herself. She denies covering the patient’s face with a pillow.

The elderly patient, who suffers from dementia, did not suffer permanent injury although she was traumatized by the incident. Other patients in the nursing home have expressed their surprise that the aide lashed out the way she did, explaining “I’m shocked. I didn’t think she was, I didn’t think she was that type. She didn’t look like the mean type.”

Indiana Nurse Prosecuted for Death of Elderly Nursing Home Resident

February 10, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A former nurse is on trial for her role in the death of a 77-year-old nursing home resident that occurred last December. According to a story by WCPO Cincinnati, a witness who was at the nursing home visiting her mother witnessed the abuse that led to the patient’s death.

Apparently, during the woman’s visit with her mother, she witnessed the nurse “yelling at the patient, physically trying to move her from the walker in a pretty violent matter.” Later, the patient lost consciousness in the bathroom, and within 15 minutes she was dead.

About one week later, once allegations of wrongdoing came to light, the nurse was fired by the nursing home facility. In a public statement, the nursing home explained that, “[t]he facility is fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation and will continue to remain committed to providing quality care to the residents on a daily basis.”

The nurse will go to trial later this year and is facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

D.C. Court of Appeals Examines Meaning of Reckless Indifference in Criminal Neglect of Vulnerable Adult Appeal

November 25, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The D.C. Court of Appeals decided earlier this year in the appeal of a certified nursing assistant who was convicted of criminal neglect of a vulnerable adult.

The case, TARPEH v. US, 62 A. 3d 1266 – D.C. Ct. App (2013), centers on a discussion of what it means to be criminally reckless, as to meet the standard required to convict someone of criminal neglect of a vulnerable adult.

In Tarpeh, the appellant was a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), and was assigned the atypical task of transporting a patient, whose residence unit she did not typically work within, to a dental appointment in the D.C. area, an area in which she had never been. The result was essentially a disaster.

Abuse of 86 Year Old Alzheimer’s Patient Suspected in Alleged “Fall” Case

November 12, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Missouri family believes that their 86 year old mother with Alzheimer’s was abused in a nursing home where she was living.

The nursing home initially called the family to inform them that the woman had fallen in her bedroom. Her daughter reports that her mother’s eye was swollen shut, following what the home stated was a bad fall. The family members did not believe that a fall could have caused the injuries.

The woman’s daughter stated that the pictures from the hospital show her mother suffered a broken nose, broken cheekbones and bruising to her eye, and that she believes someone assaulted her mother, on at least one occasion. The family reportedly received conflicting stories regarding how their mother allegedly fell.

Nursing Assistant Convicted of Abusing 89 Year Old Nursing Home Patient

October 25, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Delaware jury recently convicted a certified nursing assistant of abusing an 89 year old woman at a local nursing home. The specific charges were patient abuse and mistreatment of an impaired adult, stemming from an incident where the assistant allegedly placed a trash bag over the elderly woman’s head as she sat in her wheelchair last February. The victim, who suffered from severe dementia, was not injured.

She was additionally ordered to stay away from any facility providing care for the elderly during the course of her six month probation period. Additionally, following notification of the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services, the agency can further bar the woman from working in a facility that receives federal health care funds for a minimum of five years.
While this incident reportedly took place in Delaware, it could just as easily have happened in Maryland, or any other state. Nursing home abuse is far more common than we would like to believe. Sometimes, as in this case, the victim isn’t physically harmed, but the true ramifications of the abuse may never be known. Additionally, what is further troubling about this case in particular is that there is no guarantee, nor in fact any legal barrier, that will ensure that this woman is prevented from resuming as a certified nursing assistant in another nursing home once her six month probation term comes to an end.

Adult Care Home Owner Faces Numerous State Criminal Charges

October 10, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Florida, the owner of an adult care home was charged in regards to multiple allegations related to the mistreatment of residents, which included such things as abusing residents, failure to provide an adequate number of beds, restraining a resident with handcuffs, and other crimes.

According to a statement from the Florida Attorney General, the formal charges against the woman included neglect of a disabled adult, false imprisonment, aggravated abuse and exploitation.

Authorities allege that the owner failed to provide medical services for at least one resident’s wounds, did not provide an adequate number of beds for residents of the home, restrained at least one disabled adult with handcuffs, abused at least one disabled adult causing wounds on her wrists and permanent disfigurement, and additionally failed to pay at least two disabled adult residents their required monthly personal needs allowance. According to the Attorney General’s statement, the woman is facing up to 60 years in prison and $40,000 in fines.

Arraignment in Nursing Home Abuse Case

October 4, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to the Attorney General in New York, a nurse’s aide was arrested recently based on allegations that she physically and mentally abused an elderly woman under her care in a nursing home.

The aide was charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, two counts of willful violation of health laws, and one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person or an incompetent or physically disabled person.

According to reports, the aide led the patient to her room in August, where the patient then became difficult, and hit the aide in the face. The aide allegedly then grabbed the woman by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her head, causing her wrist to fracture. The aide additionally allegedly hit the woman in the face with the woman’s own hand, and then with a pair of urine soaked undergarments.