South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

KansasCity.com had an article reporting the guilty plea of one of two women accused of physically and sexually humiliating nursing home residents for months in Albert Lea, Minn., to three of the charges against her in a case that has heightened attention to how aides are chosen and supervised.  Brianna Broitzman was an aide at Good Samaritan, the nursing home that was the focus of state investigations and widespread publicity about the case in early 2008.  Her guilty plea covers gross-misdemeanor disorderly conduct involving three victims.

The charges against Broitzman said she admitted to police that she poked one resident in the breast. The teens who were implicated accused Broitzman of numerous other actions, including spitting in a resident's mouth, jabbing the breasts of several residents and putting "her bare butt" on a resident's face.

According to the complaint against Larson, she admitted to police that she inserted her finger into the rectum of a resident. She said she was trying to trigger a bowel movement but acknowledged that this was not part of her training. The complaint said she also acknowledged getting into bed with a resident and making a humping motion, patting the buttocks of one resident and trying to get another angry and then laughing at her.

The allegations became public in August 2008, when state Health Department inspectors concluded that aides, to make their work "fun," had abused 15 residents suffering from Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The state said some of the residents were combative, easily agitated or blind.

Six aides, high school friends at the time, were charged - Broitzman and Ashton Larson as adults and the four others as juveniles who were found responsible for not reporting the abuse as required by state law. The women were accused of abusing seven residents who suffered from dementia.

Sexual abuse cases in nursing homes during the 1980s and '90s led to laws requiring reports of suspected abuse and criminal background checks of those who work with vulnerable adults.

Broitzman will be sentenced in Freeborn County District Court on Oct. 22.  A presentence investigation recommends that Broitzman spend up to a year in jail, pay a $3,000 fine or spend two years on probation.

The case against Larson, 20, another former aide at the Good Samaritan nursing home, is proceeding toward trial. Broitzman and Larson were charged with fifth-degree assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failing to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors.

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The Jackson Sun News had an incredible story about a nursing home who hired a woman with a long history of fraud and forgery.  Sheila Watson was arrested and charged with one count of identity theft, four counts of criminal simulation, four counts of forgery, one count of criminal impersonation and one count of theft over $1,000.  Watson was the social services director at Bells Nursing Home.  Watson is also an ex-convict who has used at least half a dozen different names in a long history of state and federal fraud, forgery and theft convictions.

The investigation into Watson — who has worked at the nursing home since July — began when the nursing home received a call from a state agency.  The investigation is still ongoing but "They said she did a great job and was a good employee," Klyce said. "We've looked at her computer and couldn't find any evidence at this point."

When the Sheriff's Department began investigating, authorities soon discovered Watson's job application was only the tip of the iceberg, he said:

She had borrowed money from the Bank of Crockett County using false documents. She was wanted in Iowa on charges of theft over $10,000. She was on probation but was using a different name and job description to report to her probation officer.

Watson was arrested as Sheila F. Hayes in November 2002 on federal charges of forgery, theft of property and identity theft, according to The Jackson Sun's archives.

She was accused of stealing mail from 135 victims in West and Middle Tennessee for the purpose of stealing identities and embezzling money. She later pleaded guilty to one count of mail theft and was sentenced to five years in prison and three years' probation.

At the time, the judge said Hayes had the highest criminal history score of any woman he had seen in his 20 years as a judge. The bulk of her prior convictions were for theft and fraud, but she was also convicted of escape from a Metro Nashville jail. Watson had charges stretching back to 1989, most of them in Middle and West Tennessee. She reported to a probation officer in Jackson under the name Sheila Hayes and told them she worked for a construction company.

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The Buffalo News had an article about nursing home employees embezzling money that should have gone to the resident's care.   Mary Blenker is the second employee of the Absolut nursing and rehabilitation complex in Orchard Park to plead guilty to corporate embezzlement.

Blenker admitted to stealing $13,402 from the disbursement funds she managed for the company’s adult living community and its nursing home from January 2007 until 13 months ago.  Blenker pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny and misdemeanor attempted grand larceny for the thefts before a grand jury reviewed her case.

Blenker, a former administrative assistant for financial affairs at the nursing home complex, was forced to sign confessions of judgment and must make complete restitution.

Rhonda Skiver, Absolut’s former chief financial officer, faces sentencing on her Feb. 19 guilty plea to embezzling more than $163,000 between December 2005 and April 2009.

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The Monterey Herald had an article about two more nursing home operators charged with plotting to defraud the Medicare and Medicaid programs of more than $30 million and providing about 300 elderly residents with "worthless and harmful" care.

George and Rhonda Houser, who ran the Forum Healthcare Group, submitted the fraudulent claims from 2004 until the state closed the three nursing homes they operated in 2007. The two pleaded not guilty to the charges.  U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said the married couple used the money "to buy cars and real estate while their nursing home residents went without basic necessities, such as food and medicines." She said the services that did trickle down to the elderly were "so far below Medicare and Medicaid standards that they were worthless and harmful."

The Housers managed two nursing homes in Rome and a third one in Brunswick that housed about 300 elderly residents altogether. Prosecutors say they started pilfering the money in 2004, around the same time they began having problems meeting their payroll.

They failed to repair washing machines, a balky air conditioner and a leaking roof. Pantry stocks were so low that some employees spent their own money — even as their paychecks were bouncing — to buy the residents milk, bread and other staples.  Much of the nursing staff resigned because the Housers were writing bad paychecks. The Housers hired a check-cashing service to cash the employees' paychecks, and in December 2006 prosecutors say George Houser wrote the service a bad check for $120,000.

All the while, prosecutors say, the Housers were using the company's account as their personal piggy bank.  The couple bought a Mercedes-Benz with some of the funds and Rhonda Houser received at least $100,000 in checks or transfers from the account for her personal use. About $1.3 million from the account also went to buy George Houser's ex-wife a home in Atlanta.

George Houser, 62, is charged separately with failing to pay his employees' payroll taxes to the IRS and failing to file personal income tax returns.

"Pure greed being placed above the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens will not be tolerated," said Derrick Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 

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NewsWest9 had an article about the arrest of 47 year old nursing home employee Richard Sanchez.  He works at the Clarendon Community Care Center, where the alleged crime happened. The Donley County sheriff says he does not want to release the age of the reported victim because the case is still under investigation. He expects more charges for Sanchez next week. Sanchez is in the Donley County jail on a $20,000 bond.

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The Norfolk Crime Examiner had an article about a resident who was allegedly sexually assaulted.  Police have arrested George Roosevelt Butts Sr., for the sexual assault of a 79-year-old woman. According to police, an eyewitness reported Butts fondling the woman.

The alleged attack occurred last week at a nursing home in Hampton.

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The Boston Herald had another article about a sexual assault at a nursing home.  Are these nursing homes doing background checks or interviews? Where is the supervision?  Antonio Aburjaile has been charged with sexually assaulting two nursing home patients who were entrusted to his care.  He was indicted on three counts of indecent assault and battery on an elder and lewd and lascivious behavior.

A certified nursing assistant, Aburjaile worked at the Elizabeth Seton Residence, where he helped patients with range-of-motion exercises, fed them and made their beds.  His alleged victims include two women, ages 71 and 70.

Aburjaile was fired in March 2009 following a state Department of Public Health review of the complaints against him.  The nursing home tried to defend themselves by alleging that Aburjaile successfully underwent a background screening before he was hired.

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The Honolulu Advertiser had an article about the sentencing of CNA Mark Genetiano  He was
sentenced to only a year in prison and five years of probation for molesting four helpless elderly women in a retirement home. Genetiano pleaded guilty to six counts of third-degree sex assault, admitting that he assaulted two of the victims twice while working at the Kāhala Nui retirement home.

The victims ranged in age from 89 to 92 when the crimes took place in May and June of last
year. All four women suffered from Alzheimer's disease or dementia and were "mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless," prosecutors said.

According to a police report, three of Genetiano's co-workers reported that he pinched the
patients' breasts while they were changing clothes or in the bathroom. The co-workers said the women tried to fend him off by waving their arms and yelling at him to stop and that Genetiano laughed at them.  How do you properly compensate someone for that kind of experience?

In a somewhat related article in the Honolulu Advertiser, the authors discuss the lack of liability insurance among nursing homes in Hawaii.  This is common in the vast majority of states including South Carolina.

Industry officials believe as many as half the roughly 500 licensed care homes in Hawai'i don't carry liability insurance, though no one has reliable data on that.  The percentage probably is much greater among Hawai'i's unlicensed care homes, which industry leaders estimate number anywhere from a few dozen to close to 500.

Liability insurance protects the insured from claims made by others who suffer injury at the business. The breadth of coverage can vary significantly depending on the terms of the policy. But it also provides an avenue for the injured person to seek redress, particularly if the harm is caused by a hazard at the home or negligence.

Without liability insurance, an injured senior would have no recourse to pursue a claim — short of suing the caregiver, a costly and time-consuming process.  States should require nursing homes who accept taxpayer money through Medicare and Medicaid to carry minimum insurance.  A reasonable number would be $1 million per claim or 20% of gross revenue from Medicaid and Medicare.  There should be a reasonable consensus as to a proper amount.

Oregon, for instance, does not require liability insurance for homes with five or fewer residents, a state spokeswoman said, but facilities with six or more that take Medicaid patients must have coverage. In Washington state, all facilities that take Medicaid clients are required to have liability insurance.

Mandating basic coverage also would nullify the unfair advantage care-home operators without insurance have over all the others, according to Medy De Lara, president-elect of the alliance and a care-home owner for 24 years.  A bare-bones policy costs less than $700 per year for an entire facility.

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On March 22, 32 year-old Maximo Hong Fajardo Jr. allegedly smothered nursing home resident, 87-year-old Barbara McIver, in full view of other residents and staff using a pillow.  Fajardo worked as a certified nursing assistant since 1999; he had worked only 2 weeks at Convalescent Center Mission Street prior to the incident. 

Employees alerted police to the killing around 10 a.m., shortly after the suspect fled the home.   Bystanders then chased him down and held him for police.  He plead not guilty on March 24 and is being held on $10 million bail.

See article here.

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9News.com had an article about another sexual assault at a nursing home.  Nursing homes need to do a better job of screening applicants and supervising their employees. Police arrested Gabriel Paul Cabral, a 41-year-old assisted living facility employee, for allegedly having sex with a woman in her late 80's.  He's been charged with crimes against an at risk adult.

Investigators went to the assisted living facility after the family of the victim indicated they had video of the caregiver having sex with the woman.  Police say the family installed a hidden camera in the victim's room in late December.  Investigators say the family became suspicious that the woman was being mistreated.   Police say Cabral has worked at more than one assisted living facility in the area.

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