The DesMoines Register had one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read. Daniel Larmore is the chairman of the board that oversees Iowa's nursing home administrators. That board is charged with licensing and disciplining Iowa's nursing home administrators — but it has taken no action against an administrator in two years. He characterized the sexual abuse of a resident in his facility as a "meaningful" relationship that caused no harm to the resident. How dare he say such an irresponsible thing. Who the heck does he think he is.
Larmore was the administrator at the Harmony House care center in Waterloo. State records show that Larmore himself faced allegations from the state inspectors in 2004 — and was never investigated or disciplined by the board. The incident resulted in a $3,500 fine against the facility, a detailed report of the inspectors' findings should have been sent to the Iowa Department of Public Health, which would have passed the information on to the board for its review. It is unclear whether Larmore's case was ever sent to the board for consideration. But Larmore has also acknowledged to the Register that the board failed to review some cases that were sent to the board for potential disciplinary action.
In June 2004, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals alleged that Larmore failed to properly investigate and respond to complaints that a female nurse aide had repeatedly engaged in sex with a brain-injured, 29-year-old male resident of the home. The aide's co-workers had witnessed several suspicious encounters between the resident and the aide, and had reported their concerns to supervisors. At one point, the resident's roommate complained, saying the two seemed to be having sex on the other side of a privacy curtain.
State inspectors accused Larmore of making little effort to investigate the matter when an employee first voiced her suspicions. The state also alleged he failed to separate the resident and the aide once the complaints were made. The aide finally confessed to having sex with the resident. In a written response to the state's allegations, Larmore argued that sex between the caregiver and the resident did not cause injury or harm to the resident. The resident had a brain injury and clearly could not have given consent.
Larmore wrote: "The relationship was initiated by, and was meaningful to, (the resident). ... The presented situation was one of mutual interest of a (resident) and a caregiver and, although inappropriate, did not present potential or actual harm to the consumer due to the reciprocal fond relationship."
In Iowa, a professional caregiver who engages in sex with a nursing home resident can be criminally charged with dependent-adult abuse. Larmore acknowledged in his response to the state that after the first concerns were voiced about intimate or inappropriate contact between the resident and the aide, he didn't talk to other employees or to the victim. In May, before Larmore resigned as Harmony House administrator, he fired nurse aide Tina Turner, 29, for allegedly having sex with a resident of the home and providing the man with marijuana.
Turner denied the allegation. One of her co-workers alleged Turner confessed to disconnecting the man from his ventilator so he could inhale the drug, saying, "I didn't want to kill him or anything. I just wanted to get the dude high."
So this SOB covers up the sexaul assault of a brain damaged resident and fails to properly investigate of prevent it and he gets rewarded by becoming the chairman of the group that investigates Administrators? Are you kidding me?
