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

The Bristol Herald Courier had an article on James Wright, the NHC CNA who raped multiple residents.  Wright blamed his four victims for the sexual assaults they suffered according to a psychological evaluation. The evaluation was court-ordered to determine Wright’s eligibility for a sexual offender treatment program. The test has roughly 1,200 questions that focus on sexual desires and past relationships.

The evaluation describes the man who once fed, bathed and clothed National HealthCare’s elderly residents as a manipulative hedonist with tendencies of voyeurism and exhibitionism. It also ranks his personality in line with the average rapist and molester.

“He holds the victims responsible ... because the accuser wanted and liked the sex play that happened,” the evaluation states.

“This is no doubt an indescribably despicable criminal act,” Judge Kirksey said before issuing the 60 year sentence. “Certainly, as a certified nursing aide, you understand the position of trust ... you were placed in by these women and by [their] families.”

During the evaluation in March, Wright alluded to the technical significance of his plea.

“I was charged with four counts of groping,” he told the test administrator. “I did not hurt anybody. They were the mental patients. I made an Alford plea on the advice of my counsel. I did not plead guilty.”

“His ... evaluation shows that he preys on people who are helpless,” Wolfe said, noting that each victim had been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. “He picked out victims that he didn’t think would be able to tell on him.”

Since Wright’s arrest last year, NHC-Bristol supervisors have been accused of both ignoring and failing to report suspected patient abuse. A state licensing board has fined and reprimanded former Director of Nursing Elizabeth Anne Franklin. Current home Administrator Charlotte Wilson and Nursing Supervisor Helen Roberts face possible sanctions against their licenses.

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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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The Franklin News-Post had a story about a nursing home employee--the assistant director of nursing-- getting only three years for the distribution of prescription drugs she took from residents at her facility.  Linda Sloan Quick was also sentenced to three years probation, following her prison sentence, and she was ordered to be on good behavior for 25 years.  There was no mention if she would lose her license to practice nursing or if she was reported to the Board of Nursing.

Court records show that the drugs taken from the nursing home by Quick had either expired or had been prescribed for patients who had died or had been transferred to another health facility.  The sheriff's department received anonymous information that a nursing home employee was selling prescription drugs, and investigators got Quick's name from a confidential informant.

Quick was sentenced to 10 years for distribution of Fentanyl, but seven years of the sentence were suspended.  Quick was also sentenced to three years on each of the three counts of distribution of Hydrocodone. All nine years were suspended.

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A night shift nurse accused of sexually abusing patients at an Ohio nursing home entered a plea arrangement for 12 1/2 years in prison. John Riems entered an Alford plea to four counts of sexual battery and one count of gross sexual imposition. In an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction but does not admit guilt.

Riems, 50, was videotaped last January telling authorities that he abused about 100 patients at various nursing homes since the 1980s.  Defense attorney Troy Wisehart tried to keep the videotape out of the trial arguing that Riems was coerced into the confession by aggressive detectives.

I hope he has to serve every minute of that time.  You can find the entire story here.

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Colleen Jenkins of the St. Petersburg Times had an article on the conditions of abused residents and the failure to prosecute the health care providers to the fullest extent of the law.  The article explains the living conditions in Daphne Jones' boarding home in West Tampa.   After finding elderly and disabled people crammed into windowless bedrooms without air conditioning or enough drinking water in August 2007, authorities arrested Jones on 18 felony counts of adult abuse.  Jones pled guilty to a single misdemeanor count, for which she will serve six months of probation and 25 hours of community service. Her attorney said the whole ordeal had been overblown.

Prosecutors offered little explanation for the lack of a jail sentence.

Jones had pulled a bait-and-switch scheme. Some residents' family members said they thought their loved ones were living in Jones' 6,000-square-foot gated mansion in Temple Terrace. The property was licensed by the state as an adult family care home.  The families were upset to learn their loved ones had been moved to the boarding house, sharing one bathroom and sleeping on bunk beds.

Tampa police officers arrived on Aug. 9, 2007, after receiving a tip about neglect.  The air conditioning had been broken and the residents were dehydrated.   Goudie said she took the deposition of one former resident who had bad things to say about the boarding house. The woman substantiated the information about the air conditioning.

Elrod Curry, 64, of Plant City, said his family had suspected that "something strange" was going on at the boarding house where his sister, Rosa Wilson, lived, but she couldn't tell them much because her mind came and went. He said Thursday that Jones' sentence seemed too light.

In 2003, a federal judge sentenced Jones to 24 months of probation and ordered her to pay $41,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration after she misrepresented her financial situation when applying for benefits for her son, who has cerebral palsy.

After her most recent arrest, the state Agency for Health Care Administration fined Jones $20,000 and revoked her license for not cooperating with the agency.

On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to culpable negligence. That charge resulted from one elderly female resident who had to be hospitalized for severe dehydration after police arrived.

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I saw this story in a Pittsburgh paper.  I can't believe they gave probation to a nurse who lied, changed medical documents, and covered up the circumstances of neglect that caused the death of a nursing home resident. 

What kind of deterrent is this?

Kathleen Galati who was a nursing home supervisor was sentenced to only five years' probation.
She pleaded guilty in March to perjury, false swearing, criminal conspiracy, and tampering with evidence in connection with the October 2001 death of Mabel Taylor, 88, at Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman also banned Galati from working in health care during her probation.  So in five years she can go back to covering up neglect in nursing homes!

Atrium head Martha Bell helped cover up the death of Taylor, who died after wandering outside on a cold night.  Bell was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and health care fraud and sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

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A former nursing aide who admitted raping and impregnating a profoundly disabled and defenseless woman at a Bloomingdale nursing home three years ago was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.

Reynaldo Brucal Jr., 20, pleaded guilty in November to aggravated criminal sexual assault of the then-23-year-old woman, who has cerebral palsy, is brain-damaged and has the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. She was in his care at Alden Village Health Facility for Children and Young Adults when the attack occurred in 2004.

Brucal, who is not a U.S. citizen, has been in DuPage County Jail since his 2005 arrest. 
After serving his sentence, he will be deported to his native Philippines.

Staff at the nursing home, where the victim and her twin sister had lived for 13 years, discovered she was expecting in June 2005 when she was more than 28 weeks' pregnant. A baby girl was delivered by Caesarean section in July 2005.

The twins, who cannot speak or function independently, have been moved to another area nursing facility, and their family has filed a civil lawsuit against Alden that is pending.

The facility also has been fined $10,000 by the Illinois Department of Public Health for lack of oversight and mishandling of the investigation.

According to the probation department's pre-sentencing report, Brucal admitted assaulting the woman because he was "bored."

But Brucal, who began working at Alden in September 2004 and was 17 at the time of the attack, "didn't believe he did anything wrong," Berlin said.

Initially, Brucal denied sexual contact but was arrested in November 2005 after admitting such contact, claiming a latex glove he used as a condom had failed.

See article here

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 I saw this story and thought of all the residents who suffered pain as a result of his intentional act. This is why supervision of nursing home employees is crucial.

A 40-year-old nurse who pleaded guilty to switching out painkillers meant for nursing home patients has been sentenced to just over five years in prison.

Michael Paul Smith of Falmouth was charged with tampering consumer products and health care fraud.  Smith may face mandatory exclusion from working in any federal health care program.

Prosecutors say he removed pills containing oxycodone and morphine by separating the cardboard backing from blistercards and substituted the pills for similar-looking medication nearly two years ago.

He was employed at the Odd Fellows Nursing Home in Worcester at the time.

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