MySunCoast had an article on an all too familar story. A former nursing home employee is behind bars facing some very disturbing allegations. Authorities say 51-year-old Robert Horne of Sarasota forced an 88-year-old nursing home patient with Alzheimer's disease to perform a sex act on him in October of last year.
Another employee witnessed the act and turned him in. Horne faces a felony charge of Sexual Battery On A Mentally Defective Victim.
The Jacksonsun ran an artilce about Sedric "Yakk" Joy who admitted to police that he went into a nursing home patient's room and committed a sexual act, according to an affidavit. Joy is charged with sexual battery in the incident and is being held on $50,000 bond. The affidavit says police received a complaint on Dec. 26 of a possible rape at the Pine Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. A spokesperson for the nursing home refused to say why Joy was at the nursing home or how he got into the victim's room.
The victim's roommate told a nurse that a man came into the room and attempted to undress the victim. The man then exposed himself and climbed on top of the victim. The victim, who was in a geriatric chair, is not able to carry on a conversation or defend herself due to her medical condition. Investigators went to Joy's home a short time after the initial call and questioned Joy. Joy admitted to the incident to investigators.
Prestige Healthcare owns Pine Meadows. Pine Meadows is a skilled nursing facility licensed for 134 patients.
This post will be a round up of stories from around the country on nursing home exployees abusing, neglecting, or exploiting the residents. We need to expect more from the nursing homes on how they train, supervise, and manage their workers.
One article from an ABC affiliate in Texas was about Shonda Rodriguez, a woman who pleaded no contest to abusing an elderly patient. Shonda Rodriguez worked as an licensed vocational nurse at Castle Pines Nursing Home in Lufkin, slapped the hand of the patient. The patient was found with bruising to the backs of both hands and a tear to the skin of her upper arm. As part of her plea, Rodriguez was sentenced to only two years probation, ordered to pay minimal restitution and a $500 fine, and also ordered not to work with small children or elderly as an LVN. She gets to keep he rlicense and work in the health care field though!
The next article was from the Star-Tribune . A 19-year-old Albert Lea nursing home aide named Ashton Larson pleaded not guilty to charges that she was one of two employees who sexually humiliated and abused numerous vulnerable residents at a local facility. According to the charges, Larson admitted to police that she inserted her finger into the rectum of a resident at the Good Samaritan Society home. She said she was trying to trigger a bowel movement but admitted that this was not part of her training. She admitted getting into bed with a resident and making a humping motion. She also admitted to patting the buttocks of one resident and trying to get another angry and then laughing at her.
Also charged in the case is Brianna Broitzman. The charges against her say that she admitted to police that she poked one resident in the breast. Other teens who were implicated accused Broitzman of numerous other actions, including spitting in a resident's mouth and jabbing the breasts of several residents.
The next article was from Consumer Affairs discussing the six employees who were charged with exploiting vulnerable adults. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who announced the arrests, said the six were either employees of the Belhaven Senior Care facility or owned the company. "Within the indictments, there are 21 separate incidents of exploitation involving eight residents of Belhaven Senior Care," said Hood, "A total of $25, 785 was taken from the victims."
Those arrested are:
• Ponchie McCollough, a social worker with the facility, was indicted on one count of conspiracy and 19 counts of Felony Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult. McCollough remains in jail and bond has not been set, but arraignment is set for January 8, 2010.
• Brad Burt, an administrator with the facility, was indicted on one count of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult and 14 counts of accessory after the fact in felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. He is currently out on $75,000 bond.
• Justin Johnson, Director of Operations for Trend Consultants (owner of Belhaven Senior Care), was indicted on 14 counts of accessory after the fact in felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. He is currently out on $25,000 bond.
• Tina Brewer, AR Billing Specialist for Trend Consultants, was indicted on 14 counts of accessory after the fact in felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. She is currently out on $25,000 bond.
• Jessica McKinney, a friend of McCollough, was indicted on one count of conspiracy and two counts felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Bond has been set at $5,000.
• Madeline Floyd, a friend of McCollough, was indicted on one count of conspiracy and one count of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Floyd's bond was set at $5,000, but she remains in jail.
In each case, McCollough is alleged to have misappropriated resident's funds under the guise of spending down accumulated funds so that residents would not lose Medicaid benefits. The funds, however, were not used for the residents needs, but were allegedly retained by McCollough and other defendants. Once the matter was discovered by officials of Trend Consultants, some of the defendants are accused of trying to cover up the alleged wrongdoing in an effort to avoid returning the funds to the residents.
On December 3, 2009, owners of Trend Consultants agreed to return $25,785.00 to the eight residents and paid a penalty to the State in the amount of $77,355.00. The agreement absolved the corporation.
CBS Springfield had a story about a whistleblower who sued a nursing home for wrongful termination. Joan Johnson was fired from her job at a nursing home because she complained about improper treatment of patients. Joan Johnson is seeking $56,000 in damages from the companies that manage and staff Renaissance Manor at Cabot. Johnson alleged she and another employee had raised concerns that patients were being left too long in soiled beds and were not being cared for properly while walking. They said that lead to several patients falling. Johnson claimed she was fired in June because she complained to superiors that a patient with a serious bacterial infection was allowed to use another patient's walker in violation of infection control standards.
Nursing home officials declined to comment.
Macon.com posted an article about a proposal in Georgia to house sex offenders, violent offenders, those being electronically monitored and those with medical and mental health needs in nursing homes. The state DOC is working with the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to recruit nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and other organizations interested in housing offenders upon release from prison. Why would they be interested in bringing these dangerous people into the homes of our parents and grandparents? The only reason is greed and reckless indifference to the safety of their other residents.
The statewide briefings are designed to serve as an "educational forum" for potential housing service providers, according to a Georgia Department of Corrections news release. Briefings will be held across the state through February 2010. For more information about the meetings, contact LaTrese Schofield, residential coordinator for the state DOC, at schofl00@dcor.state.ga.us or (404) 463-2947.
Please contact Ms. Schofield and tell her this is a bad idea.
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?
UGH! Another article about a nursing home employee sexually assaulting one of the resdients. I can't believe how often this happens. This story comes from the Salt Lake Tribune. An employee of Hillside Rehabilitation Center nursing home is accused of sexually abusing an elderly patient with Alzheimer's Disease. Clifford Ray Holt was charged with one count of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse of a 62-year-old resident. Holt led the woman into a room, told her "this is my place" and started massaging her shoulders once the door to the room was closed. He then grabbed the woman's breast aggressively enough to cause a bruise.
Court records show Holt pleaded guilty to burglary of a vehicle, a Class a misdemeanor, in March 2006, and was sentenced to serve a year in prison. He also pleaded guilty to burglary of a vehicle in 1997 and 1999. How did a felon get a job at a nursing home? Why didn't they do a background check? Who was supervising this guy? I hope the nursing home answers these questions.
News4Jax.com had a story and JacksonvilleNews.com also ran a story about a nursing home employee who worked for Regents Park Nursing Home charged with sexual assault on a vulnerable elderly resident. Anthony Njorge was arrested on two counts of sexual battery on an elderly resident who was not only mentally impaired but also physically helpless. This guy needs to go to jail for a long time. Nursing homes are places family members trust to keep their loved ones safe and cared for properly.
According to the arrest report, the incident happened around 3:40 a.m. Sunday when another employee told officers she heard noises coming from the victim's room. The witness later told police in the report she saw Njorge in the victim's room cleaning up, then came out of the room with a clear plastic bag he threw into the disposal room. A witness told Jacksonville police she heard something from one of the rooms, and when she went in she saw nurse Njorge assaulting the resident. The witness told police she reached for her cell phone, but the man tried to stop her. Police are withholding information both because of the nature of the crime and the investigation.
The Chicago Tribune had an article about a nursing home employee sent to prison for molesting two residents. Daniel Griswold was only sentenced to 6 months for his abuse of vulnerable residents. He also got five years' probation. The Wyoming man pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Griswold admitted touching the women in the spring of 2008. He left the job at Rest Haven Homes in Grand Rapids several months later. A gross indecency charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Michael Owens of the TriCities.com website reported a story about another sexual assault of a nursing home resident by an employee nurse. The article discusses how a co-worker, Patricia Davenport, reported the employee molesting a resident on two different occasions but was told she was mistaken by NHC (National HealthCare Corp.). She quit after the complaints were ignored.
Davenport then told the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia that she witnesses the same aide molesting two different nursing home patients. Davenport said the first time she stumbled upon the abuse of patients was in August 2007. The woman’s shirt and bra had been shoved high on her chest. A nurse’s aide was standing behind the wheelchair, and he was reaching around to fondle the patient’s breasts. Later that same month, Davenport said, she caught the same aide fondling a blind patient. That aide, James W. Wright was indicted on four counts of aggravated sexual battery. Each count stems from the investigation into the treatment of a different patient from 2000 to 2007.
National HealthCare Corp., runs the Bristol nursing home as well 75 others in Tennessee and other eastern states. Virginia Department of Health Professions records show that Wright still holds an active license to work as a nurse’s aide. The abuse was not a secret among nursing home staff. “When I talked to the rest of [the nurses], they said this has been going on for years,” Davenport said. Davenport said she complained to her supervisor. “You look at those people every day in the face knowing they’re getting abuse and you can’t do anything because nobody’s got your back,” Davenport said. “I don’t want to go back to nursing.”
A second article discusses additional abuse by Wright at the Brookdale Senior Living-Grand Court Bristol nursing home, where the aide accepted a job after passing the criminal background and job reference checks. Although nursing aides said they witnessed and reported sexual abuse by Wright to NHC officials, NHC did not pass along any of that information to Grand Court. In all, eight people from both nursing homes have told investigators they were groped, fondled and sexually assaulted by Wright between July 2003 and May 2008, according to documents filed by the Virginia Board of Nursing. Nursing board documents show that seven NHC patients complained of being sexually assaulted while under Wright’s care.
Despite those complaints at NHC, the aide arrived at his new job in September 2007 with flawless references, said Holly Botsford, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Brookdale Senior Living, which runs 548 homes across the nation, including Grand Court Bristol. “None of [the checks] indicated he had any previous employment or character issues,” Botsford said. A Grand Court patient was sexually assaulted the following May, according to Virginia Board of Nursing documents.
A pair of former NHC nurses said the nursing home’s management routinely dismissed patient and nurse allegations against Wright. It was in 2003 that former NHC nurse Diane Lewis reported a patient’s complaint of being touched inappropriately. A staff director did ask the patient about the complaint, but the investigation ended there. Twice in August 2007, then-nursing aide Patricia Davenport complained that Wright mistreated two patients.
LoHud.com had a story about Carolyn M. Wheeler, a 29-year-old nursing home employee, who was arrested after other employees caught her engaging in sexual contact with a 60-year-old male patient who suffers from a severe mental defect. How could the nursing home let this happen? Who was supervising this employee?
The employee was charged with felony second-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and misdemeanor second-degree sex abuse. Wheeler was caught by a staff member engaging in sexual contact with the patient at about 6 p.m. Aug. 17, police said. The man apparently suffers from several medical conditions that would have prevented him from giving consent to the sexual contact. It is unclear if Wheeler had multiple sexual contacts with the patient. Police also are investigating whether other patients may have been victims, though that was difficult because many of the patients in the home suffer from dementia and other mental conditions.
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