Nursing home abuse alleged in Niagara

Two employees at a Wheatfield nursing home “joined in humiliating, distressing and violating the dignity” of two residents last April, according to state Department of Health documents obtained Tuesday.
The documents detail a disturbing event at Northgate Health Care Facility wherein one nursing assistant placed two elderly residents suffering from dementia and other mental health ailments in the same bed while another nurse made sexual comments, apparently seeking to spur inappropriate interaction, and taking pictures, the documents state.
Alicia Clemens, a certified nursing assistant, took cell phone camera pictures of the two elderly and impaired clients after she and another employee, Gloria Maxwell, placed them in the same bed together during their shift on April 14. The report concludes that Maxwell and Clemens were acting “for their own entertainment.”
Clemens and Maxwell attempted to convince the pair they were husband and wife, Gretchen Fantauzzi, senior attorney acting on behalf of Commissioner of Health Richard Daines, wrote in her report on the incident.
Using “sexually provocative commentary” to solicit physical contact between the two, Fantauzzi said sufficient evidence exists that Clemens and Maxwell brought the elderly female client, who reportedly suffers from mild retardation and schizophrenia, into the room occupied by an elderly man and his real wife.


Nursing home abuse details released » Local News » Niagara Gazette

CNA Registry Massachusetts

Information and Contacts

Public Information Requests


Massachusetts Department of Public Health - Division of Health Care Quality


99 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA 02111

Phone: (617) 753-8143

License Verification: (617) 753-8192
Should you wish to receive a copy of a portion of the Nurse Aide Registry data, please contact Peter Bilodeau at (617) 753-8140. Information currently available includes name, address and last known employer. Unfortunately, mailing labels are not available. Final requests must be received in writing. A nominal fee will be charged for the processing of the request.


http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2terminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Provider&L2=Certification%2c+Licensure%2c+and+Registration&L3=Occupational+and+Professional&L4=Nurse+Aides&sid=Eeohhs2&b=terminalcontent&f=dph_quality_healthcare_p_nurse_aide_contact&csid=Eeohhs2

Lawsuit Study on Nursing Homes Released

A study published in the March 31 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine  included the following findings on Nursing Homes:

Five large U.S. nursing home chains provided information on lawsuits brought against them between 1998 and 2006. Researchers looked at the alleged reason for the suit and the outcome.
During that period, plaintiffs filed 4,716 claims against 1,465 nursing
homes. On average, each nursing home was sued every two years.
The most common Nursing Home harms alleged were fall-related injuries (27 percent) and pressure ulcers or bedsores (16 percent). Other claims were for dehydration,
malnutrition and excessive weight loss, physical or verbal abuse and
medication errors.
Sixty-one percent of the claims resulted in a payment, which averaged
nearly $200,000.
Researchers then analyzed the likelihood of a nursing home being sued based
on 10 measures of quality gleaned from two national databases, including
one that tracks the health of nursing home residents on a monthly basis.
Nursing homes that had the most nurse's aide hours per resident-day -- a
measure of how well staffed a nursing home is -- were also slightly less
likely to get sued, but again, not by much -- 45 percent compared to 41 percent
annually for those with the lowest staffing levels.
One measure for which there was a significant difference in the likelihood
of lawsuits was pressure ulcers or bedsores. Nursing homes with the lowest
pressure ulcer rates had a 6 percent chance of being sued in a given year
because of bedsore-related complaints compared to 11 percent for the
worst-performing nursing homes.
Concluding that lawsuits have little effect on quality of care, the authors
say that other long-term efforts, such as public reporting of nursing home
conditions and performance-based reimbursement schedules, may be needed to
encourage improvements.

Kara Murphy - Quincy CNA Nursing Aide Sentenced for Abuse

Atrium Abuser Sentenced Wed. 3-30-11. Quincy District Court, Quincy, MA.

Update: April 6, 2011:

Kara Murphy, The Certified Nurse Aid who worked at The Atrium in Quincy,  pleaded guilty in Court to 7 counts of assault and battery on an elderly or disabled person on 3-30-2011.

The DA's office read the abuse charges, the judge asked her if she is pleading guilty to all the details as presented, and Murphy said yes.  The details include punching and slapping one elder victim (H) and assorted acts against others.

The DA's office asked for some jail time to be served.  Defense attorney Karen Wayne asked for time served on house arrest. 

The Judge explained in court the seriousness of crimes, and what pleading guilty means.  Sentence finally handed down was 1 year probation, anger management group, and no work with elderly or children until probation is up, according to a Court observer.
Hamill Law office is currently representing an elder victim of these terrible assaults.