Nursing Supervisor Found Guilty Of Attempted Neglect

An Ohio nursing supervisor accused of failing to provide help for an injured resident of the Monroe County Care Center was found guilty on one count of attempted patient neglect Tuesday.
Kathy Schwaben pleaded no contest to the charge. A judge sentenced her to a suspended 10-day jail sentence and imposed fines and court costs. She will remain on required probation for one year.
Agents with the attorney general's health care fraud section began investigating Schwaben in August 2011.
Investigators said an 81-year-old patient was thrown from her wheelchair and sustained several fractures while riding in an MCCC van when its driver swerved to avoid hitting a deer.
The victim did not receive immediate medical treatment because Schwaben failed to perform a physical assessment of the woman after the crash, investigators said.
The investigation also showed that the woman was not properly secured in the seat of her wheelchair with a lap or shoulder restraint. Instead, an employee of the nursing facility used a bungee cord as a restraint by placing it across the front of her wheelchair’s arm rests.