Posted on 04/30/2011 7:13:27 AM PDT by raccoonradio
TOPSFIELD (MA)— Four nursing assistants have been fired and two top administrators replaced at one of the state's top-rated nursing homes, in the wake of patient abuse allegations.
A report completed last month by state investigators alleged that at least a dozen residents of the Masconomet Healthcare Center in Topsfield were subjected to various forms of verbal abuse and humiliation — including one patient with dementia who was recorded on a cell-phone camera answering questions in a confused manner, to the amusement of a nursing assistant who then shared the video with coworkers.
The report says a group of four certified nursing assistants routinely engaged in sexually explicit or otherwise offensive taunting of patients, sometimes about their physical or mental condition, and that some would deliberately provoke patients into an agitated state to avoid having to provide care for them during their shifts.
All four were suspended from their jobs and later fired, a lawyer for the facility said. The administrator of the 123-bed facility and the director of nursing were also suspended and have been replaced, said Kathy Soderberg, corporate counsel for the nursing home's parent company, Whittier Health Network.
Criminal charges are also possible. Topsfield Police Chief Evan Haglund said he is aware of the matter but referred questions to the Attorney General's Office.
At least seven other employees, including a nurse, were aware of at least some of the incidents but failed to report them to administrators, who did not learn of the violations until February, the report by the Department of Public Health says.
The facility is still considering disciplinary action against those employees, Soderberg said.
The alleged abuse was brought to light by an employee at the facility, Soderberg said.
The report charged the facility with providing substandard care, specifically by violating regulations requiring that patients be free from abuse or involuntary seclusion, that any such abuse be immediately reported and that the facility's care and environment provide for quality of life.
The facility was ordered to pay a $3,000-a-day fine starting March 25, the date of the report, and continuing until the violations were addressed. A plan of correction has since been filed and accepted by the state, which notified the nursing home last Wednesday that it now considers it to be in substantial compliance.
Soderberg said in the statement that the violations have all been corrected, and workers are being retrained in, among other issues, abuse-reporting requirements. The facility is also scheduling meetings with patients and their families.
The report, which does not identify any of the fired workers by name, depicts an atmosphere where the four accused nursing assistants regularly used profanities around patients; engaged in conversations about their personal lives, including sexual activities and illicit drug use, in front of patients; played loud music on their cell phones; and were at times more concerned with sending text messages to friends than providing care to patients, who were told to wait.
Taunting, ridiculing patients
But the alleged abuse of patients went far beyond that, the report states.
One patient, suffering from dementia, was recorded on a cell phone answering a series of questions from a nursing assistant identified as "accused CNA #1" in the report, who can be heard laughing at the patient's confused responses. That CNA went on to share the video with others at the facility.
An employee interviewed by investigators said that same CNA regularly took photos in patient rooms on her cell phone. It is not known what became of those photos or whether they included patients.
In addition, a patient at another, unidentified nursing home where one of the four accused nursing assistants had gone to work last December was apparently photographed while sitting on a toilet, partially undressed, a photo that was then shared with two other CNAs working at Masconomet at the time. They then showed the photo to coworkers.
Another patient with confusion and a history of making sexually inappropriate comments was taunted by an employee identified as "accused CNA #3," who was overheard telling the patient that she was engaging in sexual relations with the patient's husband and that "he tells me I am better in bed than you are" and that her husband was leaving her.
The same accused CNA allegedly told another patient that she was going to die at the facility because her husband no longer loved her. That patient was also taunted about her weight by at least three of the accused CNAs. "Accused CNA #3" allegedly shoved a cookie into the woman's mouth and called her a "pig," according to the report.
A male patient was allegedly taunted and mocked by all four fired workers for having a penile implant, which one of the group demanded that he use in her presence.
A woman patient with short-term memory loss was driven to tears by repeated requests to recount past domestic abuse. When another employee tried to cut off the questioning, two accused CNAs slammed the door in her face. When that employee then tried to report the incident to a nurse, the nurse told her to mind her own business, according to the report, and never reported it to her superiors.
'Driven to tears'
Another patient was driven to tears by "accused CNA #3," who complained to the patient that her colostomy bag smelled.
The workers regularly engaged in behaviors such as mocking and mimicking patients in order to get them agitated, which would then allow them to avoid caring for those patients, the report said.
One patient, now deceased, was referred to as a (expletive) who "doesn't deserve our time," by three of the workers. Another patient was allegedly denied care because he was unable to complain.
A male patient was called a "sexy dog" and invited to slap the backside of "accused CNA #2" while she danced around him.
And one patient with dementia would be rapidly undressed, upsetting her, by two of the CNAs, one of whom would also grab the patient's doll and pull it away from her to upset her, then joke about it later.
When another worker confronted two of the CNAs about their inappropriate conversations in front of a patient, they contended that the patient did not understand because he or she had aphasia (a language ability disorder).
The incidents allegedly occurred in 2010 and in the first two months of 2011.
Reports of patient abuse are forwarded as a matter of law to the Attorney General for possible prosecution. A spokesman for the agency said he could not confirm the existence of an investigation at this point.
The license status of the four fired workers also remains unknown.
The Salem News obtained a copy of the report and related correspondence from the federal Department of Health and Human Services under a Freedom of Information Act request. State public health officials denied a similar request for the report under the Massachusetts public records law.
Masconomet Healthcare, which is located on High Street a short distance from Route 1, is owned by LNF Corp., operating under the name Whittier Health Network. It is a Haverhill-based company that owns nine nursing homes around Massachusetts and in upstate New York, and three rehabilitation hospitals.
The company's founder and president, Dr. Alfred Arcidi, is a well-known figure in the Merrimack Valley, where in addition to health care facilities he has also developed or attempted to develop other projects.
>>Reports of patient abuse are forwarded as a matter of law to the Attorney General for possible prosecution.
Martha aka "Marsha" Coakley is MA AG...oh joy.
HC list ping
a measure of a society is how it treats its most defenseless members.
ITeam: CNAs At Topsfield Nursing Home Accused Of Abusing Patients
TOPSFIELD (CBS) – They’re appalling allegations – elderly patients hurt and verbally abused in a place that’s supposed to provide quality care.
The ITeam has discovered CNAs, certified nursing assistants, at Masconomet Health Care in Topsfield have been accused of videotaping and mocking elderly clients with dementia, texting photos of a partially naked senior from another facility and providing substandard care.
Lauren Noonan says, “I just can’t believe anyone entrusted with care would do that. It appalled me, I was sick to my stomach.”
Lauren Noonan’s stomach turned because her 90-year-old aunt is a Masconomet client. According to state documents obtained by the I-team several residents were sexually harassed and taunted, some until they were reduced to tears. Many of the allegations are so disgusting we can’t print them or put them on television. Four CNA’s were allegedly involved.
One woman was told her family didn’t love her and that’s why she was going to die in this nursing home. A man was teased that he smelled because of a medical condition and a CNA danced around another elderly man and made him hit her in the buttocks while she called him a sexy dog. The Department of Public Health cited Masconoment for several violations. Elizabeth Daake from the Department of Public Health says, “We all want safe care, effective care and appropriate care but it’s also dignity, quality of life making sure they’re in a healthy environment.”
Attorney David Hoey specializes in elder abuse and neglect. He’s troubled by the treatment of residents at Masconomet and says improper care is to blame for a life-threatening leg injury to Lauren Noonan’s aunt. Hoey says the type of fracture is usually caused from neglect. Lauren Noonan who’s a nurse says, “It’s discouraging, being a nurse myself you try to give quality care and that’s what I would expect from other nurses.”
The ITeam showed up at Masconomet searching for answers after repeated phone calls to administrator Scott Gloor weren’t returned. Gloor said he had no comment and told us to get off the property.
CNA Jen Moran was fired during the harassment investigation along with Erin Driscoll and Val Belanger. Families hope exposing what happened will prevent the elderly from being harmed ever again.
Masconomet’s lawyer tells us they’re dedicated to safe, quality care and as soon as they became aware of what was going on they investigated, terminated the nursing assistants involved and eventually suspended the administrator and director of nursing. She also said several steps have been put in place to protect clients. The nursing home was fined about sixty-thousand dollars and the case has been referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
The state says the facility is back in compliance now. The nursing assistants involved are appealing the findings against them.
“A measure of a society is how it treats its most defenseless members”.
Then we are failing and failing miserably. Each day, we read one story after another about babies being found in dumpsters, animals drowned/burned/hung and the elderly being used as “entertainment”. No dignity, no respect for life.
Preying and torturing the helpless elderly...what soulless monsters. The result of decades of liberalism, from schools to media to legislation. They are unable to care about anything but themselves, and have a black hole in their core where God should be.
It seems this was allowed to go on for an extended period of time. There should be significant firings in management as well.
“Preying and torturing the helpless elderly...what soulless monsters.”
The same happened to my grandfather when he spent his final years in a nursing home. I cannot tell you what I would like to do to the women who treated him this way.
Even with all our science and material wealth, care was probably better when such old-age homes were run by nuns and other religious.
When someone’s suffering is viewed solely as an opportunity for a business deal or political arrangement, the degradation of life is unavoidable.
I work at a hospital up here in Placerville in the lab and we routinely go to the care homes to pick up specimens or draw blood. And you would not believe how it is.. I heard a nurse or aid one time say “God I wish she would just die already”, in a frustrated voice. I thought to my self “What a lowlife POS”. I dread going to the care homes because of the sadness..
Those 4 should be arrested and sent to jail for a long time. And if they own anything, it should be taken from them and given to the victims or their families.
You’re welcome, and I do note who he gave to in that link
I am a retired RN ...when I was a new nurse I would often be floated to a “rehab” floor that had many elderly patients.. I can tell you I saw and heard things that made my skin crawl and not from just nurses aides but other nurses ..
The belittling and complaining at them abut how often they needed a bed pan..
Even one lady that was a fresh amputee .. I hated when I had to go there..
wonder what the race of the patient and the CNA’s are..
This is just another result of the 'whitey hates you' narrative promuglated by pop culture over the past 40 years.
These 'care providers' see a chance to hit back and they are.
“I have a grandmother who is ailing and I am terrified at the thought of her going to a nursing home”.
Mom was an R.N. She always told us this: the patients who have visiting families, families who check on their status, ask questions and DEMAND action if something isn’t provided ensured that the patients got better treatment. Not just in nursing homes but hospitals as well. If you have to go the route of a nursing home, visit often, ask questions from staff, ask questions to your loved ones about treatment.
Thank you so much for that reply...it puts my mind to rest a bit. My family has learned (the hard way, sadly) to visit a hospitalized family member DAILY, and we make it a point to do that. I would do the same for my gram if, God forbid, she went to a nursing home. I don’t think I could sleep otherwise.
Excellent advice, and spot on! I was an Activity Director, and saw first hand the difference between how patients, who had a lot of visitors, were treated compared to those who had no one. Also, check out the activities department, and how much time they give to residents. That is a clue to how the owners relate to patients. Activity Departments sell the product, and those who work in that department see what is going on. They are the ones who gain the confidences of the residents. And, ALWAYS ask to read the progress reports in all departments, and compare them to each other, and what you see!
My husband has Alzheimer's/Parkinson's, and as a former long term care employee, I intend to keep him at home until I am incapable of caring for him. There's always those few bad apples who sneak by.
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