Are Shaved Heads and Toga Parties Nursing Home Abuse? New York State Thinks So!
The abuse started in June 2008, when two residents were reported to have head lice. The nursing home owner, Rose Shorter, had several residents taken outside for a "party on the patio" and forced them to cut their hair close to their head. The haircuts were administered by a her fifteen year old son, who used no infection control substance on the electric trimmer to prevent the spread of lice. Ms. Shorter also insisted that every residents' clothes should be cleaned. However, the residents were left with nothing to wear but bed sheets and could only sleep on bare mattresses for several days. Ms. Shorter called the wearing of bed clothes "a toga party".
There were other signs of neglect at the New York facility. Soiled and urine-soaked clothes, residents not being given prescribed medications, falls unreported to physicians and families, and open, untreated sores on residents were just a few examples of abuse uncovered. As a result, the State of New York is taking steps to revoke the operating license of Rosewood Adult Care Home and the other adult care facility owned by Ms. Shorter has had its operating certificate suspended.
