Tennessee State Senator Jim Tracy of Murfreesboro, Tennessee is pushing hard to restrict punitive damages in nursing home abuse cases to $300,000 if the facility can prove it was fully staffed at the time of the incident. Nursing home owners and operators are complaining that "frivolous" lawsuits filed by out-of-state lawyers are diverting money from patient care and employee wages, thus the reason less than stellar care is being provided to your loved one. Interestingly, though, nursing home owners can see fit and have enough funds to support political candidates. Senator Tracy, the sponsor of this bill, is the beneficiary of multiple contributions from the industry that would benefit from this bill - nursing homes. Tracy has received $23,000 in campaign contributions from the health-care lobby. NHC's political action committee spent $84,000 during 2008 to push its interests and also has contributed $10,000 to Congressman Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro.
NHC is far from being a poor nursing home chain it wants the general public to believe. NHC is one of the largest nursing home chains in the country, with approximately 60 Tennessee facilities and others spread countrywide across Arizona through Florida. Since 2000, the corporation's 10-Ks reflect that the chain's net income has risen approximately $43 million - which is a 326% rise.
NHC has been in the spotlight in the past for poor quality care in its facilities. For instance, in 2003, sixteen defenseless nursing home residents died at a Nashville facility in a fire. The State of Tennessee did not require a sprinkler system at the time and the facility did not have one. There were also few smoke detectors and there were allegations of insufficient staffing.
In a more recent allegation, NHC's Bristol, Tennessee facility allowed an alleged serial molester to remain on the job after multiple allegations of abuse. It appears that the predator was allowed to fondle, grope, and possibly sodomize defenseless residents for nearly ten years.
James Wright, a nurse's aide at the NHC Bristol, Tennessee nursing facility, was first accused of misconduct in early 2000. A resident's daughter noticed that her mother became agitated whenever Wright was near. The resident "swatted" at Wright and complained the he "fingered me and hurt me". The daughter complained to Nurse Helen Roberts, who defended Wright and did not ban him from the resident's room. The resident's daughter persisted in getting Wright banned from the room and the resident's complaints and discomfort stopped.
Shortly thereafter, two aides made accusations of abuse against Wright. They were folding bibs at a desk when they saw Wright pushing a female resident in a wheelchair to the dayroom. The resident had limited speaking abilities and could not ambulate on her own. The aides claimed that Wright's hands and arms were draped over the resident's breasts while pushing her down the hall. Later, when Wright took the resident to her room to "clean up", an aide heard her "screamin' and hollerin" in her room. She found the resident on the toilet pointing at her genitals and repeatedly stating, "He hurt. He hurt." Wright was standing over her, allegedly trying to calm her down.
The aide took the correct responsive action and filed a report with Charge Nurse Roberts and Wright was banned by management from caring for the second resident. There was never an investigation into the alleged misconduct, despite laws requiring same.
In 2003, more allegations surfaced. Aide Diane Lewis was walking with Wright down a hall checking on patients and exchanging information before a shift change. A male resident called Ms. Lewis into his room and said, "I don't want that boy taking care of me." When asked why, he responded, "Because he sticks his finger up my butt". She reported the exchange to Director of Nursing (DON) Evelyn Nunez. Nunez reported "no findings". Lewis left the facility in 2005; she believes aides were overworked and that residents were receiving inadequate care. She said that most aides say they can only care for eight patients at a time, but NHC pushed that number to 12 regularly. She alleges that the facility circumvented staffing rules by keeping a call log. When the facility was short-staffed, it would call an employee on the log; if the employee could not come in, the home had still satisfied regulations by making the call.
According to Lewis, NHC Bristol apparently was not worried about state inspections, either. Somehow, the facility always knew when inspectors were coming and would offer employees time-and-a-half or double time to ensure full staffing.
Wright was accused of misconduct again in 2004. Patient-care coordinator Amy Edwards was alerted to a suspicious bruise on a female resident - a perfectly round ring around her anus. She immediately notified Ann Franklin, the new DON. Franklin allegedly examined the bruise and shrugged. Edwards took the next step on her own. She interviewed aides caring for the woman on multiple shifts and her queries led her to Wright. Wright told Edwards that the resident was severely constipated and he took care of it manually. There was no investigation into this incident.
Shortly thereafter, another NHC employee walked in on Wright and a female patient. Wright allegedly had the curtain pulled closed and had one arm wrapped around the woman and the other between her legs. The aide said, "She had her hands on his and she was sweatin' and hollerin'." When asked what he was doing, Wright responded, "She won't turn loose of me." The resident said, "You devil, you. You won't turn loose of me. Get him outta here. Give him to the devil." The aide examined the woman and found a hole in her diaper directly over her genitals about the size of a 50-cent piece.
By 2007, the complaints were coming quickly. In April 2007, police investigated a complaint that a female resident had been molested. Patty Davenport, an aide at NHC, allegedly saw Wright molest a resident in April 2007. She testified in both an affidavit and a videotaped interview that she heard grunting coming across the hall and knew from past experience that grunting from this patient indicated distress. When she entered the woman's room, she saw Wright fondling the woman's breasts. She reported the incident to a nurse, who did not believe her, saying, "Well, maybe you saw it wrong." She is unsure that her report ever made it to top administrators, but Wright was banned from caring for the woman. Sadly, this same aide caught Wright in May 2007 again. This time, she walked into the room of a resident who was blind and could not speak. Wright was sitting on the bed with the woman. The woman's gown was up and Wright was rubbing her genitals while stimulating himself. She reported to the head nurse immediately, but DON Franklin insisted upon following the chain of command, which would have been Administrator Charlotte Wilson. Again, the employee was unsure that the complaint ever made it to the Administrator.
The next day, Patty Davenport called in sick. She was told that James Wright would cover for her. She quit on the spot.
In July 2007, Cynthia Aldridge was preparing to bathe a resident and asked her if she was ready to bathe. The resident requested a shower, which was out of character as she didn't like showers. Ms. Aldridge put on gloves to examine the woman's diaper and the resident "went crazy" and started crying and screaming, "What're you gonna do? You gonna finger me like that boy did last night?"
Later, Ms. Aldridge spoke to the woman's daughter to determine if it was in character for her mother to talk like that. The daughter, stunned, reported the incident with Ms. Aldridge to the nearest nurse. Aldridge wrote a written report the next day and submitted it to the charge nurse. Allegedly, DON Franklin disregarded her complaint. Less than a week later, the resident was removed from NHC Bristol. Later, a facility meeting was held during which the Medical Director pointed out that aides needed to show more respect to nurses. Aldridge could not keep quiet and asked, "How can you respect somebody that lets people get molested, lets peole eat the patients' food?" Other aides also spoke during the meeting of Wright's alleged transgressions - that he had been caught with his hands under residents' blankets and eating their food.
In August or September 2007, Wright resigned from facility allegedly because of an ultimatum - quit or be fired. He began working for another senior-living facility, Grand Court Bristol.
If the allegations can be substantiated, the proposed law in Tennessee will only allow a punitive damages of $300,000. Punitive damages are designed to punish companies for known bad behavior. Under this proposed law, one has to wonder if that amount is punishmnet or just the cost of doing business.
Senator Jim, when asked about the events at NHC Bristol, simply responded, "You know, you've done a question...those are some of the questions that are discussed when the bill moves through the general assembly."
