Minnesota Home Health Aide Starves Disabled Patients, Granny Cam Proves Abuse Suspicions
A home health care aide neglected to feed two severely disabled teens in her care. The boys suffer from myotubular myopathy, a condition that severely diminishes the boys' ability to move, eat, and breathe on their own and requires around-the-clock care. The boys began losing a tremendous amount of weight - 23 pounds in seven months for one boy. Concerned, the boys' parents took them to the emergency room, where a doctor suggested that the necessary tube feedings may not have been conducted.
Suspicious, the family installed a video camera in the boys' room. From October 18 to October 24, 2008, camera footage revealed that the aide turned off the boys' feeding pumps for "extended periods", she left them unattended during prolonged smoking breaks and was seen sleeping while on duty. The camera also caught her having had sexual intercourse with a male friend in the boys' "living quarters".
The worker, who was employed by Divine HealthCare Network, was fired and the neglect is being added to the state abuse registry, which will prevent her from being employed in that capacity again. The worker alleged she began having personal problems in June 2008 and began neglecting her duties. She stated "she understands why she was fired". Divine HealthCare Network was not cited.
