New Report Details Iowa Nursing Home Board Chairman Failed to Investigate Alleged Abuse
Daniel Larmore recently resigned as the Administrator of Harmony House Care Center in Waterloo, Iowa. He remains the current Chairman of the Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators. The question some have is: should he hold that position?
The Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators is responsible for licensing and disciplining Iowa's nursing home administrators, but has not taken any action against an administrator in two years.
A Des Moines Register report published this week listed instances of nursing home administrators who were accused by the state of failing to prevent or investigate resident abuse without being disciplined by the Board. Interestingly, Larmore found himself in this position in 2004 when he was the Administrator of Harmony House and serving on the Board; he was never disciplined by the Board. Public health officials could not say if Larmore's case was ever reviewed by the Board, but Larmore acknowledged that the Board failed to review some cases that were sent in for potential disciplinary action.
In 2004, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals alleged that Larmore failed to properly investigate and respond to complaints that a female nurse aide was repeatedly engaging in sexual intercourse with a 29 year old brain injured male resident. Co-workers had witnessed several suspicious encounters between the two and the resident's roommate also complained about the two allegedly having sex on the other side of the privacy curtain. Larmore argued that "The relationship was initiated by, and was meaningful to, (the resident)...The presented situation was one of mutual interest of a (resident) and a caregiver and, although inappropriate, did not present potential or actual harm to the consumer due to the reciprocal fond relationship." In Iowa, a professional caregiver who engages in sexual intercourse with a nursing home resident can be criminally charged with dependent adult abuse.
