Head of Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators Resigns
We discussed Daniel Larmore's oversight of the Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators in a previous blog.
Larmore resigned on Friday, October 9, 2009, after serving six years on the board and fifteen months as Chairman. Larmore resigned during a three minute meeting between John Frew, Governor Chet Culver's Chief of Staff, and Larmore. Reportedly, Frew was appalled at Larmore's recent acknowledgement of a sexual relationship between a nursing home resident and a caregiver, calling it a "harmless relationship", and asked for Larmore's resignation.
The Des Moines Register recently reported on the Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators and found the following:
- The Board has not disciplined any nursing home administrator in the past two years, despite findings of wrongdoing by inspectors. The Board has taken up to three years to impose sanctions when an administrator is convicted of wrongdoing. Larmore has served on the Board's disciplinary committee for the past four years.
- According to Larmore, some cases of wrongdoing are not being reviewed by the Board.
- The Board has operated for fourteen months with only one citizen representative, despite the requirement of two citizen representatives.
- Larmore held the position of a person who is "actively engaged" in the position of nursing home administration despite the fact that he recently resigned as administrator of a nursing home facility.
- Harmony House, where Larmore was Administrator, was fined $3,500 in 2004 after the facility failed to properly address allegations that a female nursing home employee was engaging in sexual relations with a brain-damaged male resident. Larmore dismissed the state's concerns by stating, "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."
