Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Reportedly, verbal abuse, headlocks and chokeholds are used to restrain residents at a Texas adult daycare center in Spring, Texas.

Westridge Pinnacle Care is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General after the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services found a "threat to the health and safety of the residents" at the facility.

According to the investigator's report:

- A staff member was arguing with one of the disabled residents, who wanted to call his mother to go home because he didn't feel well and reportedly came to blows. The staff member allegedly put the resident in a headlock and shouted, "You're not going to be violent! I'm the only one that is going to be violent! If you do it again, I'll bite your face off!"

- The facility was operating without a valid license. Reportedly, the facility's request for licensure was denied on March 16, 2010 but there are no indications as to why.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the facility and ordered the state to place residents in a safe facility.

A New York nurse was caught red-handed abusing a defenseless nursing home resident by a granny cam.

Fifty-six year old Jessie Joiner, a nurse at William Benenson Rehabilitation Pavilion in Queens, New York, was seen pushing a medication cart on March 20, 2010 around 9:00 p.m. when she suddenly left her cart and walked toward a dementia resident sitting in a wheelchair. The video reportedly shows Joiner grabbing the wheelchair, jerking it sharply to the left, and the eighty-five year old resident crashing to the floor, breaking her hip.

The nurse was seen walking past the severely injured resident twice before leaving the area. The resident is quite obviously injured and in need of assistance. According to video footage, the resident was lying on the floor for more than two minutes before another employee arrived. For over a minute after his arrival, he did nothing - not even reassuring the resident that assistance was coming. Finally, he was seen speaking to the resident.

Three full minutes after the fall, Joiner was seen returning and calls for help. A third employee arrives and the three employees approach the resident - more than four minutes after her initial fall. According to the Attorney General's complaint, Joiner admitted knocking the resident from her wheelchair and failing to assist her. The complaint alleges that Joiner failed to report the incident until another staff member saw the resident.

Joiner faces charges of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and willful violation of health laws. She has pleaded not guilty.

Another nursing home owned by Eric Rothner, an Illinois nursing home operator, has come under the scrutiny of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for poor performance.

Sebo's Nursing and Rehabiltiation Center in Hobart, Indiana was recently placed on the "Special Focus Facilities" list kept by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Nursing home facilities are placed on the "Special Focus Facilities (SFF)" list after they have demonstrated a pattern of serious problems over a period of time without adequate corrective action. According to Medicare.gov, "a Special Focus Facility is a nursing home with a recent history of persistent poor quality of care, as indicated by the findings of state or Federal inspection teams. Based on inspection findings for the most recent three-year period, CMS selects a group of nursing homes with the worst repeated inspections as SFFs. Sometimes a nursing home will fix a sufficient number of problems in order to pass one inspection, only to fail the next one. Often, many of these same problems show up in inspections again and again. This is a sign that the nursing home didn’t address the underlying problems that were causing these repeated serious deficiencies. Many SFFs respond to the recognition of their past poor performance by making concerted efforts to improve. CMS records indicate that approximately 50% of SFFs significantly improve their quality of care within the subsequent 30 months."

In fact, two years ago, Sebo's scored a 956 report card grade in the Indiana State Department of Health's Nursing Home Report Card, the worst score in the state. Their current score of 769 remains almost four times higher than the average Indiana nursing home score of 177.

Eric Rothner has owned the nursing home facility since 1996 and Sebo's problems appear to date back to at least 1999. Between 2007 and 2009, sixteen substantiated complaints were received on the facility. Immediate jeopardy citations were assessed to the facility in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009.

When asked about possible changes at the facility, Monti Montgomery, Sebo's new Administrator as of December 2009, said, "Directives come from the home office and I have no comment on those." The "home" office is Rothner's Extended Care Clinical.

Rothner's facilities are not strangers to the "Special Focus Facilties" list. His facility, Northlake Nursing and Rehabiltiation Center in Merrillville, Indiana, resided on the "Special Focus Facilities" list before closing earlier this month after being decertified from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Another of his facilities, South Shore Nursing and Rehabiltiation Center in Chicago, remains on the list. Rothner, his family members, and their related companies have interests in nearly 24 facilities in four states.

A California nursing home resident sustained a head injury after falling from a mechanical lift. The 87 year-old resident, who resided at the Motion Picture & Television Fund nursing home (MPTF), required a lift for transfers from her wheelchair to her bed. According to facility protocol, two or more staff members are to assist during lift transfers. The resident slid out of the lift sling and fell on the floor during a transfer utilizing one nursing assistant. The resident cut her forehead and required stitches. The facility was fined $7,500 for failing to prevent the resident's head injury. The nursing assistant received counseling and the resident did recover.

We previously blogged about the abuse Cesar Ulloa heaped on unsuspecting, defenseless nursing home resident that ultimately resulted in the killing of one resident at Silverado Senior Living, an upscale nursing home facility located in Calabasas, California.

Ulloa, 22, was found guilty of torture and seven counts of elder abuse in April 2010. He was arrested in October 2008 after an eleven month investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. An anonymous call to the widow of Elmore Kittower, who had died in November 2007, told her that Kittower had died of abuse. The ensuing investigation found that Kittower had suffered abuse at the hands of Ulloa for months prior to his death.

Fifty-six year old Julio Mestre, a registered sex offender, reportedly sexually molested two nursing home residents on May 8, 2010.

The women were roommates at Creekside Health Care Center, a nursing home located in San Pablo, California. On the day of the attack, a nursing home worker reported that a man entered the room of a 66 year old resident, who was unable to speak due to a stroke, and groped and sexually assaulted her. The man allegedly walked into the room and stood behind the curtain partition of the victim. Her roommate, a 79 year old woman, began hitting her call button in an attempt to summon help. An attendant located the man in the room and took him to the nurses' station, but the man, who was later identified as Julio Mestre, left before police could be summoned. The woman was treated at a local hospital and returned to the facility.

The sixty-six year old woman could convey enough information to police to describe her assault but did not know the man. Her roommate told police that the same man had assaulted her in January 2010. Although the January attack was reported to nursing home staff, police never received information of the attack and therefore, it was never investigated.

On May 9, Mother's Day, the attacker returned to the facility with his wife to deliver Communion to the residents from a nearby church. A staff member recognized Mestre and called police.

Mestre was charged with multiple felonies and booked into the County Jail. He remained in jail in lieu of $700,000 bail.

Mestre drives a charter bus. While he was working for Muni in San Francisco in 2005, he reportedly molested a woman in a hospital bed in Laguna Honda Hospital while wearing his work uniform. As part of his plea deal in that case, Mestre was required to register as a sex offender in San Pablo, where he lives.

Police continue to investigate this matter, but have not found any other victims.

A Texas nursing home CNA faces charges that he sexually assaulted a nursing home resident.

Richard Sanchez was arrested and is being held on $120,000 bond on three charges. The Sheriff's Office received a telephone call from Community Care Center of Clarendon on April 27, 2010, reporting that one of its residents had possibly been sexually assaulted. Authorities investigated the charge and subsequently obtained an arrest warrant.

The investigation found one victim of sexual abuse that had occurred during the last two months.

For more information about sexual abuse in nursing homes, go to the Terry Law Firm website.

The New York Department of Health found 23 deficiencies at Uihlein Nursing Home, a New York nursing home facility, nine of which "posed immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety".

In one instance, in July 2009, an elderly male resident was given ten times the normal dosage of Xanax. The man was prescribed 0.125 mg of the drug to be administered on July 24 and July 25. Instead, he was given two 1.25 mg on the assigned days. Two nurses found that they could not rouse the resident and reported that he was cold to touch. Admitted to the hospital, he was found to "have had a benzodiazepine overdose with coma". He later died.

The Health Department also found other problems with prescribing and adminstering drugs at the facility. The facility was cited for three Level 4 deficiencies, the most serious level, in pharmacy services. The facility was also cited for four "immediate jeopardy" deficiencies in nursing home administration when the facility failed to hire a properly licensed administrator and the facility failed to choose a doctor to be its medical director, among other things.

The facility was fined $116,150 by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but because the facility waived a hearing, it was granted a 35% reduction in the fine and only paid $75,497.

An Illinois pharmacist was sentenced on Friday, May 14, 2010 for misbranding medications that were sent to a nursing home.

Ted Thalmann received three years probation, including six months of house arrest, after sending medications to a nursing home with incorrect expiration dates. He was also fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service. Thalmann owns the Medicine Shoppe in Edwardsville, Illinois. His business was fined $16,000 and given five years probation.

Thalmann and his business, The Four L's, Inc., each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor branding charge.

An Illinois nursing home was subjected to a random sweep checking for violations of regulations and state law.

Golden Moments, a Jacksonville, Illinois nursing home, was raided on Monday, May 24, 2010 by fourteen police and state officials. Among those involved were the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Attorney General's Office, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Department of Aging, the Jacksonville Police Department, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. During the 2 1/2 hour inspection, no one was arrested or fined, but this visit did not involve checking residents for outstanding warrants, as was the case in some previous sweeps.

Five former sex offenders call Golden Moments home. In accordance with a 2006 state law requiring background checks, those residents have individual rooms, but the mandatory "risk assessments" required by that law were not completed for three of the five former offenders.

Golden Moments was fined $50,000 earlier this year for poor care after a 74 year old resident died on October 3, 2009 after choking on food, a fine that Melvin Siegel, part owner and operator of Golden Moments, finds "excessive". Golden Moments has not paid the fine and is disputing its amount.

A Virginia nursing home aide for National HealthCare (NHC) was sentenced to sixty years in prison for sexually assaulting four nursing home residents in his care. We previously blogged about James Wright and the abuse he rendered against four female nursing home residents.

According to a psychological evaluation read at Wright's recent court hearing, he blames his victims for the sexual abuse they endured. The psychological evaluation also describes Wright as a manipulative hedonist with tendencies of voyeurism and exhibitionism. His personality is ranked in line with a rapist or molester. "He holds the victims responsible...because the accuser wanted and liked the sex play that happened."

In January 2010, Wright entered an Alford plea to the four counts of aggravated sexual battery that he faced. An Alford plea acknowledges that evidence in this case is sufficient for a conviction without an admission of guilt, although the court treats it as a guilty plea.

NHC-Bristol supervisors have been accused of ignoring and failing to report Wright's suspected abuse. The former Director of Nursing, Elizabeth Franklin, was fined and reprimanded. The current facility Administrator, Charlotte Wilson, and Nursing Supervisor Helen Roberts both face possible sanctions against their licenses.

For more information about sexual abuse in nursing homes, go to the Terry Law Firm website.

A Coralville nursing home faces up to $92,400 in state and federal penalties after it attempted to cover up the sexual abuse of an elderly resident.

Windmill Manor nursing home faces stiff fines and its former director of nursing, Karen Etter, faces criminal charges.

The problems stem from a November 2009 incident wherein a male resident was found in bed with a female resident and both were completely undressed. On Christmas Day, the two residents were found having sexual intercourse in the male resident's room. The woman, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is and was unable to provide consent.

According to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals , director of nursing Karen Etter reportedly threatened staff members not to tell anyone about the incident if they wanted to keep their jobs. One worker told inspectors that she was instructed not to report the incident to the head of the dementia unit because the facility could face a fine from state inspectors. That same employee felt that the attitude of her boss was such that she could be fired for reporting.

Iowa law requires caregivers to report all suspected abuse. The Christmas Day incident went unreported to the state, although the male resident's physician ordered medication for him to decrease his sex drive.

Etter is no stranger to problems with the state. In March, the State of Iowa alleged that she threatened seven employees if they reported quality of care concerns.

A female resident at Champaign County Nursing Home suffered an injury that went undetected and died mere days later.

The resident, only known as R7 in a report from the Illinois Department of Public Health, reportedly "slid" out of a lounge chair but was caught by a CNA. According to the report, "CNA slid under (R7) and pulled her onto her lap...(R7) denied pain...did not hit head...did not hit w/c (wheelchair) or w/c pedals. (R7) talking and laughing with staff...able to move arms and legs without a problem or pain...Body check done with no areas of redness noted,". The report, dated January 25, was identified as a "late entry" and it was unclear if the fall occurred that day or prior to that date.

On January 29, bruising was noted on the resident's right leg and hand. Her doctor ordered her to be seen at a hospital where staff noted "right leg has progressively increased in size with diffuse ecchymosis (bruising)...It does appear (R7) struck her head."

The resident was diagnosed with multiple serious problems, which included shock, acute kidney failure, hypovolemia (low circulating blood flow), and acute posthemorrhagic anemia. According to an ER physician, there was an "incredible amount of blood lost in the leg" and 'it "took a lot of fluid and blood to fix (R7's) anemia/shock which resulted in CHF (congestive heart failure)." She died on February 4 from cardiopulmonary arrest, respiratory failure, and hypovolemic shock.

The ensuing investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health found that the nursing home failed the resident in the following ways:

"failing to implement existing policies on Falls, Lab and Diagnostic Test Results, Laboratory Testing, Orders for Anticoagulants, Anticoagulants and Change in Residdent's Condition or Status";

"failing to notify the physician in a timely manner of high laboratory values, neglected to identify a fall, to notify the Physician/Nursing staff of the fall and implement post fall monitoring";

"failing to assess and monitor significant bruising as a side effect of anticoagulant therapy"; and

neglecting "to notify the Physician of the significant bruising in a timely manner, but continued to administer anticoagulants to R7".

Two other visits to the nursing home by investigators have revealed other problems at the facility.

An April 2, 2010 inspection revealed that the facility failed to follow its own policy in handling an employee allegation. A resident alleged that she had provided money to a staff member for a soft drink but never received it or her money back. She lodged a complaint with another staff member, who failed to report the incident.

The April 29, 2010 inspection found that facility staff did not use proper equipment when transferring three residents. One resident, a 91 year old resident suffering from dementia, broke her hip after standing up from her wheelchair and falling. She was to be wearing a personal safety alarm.

The investigations have resulted in fines of approximately $50,000 against the nursing home. The nursing home is appealing the penalties.

Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home facility located in Hancock Park, California, was cited and hit with a $100,000 fine in the death of an eighty-four year old resident nearly two years ago. The fine is the highest and most severe fine that can be assessed.

The resident, who was recovering at Hancock Park from prostate cancer and a fractured hip, was being fed by a nasal tube. Reportedly, the man's was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital with a feeding tube inserted into his lungs. As the tube was improperly inserted, it allowed food to leak into the man's lungs, causing him to developed pneumonia. He subsequently died from his injuries in May 2008.

Champaign County Nursing Home has been sanctioned and hit with $50,000 in fines after inspections revealed violations earlier this year.

The Illinois Department of Public Health levied four separate $10,000 fines and one other $10,000 fine was assessed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The nursing home administrator, Andrew Buffenbarger, refused to elaborate on the circumstances behind the fines and says he expects the fines to be reduced. He further stated that once one problem was corrected, other problems were found.

Champaign county Board Chair Paul Weibel stated, however, that one of the problems involved prescription medication administration to one of the residents.

Jeremiah Healless

A CNA at Fair Oaks Health Care Center in Crystal Lake, Illinois faces one count of felony aggravated battery in the theft of narcotic pain medication from a defenseless nursing home resident.

Jeremiah Healless reportedly would enter the room of a ninety-two year old resident, roll her onto her side, poke holes in her fentanyl patch with a safety pin, and they squeeze the patch so that the painkiller would ooze out. Healless would lick the medication from his fingers. The mentally and physically incapacitated resident did not know what he was doing.

Nursing home staff noticed that the pain patch was becoming discolored and became suspicious. Working with the vicim's family, a video surveillance camera was installed in the resident's room and Healless was caught on video stealing the narcotic medication. Police were called and Healless was arrested on May 14, 2010.

Beverly Rasberry Stone, the operator of Stonecrest Senior Care in Sweetwater, Texas, was indicted on May 11, 2010 on two counts of injury to an elderly person after a resident under her care developed severe bedsores.

The abuse allegations arose after Stone's facility "failed to seek appropriate attention, and (the bedsores) became untreatable". The resident eventually died of unrelated causes and the death is not at issue in the injury charges lodged against the nursing home operator.

According to Stone's attorney, her facility was not permitted to handle more than three residents at one time and that rule was violated for a period of time.

After her recent arrest, Stone was released after posting bonds in the amount of $30,000. Her arraignment hearing has been waived.

On April 29, 2010, an Illinois nursing home resident sued her facility after she reportedly sustained numerous injuries at the hands of nursing home employees.

Velma Penberthy filed a lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against St. Paul's Nursing Home alleging:
- that she fell in the shower and sustained numerous ankle and leg injuries;
- that she sustained a left leg contusion after being struck with a motorized wheelchair; and
- failed to properly care for an edema when employees failed to elevate her feet.

Penberthy is seeking more than $30,000 in damages.

A Missouri nursing home nurse has been charged with abusing an elderly nursing home resident.

Kelley Smith, a nurse at Brookview Nursing Home in St. Louis, Missouri, reportedly became angry at a 72 year old defenseless resident in January 2010 and scratched him on his face multiple times. She has been charged with elder abuse in the third degree, a Class A misdemeanor.

After a thorough investigation, the Minnesota Department of Health determined that a Minnesota nursing home facility contributed to the hypothermia death of one of its residents.

According to the recent report, staff at the Jones-Harrison assisted living residence "lost" the female resident in the evening on November 21, 2009, believing that she could be at home with a family member. A family member had signed the resident out of the facility on November 20 but had returned her to the facility, forgetting to sign her back in. The family member told investigators that when she arrived at the facility on the morning of November 22, the resident had not been seen inside the facility for approximately 16 hours and the police had not been called.

Due to the confusion, staff members did not know if the woman had returned to the facility or remained at home with her family. Staff members found the woman on November 22 around 10:30 a.m. near a parking garage, frozen with no pulse. Her cause of death was listed as hypothermia from cold exposure.

The ensuing investigation determined that the woman was able to elope from the facility due to a cyclone fence gate that was left open. The woman, who suffered from dementia, walked through the gate into a wooded area. A maintenance worker, who had left around 4:00 p.m. on November 21, admitted to leaving it unlocked so he could quickly get to his car in the cold weather. The maintenance worker, who had been suspended previously, was fired for misconduct and dishonesty due to the lies he reportedly told initially when he explained how he left the facility that day.

The report concluded that the employee and the facility were guilty of negligence in the woman's death due to the facility's failure to manage its resident register and failing to initiate a missing persons protocol timely.

Yesterday, we discussed a $1.1 million verdict for pain and suffering and loss of companionship handed down by a California jury for the wrongful death of seventy-nine year old Frances Tanner while a resident at Colonial Healthcare, a nursing home owned by Horizon West Healthcare. The jury was to decide punitive damages after that.

After the attorney for the Tanner family urged them to "make them feel it", a California jury opted to financially punish Horizon West Healthcare for reportedly understaffing its facility and providing substandard care when it awarded the Tanner family $28 million in punitive damages, the largest elder abuse award in Sacramento County history. The attorney for the Tanner family provided the jury a view into the inner workings of a nursing home network and advised the jury that Horizon West was worth approximately $200 million.

Horizon spokesman, Dan Niccum, said the company "will vigorously contest the verdict", based on "constitutional guidelines that were ignored".

Frances Tanner

Seventy-nine year old Frances Tanner was mobile and involved in life admitted to the Colonial Healthcare nursing home in March 2005, suffering from mild dementia. Seven months later, she died from an infected bedsore after falling and breaking her hip.

Her family filed a lawsuit against Colonial Healthcare and its parent company, Horizon West of Rocklin, alleging the entities were responsible for her untimely death. This week, after deliberating less than two days, a jury agreed and awarded $1.1 million in damages for her pain and suffering and her daughter's loss of companionship. After deciding that the facility's conduct was "malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent", the jury will hear further testimony about the corporation's finances before deciding on punitive damages.

Colonial Healthcare, which was formerly known as Hilltop Manor, has had a history of problems in caring for its residents. Frances Tanner's case was the fourth case in recent time in which the facility was cited for the death of a resident.

A federal judge refuses to dismiss claims against Coventry Health Center Associates, a dissolved limited partnership set up by a former nursing home executive.

The U.S. government is seeking more than $12 million from Antonio Giordano, his CEO, John Montecalvo, Pasquale Confreda, a general partner in Coventry Health Center Associates, and Coverntry Health Center Associates, the entity itself. The government maintains that the named defendants diverted millions of dollars from the nursing homes, allowing them to fall into debt, which is a violation of a Housing and Urban Development agreement.

Giordano and Confreda argued that because Coventry Health Center Associates is dissolved, it can no longer be held liable. Federal judge Mary Lisi ruled in May 2010 that the individual partners are liable for the partnership's debts under state law.

After failing to meet minimum federal care standards for the past six months, an Iowa ManorCare facility is set to lose its federal funding. The federal government intends upon terminating ManorCare Health Services' participation in the Medicare and Medicaid program on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. According to ManorCare spokesperson Julie Beckert, ManorCare intends upon making up the loss of federal benefits to the residents so they will not have to relocate. She also said that the facility intends upon coming back into compliance. The facility has had problems as of late. Late last year, three residents suffered broken bones in a two month period: a broken leg, a broken arm, and a broken hip. According to a facility staff member, the residents reportedly waited an hour for pain medication. In November 2009, the facility was cited for taking between 20 and 45 minutes to respond call lights and for failing to notify a doctor of a resident's fall for ten days after the incident. Additionally, one resident who needed to use restroom facilities was reportedly told by a staff member to wet the bed instead. The facility was fined $18,000 in early 2010 for failing to treat and prevent bedsores, failing to provide a safe environment, and taking up to 75 minutes to respond to a call light. The facility was fined again in March 2010 for failing to provide a safe environment. A fine was assessed in April 2010 for failing to follow physicians orders. Owned by the Carlyle Grop, one of the world's richest private equity funds, the facility is one of Iowa's largest and newest nursing homes. While considered to be a state of the art facility, ManorCare Health Services reportedly continues to have problems with resident neglect and short staffing.

Recently, senior citizens in Port Wentworth, Georgia were told by Senior Citizens, Inc., an organization that operates a senior citizens' center, that they could not pray at meals that were paid for with federal funding, but they could observe a moment of silence.

After questioning by Fox News and other news organizations, it seems that Senior Citizens, Inc. has had a change of heart. In a statement released by the senior center, it said, "...Over our years of service, we have been instructed, as recently as two weeks ago, by the state regulatory agency that verbal prayer was not allowed at any senior center. We are so pleased to say that we have been contacted by a few minutes ago by the new Director of Aging clarifying the regulation and reversing the position of new verbal prayer..."

According to a recently released state health department report, a female nursing home resident fell to her death in May 2009 and a Minnesota nursing home is at fault. On the day of the fall, the resident was found on a concrete stairwell landing, face-down, and strapped into her wheelchair. She was unable to be resuscitated.

According to a report released by the Minnesota Health Department, the deceased resident had a history of wandering around the facility and trying to open doors. Merely weeks before her fatal fall, the resident had been found in a stairwell and brought back in to safety by a facility employee. The employee reported the incident to a registered nurse.

The facility, Providence Place, failed to change the woman's care plan after she twice previously attempted to open the door to the same stairwell. The second attempt came only thirty minutes before she died. Her previous care plan, dated December 2008, indicated that the resident "needed assistance of staff to avoid potentially dangerous situations".

A Connecticut nursing home facility is closing its doors after being cited in April 2010 with numerous health and safety violations.

West Rock Health Care Center, nursing home facility owned by New Haven Health Care, Inc., will close within the next few months. New Haven Health Care filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. The trustee in the bankruptcy case has requested that the facility be closed because it operates at a loss and is unable to come into compliance with health department regulations.

In inspections in March and April 2010, health inspectors encountered a variety of problems. A health inspector found a staff member using a fecal-smeared washcloth on a incontinent resident's face. In another instance, a resident with a open thigh wound did not receive wound treatment for six of the fourteen days of ordered treatment. Another resident, who suffered from diabetes, did not receive breakfast because the resident's name had been left off the meal list.

The facility was also cited for failing to properly handle an incident involving a resident who may have swallowed shampoo. The resident was seen with the shampoo bottle in his/her mouth and staff members could not determine whether the resident had ingested shampoo. The facility failed to investigate or file a report on the incident and there were no records showing that the resident had been assessed immediately following the incident.

Senior citizens at a Port Wentworth, Georgia senior citizen facility have been forbidden to pray. At least, they have been forbidden to pray at meals that have been provided by Senior Citizens, Inc.

Senior citizen visitors at the Ed Young Senior Citizens Center have been instructed that they cannot pray before their meals due to a federal guideline. According to the Vice President of Senior Citizens, Inc., Tim Rutherford, they are contracted by the City of Port Wentworth to provide meals to the elderly and, because those meals are paid for with mostly federal money, they cannot pray before meals. These meals, which consist of baked chicken, steak tips, rice, and salads, typically cost approximately $6 per plate. Seniors pay 55 cents per meal and federal funding absorbs the remainder of the cost.

Rutherford instituted a moment of silence before the meal rather than allow the seniors to pray aloud and offend federal authorities.

The Mayor of Port Wentworth is searching for an alternative, which may include cancelling the contract with Senior Citizens, Inc.

An Ohio LPN was arrested on May 6, 2010, after reportedly abusing two defenseless nursing home residents.

Monica Smith, an LPN at Harmony Court nursing home reportedly became angry and grabbed a resident by the hair and threw her to the floor. In another instance of abuse, she reportedly punched a resident in the chest.

She faces two counts of patient abuse.