Call us today: 1-888-LAW-3010
www.EndElderAbuse.com
I share these stories not to scare you, but rather to remind you of why it is so critically important to ensure that your loved ones are being cared for by responsible, well-paid nursing home staffers. The simple fact is, the nursing home industry is built on a very dangerous business model in which nursing home operators try to squeeze out bigger and bigger profits by cutting staff and paying substandard wages. Low wages means you cannot attract top quality employees, which means patient safety is placed at risk
This Chicago Tribune article illustrates the consequence of the "profits over patients" business model:
A 24-year-old nursing assistant on duty when an 89-year-old Alzheimer's disease patient wandered out of a nursing home and froze to death in February was released from the DuPage County Jail after pleading guilty Monday to criminal neglect. Heidi Leon accepted a plea agreement that placed her on 30 months of probation and sentenced her to 180 days in jail.
Leon had been charged in connection with the death of Sarah Wentworth, who was found about 5 a.m. Feb. 5 outside The Arbor of Itasca. About 2 a.m., with the temperature hovering around zero, she had left the home through a door, triggering an alarm when she opened it.A ssistant DuPage County State's Atty. Mary Cronin said Leon, the on-duty nursing assistant, responded by turning the alarm off and returning to a lounge to watch the television show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" without checking on any residents. Cronin said the evidence showed that the barefoot Wentworth fell about 85 feet from the door and tried to crawl back about 14 feet, before her body gave out. The coroner's report said she died of hypothermia.
A daughter of the vicitm told Judge Peter Dockery that "we entrusted our mother to the Arbor staff, but she was left alone to die alone in the cold. Her will to survive was overcome by the bitter cold, and she suffered a lonely and painful death."
Leon pleaded guilty to criminal neglect of a long-term care-facility resident and obstruction of justice for originally telling police she had made a resident check after the door alarm sounded. The Wentworth family has filed a civil suit against the facility, claiming neglect.
Need to speak with an attorney about a case of nursing home abuse or neglect?
Call us today: 1-888-LAW-3010
www.EndElderAbuse.com
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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