Four employees of the Medford Multicare Center for Living in Suffolk, NY have been charged with criminal neglect and falsifying business records. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the charges following six weeks of video surveillance at the nursing home in 2007. The nurses are accused of failing to move and turn over a patient for up to seven hours at a time, denying the patient water and left him sitting in his own waste. Felony charges were also filed relating to falsifying medical records claiming they administered heart medication when the nursing home was actually had the medication out of stock. The nurses were released without bail and are due back in court on March 20. Read more about this case involving alleged nursing home neglect here.
Failing to turn a patient and skipping a dosage of medication may seem like minor variations and have little impact on patient care. The reality is that these seemingly minor deficiencies can have tragic results. Failing to clean and turn a bed bound patient can lead to the rapid development pf pressure sores. Similarly, failing to administer medication may result in other medical problems. Once again, perhaps ‘hidden cameras’ should become the norm in nursing homes to both protect patients and vindicate wrongfully charged nursing home staff.