Posted on December 13, 2008 by Jonathan Rosenfeld

Nursing Home Director Sentenced To 19 Months In Prison For Ignoring Injured Resident

The Portland nursing home director who blatantly disregarded a resident's severe injuries has been sentenced to 19 months in prison.  Susan Ruddell, was found guilty of criminal mistreatment for her role in a 2006 incident where a nursing home resident was dropped on the ground and ignored for five days before she was taken to a hospital despite visible fractures to her legs. The resident died shortly after the incident from complications related to her injuries.  See the full report of this Portland nursing home director's sentencing here.

Too often meager fines are imposed on facilities that provide poor nursing home care.  The fines are little more than a slap on the wrist to the nursing home owners and administrators.  Hopefully, this case was serve as a wake up call to nursing home administrators though out the country that that they may be held criminally responsible for mistreatment and abuse of their residents.

Read about the Nursing Homes Abuse Blog's earlier report on this case of nursing home abuse here.

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Posted on October 2, 2008 by Jonathan Rosenfeld

Barbaric Treatment Lands Nursing Home Employees In Criminal Court

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The criminal case against two Portland nursing home employees gave me chills.  This case goes beyond nursing home neglect and enters the realm of nursing home cruelty. According to reports, a nursing director is being charged with two charges of criminal mistreatment and a certified nursing assistant (CNA) is being charged with reckless endangerment for their inaction following the fall-related injury to a resident at the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center.

The nursing home employees allegedly waited five days before sending a 59-year-old resident to the hospital for medical treatment for her broken legs sustained in a fall.  The nursing home resident apparently fell while being transferred from her wheelchair to her bed with a lift. 

The nursing home staff tried to hide the incident from the resident's family.  Federal and state nursing home regulations were ignored as no incident report was completed following the fall.  Despite the fact that the nursing home resident was screaming in pain and nurses could hear popping sounds coming from the badly broken legs, no medical treatment was provided.  After five days of living in pain the resident was taken to a hospital where she died.

These criminal charges against the individual nursing home employees are separate from a lawsuit for wrongful death that the estate of the deceased woman is entitled to bring.  If these claims of nursing home neglect prove to be true the nursing home and its owners should be held fully responsible for fostering an environment where nursing home employees hold a code of silence to protect each other.

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