Resident’s Death is covered up
Posted by Patti on January 31st, 2006 / Print This Post
This is just plain GROSS. I hope those who had any part of this are punished to the full extent of the law.
BEDFORD, Ind. - A lawsuit filed by the daughters of a 74-year-old man who froze to death after he wandered from a nursing home claims workers bathed his body, changed his clothes and placed him in his bed after finding him dead.The lawsuit filed in Lawrence Circuit Court against Hospitality House names its owner, Bloomington Hospital, and unidentified people it claims contributed to Orland Jean’s January 2004 death.
A dietary worker found Jean outside the nursing home, about 20 feet from a courtyard door and summoned other workers who took him back inside, according to the lawsuit. Jean suffered from dementia, was missing part of his right leg and was confined to a wheelchair.
“According to the dietary worker, everyone who viewed Mr. Jean knew that he was dead. However, employees of Hospitality House removed his wet clothes, bathed the dead body and put a clean gown on the dead body, and placed the body in Mr. Jean’s bed,” the lawsuit states.
A report by Lawrence County Coroner John Sherrill ruled Jean’s death due to environmental hypothermia.
“I feel the facility went to great lengths to hide the facts, to deceive a doctor, to tamper with the crime scene and evidence by throwing out the clothes,” Sherrill’s report stated. “This was an absolute cover up of this death to the point we don’t know the truth of how Mr. Jean got out of the facility or how long he was out of the facility.”
The lawsuit alleges Jean left the building through an unlocked door in the home’s Alzheimer’s unit and was outside in “subfreezing temperatures” in rain, freezing rain and snow.
The State Department of Health fined Hospital House $13,500 after an investigation of Jean’s death.
Attorney James Whitlatch, who represents Bloomington Hospital, said Saturday he cannot comment on the lawsuit’s claims against Hospitality House, which he said is a nonprofit, long-term care center.
“Obviously the Hospitality House was concerned about that incident and certainly believes the facts are different from what’s in the plaintiff’s complaint. It’s unfortunate that the suit was filed,” he said.
Eric Koch, the attorney for Jean’s daughters, Pamela Cheek of Plainfield and Dana Chancellor of Dothan, Ala., said the lawsuit could take two years or more to go to trial.
June 11th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
I worked at that nursing home at that time. So glad I finally got out. I believe that the accusations are true from everything I heard from the CNAs. I knew the victim and he used to often way he was going to get out and “go home”. The hospital that runs that nursing home — Bloomington Hospital — is well known for its incompetency in operating extended care facilities, but this case proves that there is an even bigger problem….
September 16th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Blooming hospitality house should be shut down and many of the nurses stripped of their licenses and thrown in jail! This is a place of neglect, cover-ups, lies and incompetance. It is rotten from top to bottom and abuses are the norm.