Nursing Home Chain Arraigned In Death of MA Woman
Posted by Kim on July 27th, 2007 / Print This Post
Life Care Centers of America has been arraigned in the death of a MA woman- the state of MA is going after the chain.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - A Tennessee nursing home corporation indicted in the 2004 death of a woman who lived in their facility in Acton, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty today.Life Care Centers of America, based in Cleveland, is charged with manslaughter, abuse and neglect of a long-term care resident.
The company is also accused of making a false Medicaid claim in connection with the death of 74-year-old Julia McCauley.
Investigators said McCauley — who was confined to a wheelchair — was under doctor’s order to wear a device that would sound an alarm if she wandered too close to an exit door.
On the morning of April 17th, 2004, McCauley was found dead in her overturned wheelchair down a stairway. Authorities say she wasn’t wearing the monitoring device.
It’s the first time in Massachusetts that a nursing home corporation has been indicted for manslaughter.
We will be watching this case closely and will update as news becomes available.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I’m sure you’ll keep tabs on this Kim. Let us know whats new when it happens.
July 29th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Keep an eye out.
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:30 am
THis will drag on for years. Just watch.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Same situation happened where I worked in 2000. The Don at my new place of employment used to work at the facility. She was just subpoena’d for court over it, and she can barley remember what happened. (A dementia resident got the patient out of bed in the middle of the night. Put them in a wheel chair and pushed them down the emergency starewell. How no one saw or heard is a mystery. It was on an 11-7 shift)Imagine 8 years later being summoned to court! These things always drag on and it is a shame. These incidents should not happen, however they do. More commonly than you think. Another reason why it is important to have more staff. I bet they did not have a working door alarm and all the staff was busy with other people!
August 6th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
they had a working alarmed door. the resident didnt have her wander guard on.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I have been a cna off and on for more than 30 years. A week ago yesterday, I walked into a residents room and found her hanging upside down, head and arms on the floor and here hips caught between the rails and matteress of the bed. when the nurse and I got her down we turned her over and she had already turned blue and was dead. we had a mandatory meeting today about it. In the state where I live they didn’t have a bed entrapment law. as of Mon. at 3:15 we now do. I had been in that residents room 3 times since 6:50pm and at 7:15pm when i found her. The autopsy showed she died from a heart attack and somehow or another she fell between the bed and the bedrails. There was no bruising or any tramua to her body anywhere. Just goes to show no matter how often you check on the residents accidents are going to happen.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Whenever an incident at work happens, when I get home I write it all out. On paper or computer and print it! Details: Names, times, dates, places, rooms, residents, staff…everything. I save it in a file I have. This way, when something comes up years later I have a record of it, that I wrote myself and that hasn’t been altered by some DON or other busy body trying to avoid a lawsuit.
CYA.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Kindred, that is just awful! I am sorry this happened. JSYK, we had a similar incident happen several years ago. A man was found in the same situation; and it was determined that he too died of an MI. But most of us questioned which came first: The MI that possibly but highly doubtfully led to the need to climb over the rails; or the climb first which entrapped and then caused the MI? Either way the facility got sued and they settled before trial.