After investigating serious reports of nursing home abuse, the Department of Health has placed sanctions on the Hanover Nursing Center in Indiana. An emergency order has temporarily banned the nursing home from accepting new patients until the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decide to lift the injunction. State officials have recommended a daily fine of $4,050 in penalties for the serious cases of nursing home abuse recently discovered through official investigations. Nine nursing home employees have been fired in connection with gross acts of nursing home abuse.
The state Department of Health has discovered at least four nursing home residents were verbally or physically abused by nursing home staff since August 2005. In one of these horrific abuse incidents, a 79-year-old woman was beaten by a nursing home employee and left with a bloody face. Another male resident was choked to the point of turning blue and had his thumbs bent back when he refused to retire to bed. Another nursing resident in the Alzheimer’s unit was left with black eyes and blood pouring from her nose and mouth after 28-year-old Amy Johnson, a nursing home employee, wrapped her arm around the resident’s neck, punched her in the face, and asked her “how she liked it.”
Two nursing home employees face criminal charges as a result of this abuse. Johnson, who was fired in connection with this horrendous abuse, faces felony battery charges. Another female employee has been charged with a misdemeanor offense of failing to report nursing home abuse. Both nursing home employees have pled “not guilty” to these criminal charges and await trial in January. Another seven nursing home employees were fired in connection with these serious cases of nursing home abuse.
Medical Rehabilitation Centers Inc, who manages the Hanover Nursing Center and fourteen other nursing homes in three states, claims these are isolated instances of abuse and said they are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against nursing home abuse. The company’s vice president says the other employees at Hanover Nursing Center are appalled about the abuse that occurred in their workplace. Officials have set up an anonymous hotline to receive additional reports of nursing home abuse from the Hanover site. State officials and other experts are working to make changes at this particular nursing home.
Tragically, cases of nursing home abuse occur across the nation with alarming frequency. When we put the lives of our loved ones in the hands of nursing home professionals, we expect they will be treated with respect and dignity and receive the quality of care they deserve. Far too often, the most vulnerable of our citizens are abused, neglected, or otherwise harmed by nursing home professionals. If you suspect that a loved one is being mistreated in a nursing home facility, you may wish to contact a qualified attorney who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
