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Sexual Assault in Nursing Home Highlights Need for Oversight

By Rick Shapiro

An inexcusable act occurred at the Chesapeake Health and Rehabilitation Center. Mark S. Albright, a licensed nurse working at the facility on the 600 block of Kingsborough Square in Chesapeake, Virginia (VA) sexually assaulted a comatose woman.

A nursing assistant witnessed Albright place his mouth on the woman's breast, but waited several minutes to report the incident, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

This is a disgusting, deplorable incident and Albrigt was rightly sentenced to 10 years in prison. Taking advantage of a woman in a debilitated state is horrendous.

Unfortunately, abuse in nursing homes is far too common in Virginia (VA). According to the National Center for Elder Abuse, during fiscal year 2002, Adult Protective Services received 11,306 reports of elder/adult abuse and maltreatment in Virginia (VA). Of these reports, 7,960 were substantiated.

As a personal injury lawyer who's been practicing law for 20 years, I always get so frustrated when I hear about nursing home workers abusing patients. We are entrusting these people with the safety and well-being of our parents and grandparents. Many workers violate that trust.

Our firm wrote about the fact that three Virginia (VA) nursing homes were listed on the worst nursing homes in the country by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. It probably won't be long before the Chesapeake Health and Rehabilitation Center make that list unless they take serious actions to overhaul their staff and implement stricter regulations.

Here's a video describing some of the tell-tale signs of nursing home abuse.

Video

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

PA

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Full post as published by Norfolk-Portsmouth Personal Injury Lawyer on June 14, 2009 (boomark / email).