Elder Law

Nursing Home Aide is Accused of Assaulting Nursing Home Patient

By Levin & Perconti

A nurse?s assistant is accused of using a pillow to silence a patient at a nursing home. The 23-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault on an at-risk victim and misdemeanor neglect of an at-risk victim. The arrest came after a staff member reported allegations of nursing home abuse at the police department. According to a heavily redacted arrest affidavit the nurse?s aide at the facility watched as the woman placed a pillow over the face of a patient in order to stop her from screaming. The woman had been a patient at the facility for six years is not ambulatory and has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The patient repeated the allegations of elderly abuse to a police office. The nurse?s aide also screamed that the woman should shut up. The patient also alleged that the employee had shoved a white rag inside her mouth before covering her face, and claimed that she had done similar things in the past. Nursing home abuse oftentimes comes at the hands of employees who are not competent at their jobs. To read more about the nursing home abuse, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on August 26, 2009 (boomark / email).