Kentucky AG Reviews Claims Of Abuse At Danville Nursing Home
Posted in Featured Articles on December 22, 2011The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office is reviewing a Type A citation that was issued last summer to Charleston Health Care Center, a nursing home in Danville. Type A is the state’s most serious nursing home citation, issued in cases where a resident’s life or safety has been endangered due to a violation of state regulations.
On July 20, a resident at the Charleston Health Care Center accused a male nurse’s aide of placing a pillow over the resident’s face in an attempt to suffocate the resident and then hitting the resident on the sides of the face. The same nurse’s aide is accused of lying in bed with another resident and kissing her on Aug. 10, according to a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader. The Charleston Health Care Center fired the nurse’s aide after the second incident, according to news reports.
The Office of the Inspector General determined that nursing home staff failed to report allegations of abuse to the administration immediately. When they did find out about the allegations, nursing home administrators failed to conduct thorough investigations and failed to report the allegations of abuse to the right agencies, according to news reports.
The nursing home is appealing the citation. Lisa Hinkle, an attorney for the nursing home, said that none of the allegations of abuse arising out of the facts of the Type A citation were substantiated.
Marlin K. Sparks Management owns the nursing home, which posts four out of five stars on the federal government’s five-star rating system. Marlin K. Sparks, who identified himself as the president, e-mailed comments about the incident to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “We are still not certain that the actions of July 20 actually did happen,” he wrote.
He pointed out that the nursing home cares for many frail, elderly people who are not always lucid. In fact, the resident in question was admitted to the nursing home in 2010 with a head injury and schizophrenia. However, a certified medical assistant told investigators that, after the alleged incident, the resident had a small facial bruise that was not there the day before.
Perhaps the most relevant fact is that the nursing home was required to report the allegations to the proper authorities and apparently failed to do so.
It’s not clear what happened on July 20, and it will take a further investigation by the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether the aide did, in fact, put a pillow over a resident’s head and strike the resident. However, it is plain that nursing homes have the responsibility to provide a safe environment for residents and protect them from neglect and abuse.
