There comes a point when families realize that they are no longer able to provide the necessary care for their aging loved ones. At this point, they seek nothing but the best professional care for them. But they remain fearful that harm may come to their aging relatives. Such fear is brought about by incidences we hear and read in the news about senior care abuse.
It happened to a senior care patient in Albany, New York. Sarina Francis, a certified nursing assistant, admitted that she broke an elderly patient’s arm while the woman was under her care. According to the court and state records, the nursing home aid not only broke her arm, but the woman’s pleas for help were ignored for several hours by two supervisors. The Albany Times Union reports that Francis pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly adult. Her sentence is expected in March, and if convicted, she may face as high as four years in jail.
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About The Incident
The 84-year-old woman was being escorted by Francis to her room when the incident happened. Francis alleges the woman became combative. The certified nursing assistant defended herself that her response was to grab the woman’s wrist and twist behind her head. She says in doing this she unfortunately broke the woman’s forearm.
It may be easy to suggest that the combative nature of the woman was such that Francis overreacted in her response, but upon putting the woman in her room, Francis took off the woman’s incontinence brief. According to the court, Francis then hit the elderly woman in the head with the brief with such force that the urine splashed across her. The Albany Times Union adds that at that time, Francis again grabbed the woman’s wrists and forced the senior under her care to hit her own face with her hands repeatedly.
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The worse thing is it took close to 12 hours before the elderly resident received the medical care she clearly needed. The first nursing supervisor who examined the woman concluded that her arm was not broken despite the obvious bruising and swelling. It was only until another nursing supervisor ordered an X-ray, that the elderly resident finally received confirmation that her arm was in fact broken. Hudson Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center was cited by the state because it put the safety and health of a senior individual under care at risk.
The Call For Real Care
This unfortunate incident highlights a number of troubling developments going in senior care institutions. A person given responsibility to care for the patient instead harms her, and despite the injured elderly resident’s numerous pleas for help, the supervisors ignore her, thus failing to take responsible action. It is clear in this case that the elderly woman under senior level care was injured. In such a case, the facility is responsible for determining whether the harm is real. We see that the x-ray was delayed for 12 hours. This caused unnecessary suffering.
The nursing home aide claims that she “lost her temper”. Even so, that type of reaction is unacceptable. In fact, such types of individuals are clearly not capable of working with elderly patients at a long-term care facility.
If someone you love has suffered personal injury while under the supervision of a nursing home aide, contact a Dallas nursing home abuse lawyer from Crowe Arnold & Majors, LLP today for a free consultation.
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