The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) reported multiple cases of physical/verbal abuse and neglect at the Enid Continuing Care Retirement Community. The allegations included improper conduct toward the residents by the employees.
Allegedly, the staff were verbally abusive and failed to keep residents safe from abuse and harm. The claims detail incidents of physical abuse, neglecting to provide medication to residents and failing to report a patient’s repeated seizures to doctors.
After several complaints were made, the administration did not investigate or did nothing to shield the residents from further incidents. The health department saw the repeated behavior of the staff as an immediate threat to residents’ safety and health, and at least three employees were later terminated.
The investigation began after incriminating photos of the facility popped up on Facebook. Pictures of filthy bedrooms and bathrooms were taken and uploaded by a former nursing assistant at the facility. The former employee also snapped pictures of patients suffering from bed sores and open wounds.
Under the pictures, she commented on the facility being understaffed and staff neglecting and treating the patients poorly. She pleaded that these patients needed and deserved adequate care.
Oklahoma City Adult Protective Services reported potential abuse of a resident at Reliant Living Center to the attorney general’s office began. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) investigated, obtaining evidence and witness statements that the caretaker pushed the resident against a railing and down to the ground.
The former caretaker pleaded no contest to the felony charge of abuse in Oklahoma County District Court and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. The remainder of her three-year sentence is to be spent on probation, and while on probation, she cannot seek employment as a caregiver for adults or children.
The Oklahoma Attorney General charged the Edmond man for slapping an elderly resident at Villagio Senior Living in Oklahoma City. The 37-year-old man worked through a third-party staffing agency as a contract nurse at the assisted living facility when the alleged assault occurred.
The MFCU investigation led to multiple witness statements and evidence that confirmed the caretaker struck the female resident in her face, above her eye. The Oklahoma County Sheriff Deputy, working in conjunction with MFCU, arrested and charged the nurse with Abuse by Caretaker—a felony. He could receive up to 10 years in prison and/or up to $10,000 in fines if convicted.
The above incidents of abuse are too common. According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), more than 15,000 complaints regarding abuse or neglect were filed in 2020.
Data from the NCOA show that approximately five million people are affected in some way by elder abuse every year. This is with less than 5% of the elderly reporting their abuse.
The National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) reports nursing home residents are vulnerable to various forms of nursing home abuse. It can take the form of physical, psychological, or sexual abuse. Residents can be neglected, or someone could take advantage of them economically with financial abuse.
Abusers can be staff and other residents.
Nursing home abuse complaints break down in the following statistical categories:
Reporting in 2020 by the New York Times revealed gross mismanagement of nursing homes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A third of coronavirus deaths were linked to nursing homes. Residents were transferred to homeless shelters, and distancing protocols were broken to bring in COVID-19 patients because it would increase a facility’s profits.
A lot of these deaths are attributed to neglect which comes in many forms, including:
In 2012, Pro Publica compiled a nursing home database that ranks individual facilities based on regulator-cited deficiencies and imposed penalties and fines. The database factors the trends and patterns of the previous three years and gives the ability to search the inspection reports for almost 80,000 nursing homes nationally.
Locally, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OKDHS) offers the Long-Term Care Service—a division of Oklahoma’s Protective Health Services. Long Term Care gathers data and oversees the standards of health and safety for residents of licensed long-term care facilities.
These long-term care facilities include:
The services offered by Long Term Care include:
In Oklahoma, anyone who has witnessed or suspects nursing home abuse is happening at a certain facility can email a complaint reporting abuse to the complaints and enforcement division of OKDHS. Concerns can also be voiced by phone – 800-747-8419, or with Long Term Care Services – 405-271-6868.
