By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
Nov. 30, 2008
(McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex)
The family of an 84-year-old resident of a Richmond nursing home hid a video camera in the woman's room after they discovered dozens of bruises all over her body and didn't get satisfactory answers from the staff.
The videotape shows nursing assistants at Madison Manor physically abusing and taunting Armeda Thomas of Irvine and failing to feed and clean her.
The Kentucky Attorney General's Office is conducting a criminal investigation, and the facility has received the most serious citation state nursing home inspectors can give.
Thomas' family aimed a hidden camera at her bed without the nursing home's knowledge in August, said her granddaughter Deborah Hamilton.
"We were just so desperate to know the truth and for other people to know the truth," said Hamilton.
Thomas' family cared for her at home after discovering the abuse at the nursing home. She died Nov. 7 of complications related to Alzheimer's disease, Hamilton said.
A review of the incidents videotaped between Aug. 17 and Sept. 8 "demonstrated actual incidents of physical abuse and neglect by the staff," the state's citation said.
The videotape captured the staff "pulling the resident out of bed by her wrists and neck," and "roughly moving the resident from side to side," the investigation showed.
On Sept. 8, three days after an incident in which certified nursing assistants handled the resident roughly, X-rays showed fractures in Thomas' lumbar vertebrae, according to the investigation.
The videotape also showed instances where nursing assistants did not clean or feed the woman as directed by nursing home officials.
The videotape also showed nursing assistants mocking and taunting Thomas.
Abridged
SOURCE: AARP BULLETIN TODAY
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