Item: Nursing Home Law Center LLC
Rating: 5
Author: Lisa

As an injury lawyer who frequently handles nursing home negligence matters, I find myself regularly thinking ‘what happened to plain old common sense’? I mean, you can train the nurses, physicians, maintenance workers and administrators til’ you’re blue in the face– yet most of the commonly encountered nursing home problems could easily be avoided with plain old common sense.

Want an example? How does checking on the temperature of food before feeding a disabled person? Is that too much to ask?

Along those lines, homicide charges were filed against Alador Thompson, an employee of Cambridge-Brightfield Assisted Living Facility in Hatfield, PA. The charges are related to an October 8th incident in which Thompson poured scalding oatmeal into the mouth of an Alzheimer’s patient she was responsible for feeding. The oatmeal caused the resident to suffer burns to his lips, tongue, and the inside of his mouth.

The resident was taken to a local hospital for burn treatment. After three days of hospitalization, the resident was returned to Cambridge where he apparently stopped eating and died.

On August 5th Thompson will be arraigned on charges related to involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a care dependent person.

Hey district attorney, can I make a suggestion? How about filing similar charges against the administrator of the facility for accepting this poor man back at the facility and allowing him to starve to death following the obviously severe burns he suffered on hands of your employee?

Read more about this case of severe neglect at a Pennsylvania assisted living facility here.

For more information on nursing homes in Pennsylvania look here. For laws related to Pennsylvania nursing homes, look here.

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Mary Oliver says:

June 29, 2009 at 7:02 pm

I worked in acute care for 20yrs. before I entered long-term care. LTC is the most regulated healthcare specialty by far. I have now been in LTC for over 5yrs. and here are some statistics you need to be aware of. Hospitals are not regulated by the State, as far as “surveys” are concerned. Of most importance is this one fact: 95% of Nursing Home Decubitis Ulcers come the the ACUTE CARE SETTING. They seem to ignore our residents, don’t turn them, don’t bathe them, cause weight loss. Then they return them to us in worse shape that they were when they went to the hospital. I have personally watched 3 residents in the past three years, while during their hospital stay, skin condition deteriorated within 3 days, to a Stage 3 pressure ulcer. I am so tired of Nursing Homes taking the hit for this. Do some research and you will find out who is really causing the majority of pressure sores. It is the Acute Care Setting. They only answer to JCAHO, who is paid off.

Jonathan Rosenfeld's Nursing Homes Abuse Blog says:

October 19, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Assisted Living Employee Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter Charges After Resident Dies From Burn Injury

Alvador Thompson, a nurses aide who poured scalding oatmeal into the mouth of a disabled patient has pleaded guilty in response to the involuntary manslaughter charges filed against her by the Montgomery County District Attorney. This incident at an as…