DE- Bissell workers accused of abuse face no charges

12-14-2008 Delaware:

Three fired, two on suspension

No criminal charges will be filed against several caregivers whose abuse of an elderly patient at the state-run Emily P. Bissell Hospital was captured on a surveillance camera, according to the Delaware Attorney General's Office.

The agency is declining to prosecute even though investigations by the hospital and the state's Division of Long Term Care Resident Protection substantiated the allegations, said Jason Miller, an attorney general spokesman.

He did not elaborate on the reasons for not prosecuting.

Three employees were terminated and another two were suspended without pay, said Public Health Director Jaime "Gus" Rivera.

Four of the five employees also have been placed on the state's Adult Abuse Registry, a list of caregivers who have substantiated allegations of abuse.

"We're not happy about them not criminally prosecuting the wrongdoers," said Curt Olsen, the fiance of one of the patient's nieces. "There were one or two decent people that genuinely cared there, but half the staff should be put on the abuse registry. Every one of them were verbally abusive."

Three of those employees already have scheduled appeals in January to be removed from the list, said Heidi Truschel-Light, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

The registry now incudes 246 people against whom substantiated allegations of abuse have been made. Twenty-five cases are pending appeal.

The 75-year-old woman in question was in the Bissell Hospital with a fractured leg after a fall in January 2007.

She is expected to be moved to the state-run Delaware Home for the Chronically Ill next month.

"We approved that," said Rivera, who oversees the operations of both facilities as well as Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City. "The question is, when can we move her? Optimally, we'd like to move her over in January. That would be best for everyone."

Disagreements between two different factions in her family regarding the level of care being given at Bissell led to a mandatory mediation in October resulting in the appointment of a public guardian.

The guardian requested she be moved to the Smyrna facility.

"We are extremely happy that she is being moved to Smyrna, where we can visit her every day," Olsen said. "I wouldn't want to be a patient in Emily P. Bissell, put it that way."

In mid-June, the woman, who suffers from dementia and diabetes, told two of her nieces that staff members were mean to her, Olsen said.

It was another niece, who had the aunt's power of attorney, who had admitted her to the facility and was considered her guardian, Olsen said.

On visits during the course of her stay, Olsen, his fiancee and her sister, Florance MacDonald, noticed signs of neglect in their aunt's personal hygiene.

In response to a theft in July, MacDonald took it upon herself to buy a $600 motion-sensitive video camera and conceal it in her aunt's room.

When the family viewed what was captured on the camera, they saw staff mistreating the bedridden aunt, yelling at her and slapping her hands and face while she was pleading for help.

A flurry of e-mails followed between the three family members and hospital officials that ended with them delivering the DVD showing the evidence of abuse to the state's Division of Long Term Care Resident Protection on July 23.

The agency is charged with inspecting the 46 skilled nursing homes and four intermediate-care facilities in the state -- with a total of 5,910 beds -- issuing licenses, conducting criminal background checks, enforcing regulations and monitoring the welfare of nursing-home patients.

On Aug. 15, the hospital barred the three family members, who were already on restricted visits, from visiting their aunt altogether.

The visitation resumed on Oct. 30 after a mandatory mediation was held between both factions of the family and a public guardian appointed.

The case is one of the 14,255 complaints handled by the Division of Long Term Care this year already, said Jay Lynch, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Social Services.

Of that number, 3,327 were investigated for abuse, neglect, mistreatment and financial exploitation, and 1,707 cases were substantiated.

Last year, there were 19,499 complaints handled, 2,985 of which were assigned investigations, Lynch said.

Of those investigated, 1,769 were substantiated cases.

"Anytime there is an investigation, it is shared with the state Attorney General's Office," Lynch said.

In 2007, the Attorney General's Office received 308 referrals of patient abuse and opened 52 cases, spokeswoman Kerry Angell said.

This year, the office had opened 68 investigations on the 288 cases referred, she said. ..News Source.. by TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal