In April, National HealthCare-Bristol Administrator Charlotte Wilson denied accusations that she ignored complaints about patients being sexually assaulted by a nurse’s aide.
Though she heard some complaints, Wilson told the Virginia Board of Long-Term Care Administrators, she lacked the concrete proof needed to take action.
Since then, the former nurse’s aide, James Wright, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for the aggravated sexual battery of four elderly women from 2000 to 2008.
And on Monday, Wilson surrendered her administrator’s license rather than face those same accusations next month in a formal hearing by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, state documents show.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, she left the Bristol nursing home after running it for 15 years, NHC Regional Vice President Ray Blevins confirmed in an e-mail Wednesday.
“She is no longer the Administrator of NHC Bristol,” wrote Blevins.
Wilson’s surrender marks the final chapter in the state’s investigation of wrongdoing at the Bristol nursing home. The state licensing board has already fined and reprimanded a former NHC nursing director for her role, and cleared a nursing supervisor of any wrongdoing.
On Monday, Wilson signed a consent order that accused her of:
- Ignoring complaints that Wright attacked one patient in 2000 and another in September 2004;
- Delaying reporting an abuse allegation to a patient’s family by a day;
- Failing to ban Wright from some rooms despite the requests of patients;
- Enforcing a policy that employees had to report abuse allegations only to a superior instead of to an administrator or any state or local official as required by law.
Wilson, by signing the order, does not admit any wrongdoing, according to the document. But she does forfeit her license for at least a year, provided no more allegations pop up.
During an informal hearing in April, Wilson said the first complaint about Wright came in 2002, which contradicts the consent order’s finding that she heard the first one in 2000.
She also argued that she had no proof that Wright committed any crimes.
Wright “told us at the time that he provides the best care possible. I had no reason to have any more concerns,” Wilson told the board in April. “Now, I’d do things a lot differently.”
Her assertions did not sway the board, and it
voted to hand the case to the state’s attorney general.
During an informal hearing, during which the accused is the main speaker, the harshest penalties available to a licensing board are fines, reprimands and probation.
State law reserves more severe punishments for the formal hearings. Wilson could have lost her license to practice in Virginia for good.
Earlier in April, the Board of Nursing handed former NHC-Bristol Director of Nursing Elizabeth Anne Franklin a reprimand and a $1,500 fine. She was allowed to keep her Virginia nursing license, however.
In June, the nursing board absolved current NHC-Bristol Nursing Supervisor Helen Roberts of ignoring complaints. The board did find that Roberts should have documented some other problems with Wright’s job performance, however, and that she failed to pass on an allegation that he tried to force-feed a patient.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
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