More Nursing Home Abuse Cases Uncovered
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More Nursing Home Abuse Cases Uncovered, Live...
Documents from the Virginia Board of Nursing say James Wright abused at least 8 patients. The documents describe the abuses graphically.
Published: August 28, 2009
Updated: August 28, 2009
BY MICHAEL L. OWENS
and DANA WACHTER
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
NEWS CHANNEL 11 Connects
BRISTOL, Va. – The sexual assault allegations didn’t stop when nursing aide James W. Wright left the National HealthCare nursing home.
Another complaint followed at the Brookdale Senior Living-Grand Court Bristol nursing home, where the aide accepted a job after passing the criminal background and job reference checks.
In all, eight people from both nursing homes have told Virginia Department of Health Professions investigators they were groped, fondled and sexually assaulted by Wright between July 2003 and May 2008, according to documents filed Thursday by the Virginia Board of Nursing.
On Tuesday, without a hearing, the board suspended Wright’s nursing license.
The same day, a Bristol, Va., grand jury indicted Wright on four counts of aggravated sexual battery following an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia into patient treatment from 2000 to 2007.
Hours after his indictment, Bristol Virginia police arrested Wright, who is 35, at the Exit 7 International House of Pancakes, where he works as a waiter. He is being held without bond at the Bristol Virginia Jail.
Nursing board documents show that seven NHC patients complained of being sexually assaulted while under Wright’s care. Despite those complaints at NHC, the aide arrived at his new job in September 2007 with flawless references, said Holly Botsford, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Brookdale Senior Living, which runs 548 homes across the nation, including Grand Court Bristol.
“None of [the checks] indicated he had any previous employment or character issues,” Botsford said.
A Grand Court patient was sexually assaulted the following May, according to Virginia Board of Nursing documents.
Although nursing aides said they witnessed and reported sexual abuse by Wright to NHC officials, NHC did not pass along any of that information to Grand Court.
Bristol Herald Courier calls have not been returned by the Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based National HealthCare Corp., which runs the Bristol nursing home as well as 75 others in Tennessee and other eastern states.
A pair of Bristol NHC maintenance men headed off reporters in the nursing home’s parking lot Wednesday and refused access to the front door to seek comment from management.
“There’s nothing here you want to know,” one man said.
A pair of former NHC nurses said the nursing home’s management routinely dismissed patient and nurse allegations against Wright.
It was in 2003 that former NHC nurse Diane Lewis reported a patient’s complaint of being touched inappropriately. A staff director did ask the patient about the complaint, but the investigation ended there.
“They went up and talked to the man and the man wouldn’t talk to them,” Lewis said.
She attributed the patient’s silence to embarrassment over discussing a sexual assault with nursing staff he didn’t know.
“Are you going to tell them, a complete stranger, that you’ve never met before” that someone touched you inappropriately? Lewis asked.
“They disregarded it,” she said.
Twice in August 2007, then-nursing aide Patricia Davenport complained that Wright mistreated two patients.
The first complaint resulted with management telling Davenport she didn’t see what she thought she saw. The second time she complained and no action was taken, Davenport quit.
“I just don’t understand how they would let it go on,” Davenport said.
Weeks later, Wright left NHC and joined Grand Court.
Botsford said Grand Court fired Wright earlier this year amid suspicions that he mistreated patients at NHC.
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Reader Reactions
Having worked at a nursing home facility 16 years and still working it
is devastating to all who work there.The ones who chose not to report this are as guilty as the offender.The only person they should fear is the Lord whom they will one day have to face. It’s a shame the ones who have went the extra mile for patients will never be remembered ,and there are many whom have treated them like part of their families and cried with families when they passed.We will continue to do so as long as we work there.Pray for the residents and us as we do need it….
I completely agree with wm95. Care for the elderly is impossible now days. The only choice we have for affordable care is the nursing homes that seemingly have no morals…and yes - I say ALL nursing homes, because I have personally been in most, and have seen mistreatment and/or absolutely disgusting environments that surround “loved ones.“ I, personally, would love to ba able to take care of my parents when they become ill, or less than capable…and respectively would cringe at the thought of having to put my children in daycare, but if I don’t work - how will I be able to put a roof over our heads?
I have read all of these comments and it makes me sick. There is so much desparation from people that don’t want to put someone in one of these places, but have no choice. My family faced a similar situation and there are resources to help, but you have to search and be persistent and not everyone has the resources to do that. Care of the elderly and sick should not be this way. When the owners are held responsible and their mismanagement affects the bottom line things will change. We have got to make our lawmakers responsible to create laws that will protect people and Medicare/Medicade payments are the key. Pursue this and be relentless for reform. Our people deserve better than this. Treat them with respect and honor and hang anyone from the rafters that doesn’t.
Thank you Chinakolada….I totally agree with you…..Don’t you just love high and mighty judgmental people? I guess now, because of this Wright man, all persons who work in Nursing Homes will be considered scum. It is hard work and there ARE people who work in this profession (Geriatrics) that actually care about the people they are taking care of and not just there for the paycheck! Yes, the Administration that allowed this to continue from one facility to the other is to blame! Now THAT is scum!
To the person who posted: That’s not a suprise that he worked at IHOP. There are a lotta scum that works there.
You know just because alot of the people that work there look rough does’t mean they are scum. They might actually have to work there to support a family or to pay the bills. But some of those people may work there to support a habit. Or because the may have something wrong in there past and they couln’t be hired anywhere else and they are actually trying to get there life together. Just because this scum worked there really doesn’t give you the right to say what you said. You probally have a good job and don’t stuggle to get the things you need. See that is why some people working in fast food or in restuants like that don’t like people like you because you think just because they don’t have a office job 9 to 5 Monday - Friday are scum. You think just because they work at places like these either they have a criminal record or do drugs. But most of them are good decent people who have to work to make a liveng and they have to take whatever they get. And even more people now due to economy have lost their jobs and can’t find jobs because nobody is hiring and they need money to make their car payments, house payments and so on.
So if you have never been laid off or been in a positon where you need to have a job just to buy the basic things. You should not be passing judgement. And before anybody say I don’t understand I do I am a manager for a resturant. And everyday I meet people like you. Who think just because I choose to get up everyday and go to work at a profession that is looked down on I am scum. So I do personally take offense to your comment. And next time you go out for dinner or through a drive thru why don’t you try to be nicer to the person taking care of you or taking your order. Because we most of us are like you even though we don’t work at a place like you do or look the way you do. And if there is a mistake with your order just remember that we are human too and we make mistakes. I am not saying not to send the order or call and let them know just don’t blow up and tell us how stupid we are just because we made a mistake. Because I am sure you are not perfect and you do make mistakes. To really understand what I am saying you should really work in a resturant or in fast food to really understand the people that work their. And you really really know who the scum is and they are the people that let him do this and let him get away with this. So your comment needed to be more directed to the scum who ran NHC and did nothing to stop him. And to the scum that gave him a glowing reference so he could get another job at another nursing home. And not about the scum that works at IHOP because alot of these place don’t have the resources to do background checks and have a high turn over rate cause sometimes you take what you can get so you can give great service so people like you come back. In all our job is to impress you the people who eat there so we won’t have to close our doors and be without a job. You should really think about what you write. Because you come off as being narrow minded.
That’s not a surprise that he worked at IHOP. There are a lotta scum that works there.
There should be a committe of family members working wth social workers at nursing homes just for reporting this kind of thing to legal authorities and not giving up until they are listened to and action taken.The owners and higher up employees should be charged as accessories to the crime when they don’t make sure these perverts are arrested.May all their souls rot for what they allowed to happen to the elderly. But first(forgive me Lord) I hope they find out first hand how it feels to be violated.
How come this is just now news to Bristol and the Tri-Cities? On April 8, 2009 THE NASHVILLE NEWS ran a very ugly story all about this man that repeatedly molested folks that were helpless and God only knows how many went unreported. The story begins about “a cinderblock nursing home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.“ Please type in the e-mail address to read that article for yourself. http://www.nashvillescene.com/2009-04-09/news/did-an-nhc-nursing-home-let-a-serial-molester-run-free-for-seven-years//
Someone should be held accountable for letting this type of crime be ignored and allowing poor senior citizens to be abused despite many reports to administration of what was going on.
I loved being a CNA more than any other job I could ever do, I actually loved the elderly people and I even visited some on my days off because they missed me, I had to quit working at the nursing homes I couldn’t take the way they were treated as if they were children. When my father became to much for the family to care for my mother had to put him in a nursing home, we waited until we were sure he only had days to live, he died two weeks later, my mother stayed with him day and night for two weeks for fear someone would be mean to him or demean him. I have three herniated discs in my back and can no longer do CNA work, I did home health before I got hurt, which is worse than a nursing home if the CNA is abusive because theres no one there to report the abuse. I loved home health but I often wonder how many people choose it as an alternative workplace so they can be abusive in private. I am trying to volunteer at the V.A. so I can just read to or just listen to the ones who have no family to visist them, I hope all of you who read this realize just a few minutes once or twice a week can help to keep their spirits up!
Unfortunately this happens in more nursing homes than people care to admit. The big wigs at the nursing homes eventually find out but they just fire that person and cover it up to keep their facility out of the spotlight!!
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