Nursing Home Sexual Battery Alleged
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James W. Wright, 35, was indicted Tuesday on four counts of aggravated sexual battery.
BRISTOL, Va. – The first time Patricia Davenport complained about a nursing aide’s mistreatment of a patient, she was told she saw it wrong.
The second time Davenport complained – and no action was taken – she quit the nursing job she’d had for only six months at the National HealthCare nursing home on North Street.
Eventually, Davenport told an investigator with the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia that she saw the same aide molesting two different nursing home patients during her time there.
That aide, James W. Wright, 35, was indicted Tuesday on four counts of aggravated sexual battery. Each count stems from the investigation into the treatment of a different patient from 2000 to 2007, including the lady Davenport said she saw in the wheelchair and another patient who is blind, authorities said.
Hours after Tuesday’s indictments, Bristol Virginia police arrested Wright 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.
Davenport said the first time she stumbled upon the abuse of patients was in August 2007. It was the sound of a rocking wheelchair that grabbed her attention, she said, as she strode down a hallway. She peeked into a patient’s room and saw a woman shaking in her wheelchair. The woman’s shirt and bra had been shoved high on her chest. A nurse’s aide was standing behind the wheelchair, and he was reaching around to fondle the patient’s breasts.
“She looked like she was just getting ready to break down,” Davenport said. “She just looked at you like ... she was so confused and hurt.”
Later that same month, Davenport said, she caught the same aide fondling a blind patient.
Soon after that incident, Wright left his employment at the nursing home. The conditions of his departure are unclear. Calls were not returned Tuesday by the Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based National HealthCare Corp., which runs the Bristol nursing home as well 75 others in Tennessee and other eastern states.
Virginia Department of Health Professions records show that Wright still holds an active license to work as a nurse’s aide.
Davenport is now a witness for the attorney general’s office. According to the indictments, an attorney general investigator testified before the grand jury Tuesday.
The abuse, Davenport told the Bristol Herald Courier, was not a secret among nursing home staff.
“When I talked to the rest of [the nurses], they said this has been going on for years,” Davenport said.
Davenport said she complained to her supervisor after seeing the scared woman in the wheelchair in early August 2007. She said she lodged the second complaint later that month after finding Wright sitting next to a blind patient in bed.
That patient’s robe had been pushed up, exposing her lower body, Davenport said. She said the aide was inappropriately touching the patient, and himself.
Davenport said she quit soon after that incident.
“You look at those people every day in the face knowing they’re getting abuse and you can’t do anything because nobody’s got your back,” Davenport said. “I don’t want to go back to nursing.”
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Secondly, I would like to address the issue of “innocent until proven guilty” Some people have posted violent and hateful comments regarding these allegations when they have never even worked for NHC, nor for any health care facility for that matter. Not only do they not know James Wright or Patty Davenport, but they are only going on the information of an unreliable source which has a lot of twisted up facts… “the media” Let me remind you all that these are still mere allegations. The last time that I checked James Wright has not been “convicted” of this! Since I know this man, and the majority of you do not, in all honesty, I believe he deserves to be heard and to have a fair trial. It seems many of you are out for blood and are ready to lock him up and throw away the key before he has even had a chance to be heard in a court of law. Someone said a mouthful when they said “they have a feeling that enough information is going to come out of this to knock this sleepy little town on its kiester!” Your statement is the whole point that I am trying to make. Nothing ever happens in this “sleepy little town”, so everyone is just dying for something like this! You are all licking your lips and gathering your stones, watching and waiting to witness someone else’s downfall. It always amazes me how sick and twisted our society is. It is no wonder that reality T.V. is the only thing on the tube these days. Society loves to witness the pain and suffering of others….you crave it! You people want so desperately for this horrible thing to be true. You want it so much that you refuse to look past your own narrow minds and look to other sources beyond that of the media, a media who has a lot of missing and twisted up information. I believe both parties, both the accuser as well as the accused need to be further investigated before you people begin pointing fingers, name calling, and referring to someone as “pervert”, “sick”, “twisted”, “animal” etc…. Your name calling only makes you appear heartless and uneducated!
TO BE CONTINUED…....
How touching! NHC bigwigs took money out of their own pockets and bought thinks for the patients.
You need to call the Pope and let him know about these benevolent acts performed by Anne Franklin and Charlotte Wilson.
There is little doubt in my mind that the Pope will immediately bestow sainthood and both these ladies.
One can be the Patron Saint of Perverts and the other can be the Patron Saint of Cover-ups.
Thank you firefly for your comment. Very well said and I had forgotten about the administration digging in to their own pockets to help out some of the residents but you are correct that does happen. People are way too quick to judge and cast the first stone based on what little information the media has given us.
There are many things which I would like to address, but let me start by saying that I am a former employee of NHC. I worked in multiple departments between summer of 2006 and winter of 2007. Sadly, I had to leave the facility and my patients’ to finish my education. After grad school, I plan to return to the facility more knowledgeable and even better at caring for them and their needs. Why NHC? NHC is the best health care facility that I have ever worked in. It’s clean, it’s nice, the staff is well trained, and all departments work together as a team to make sure that the patient receives the very best care possible. Their doctor actually talks to the patients in language they can understand, and knows each staff member by name. How many doctors do you know who will take the time out of their busy day to do this? How many Administrator’s do you know who will take money out of their own pocket to make sure that patients’ have extra things such as soft drinks, snacks, wet wipes, personal hygiene items, etc…the list is endless? I have seen Anne Franklin do it many times, as well as many others. There are many loving and caring souls at NHC, some who have devoted their whole lives to taking care of America’s largest population (the elderly) whose family members and society have forgotten and who are to busy to care. I know these patients, I love these patients, and I would fight circle saws if I thought for one second that they were being abused! I know many people at NHC who would do the same. So, before you people start pointing fingers, facility bashing, hanging nooses, gathering stones, knife sharpening, etc……Let’s clean out the gutters first! There is a lot of missing and twisted up information which my grandmother use to say, “will all come out in the wash”
TO BE CONTINUED…………..
To address accvusations of the BHC rejecting comments, I would say to those accusers, open your browser from INTERNET EXPLORER! AOL and other internet services have a problem with postings. Try it before you go off making half-cocked accusations. GEEZ!
being reasonable doen’t sell papers. with the last 2 articles, it’s obvious the our paper has become the national inquirer on steriods. it looks like o’l perke has this paper in his pocket just like the ones in nashville. wow, what a world we live in.
I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THIS SITE IS NOT POSTING SOME COMMENTS!!! WARNING ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS NHC OR ANYONE ENVOLVED IN THIS DONT EXPECT TO SHARE YOUR SUPPORT HERE!! GOING TO TRASH NHC OR STONE JWIGHT HAVE AT IT!!!! YOU HAVE THE FLOOR
For far too long now, too many bad people have been doing too many bad things with little more that a slap on the wrist. The system needs to be fixed.
I am a former NHC employee. There are many great, caring and thoughtful people working there. They give up alot just to do their job everyday. But I put the question out there “how many good hardworking folks did they let quit and walk out the door because of this pervert?“ More than will ever be told. Hopefully those involved look back and wish that on the many many occasions they had to end his terror that they had, had maybe saved a few abuse, saved the families the worry and heartache and saved themselves the guilt they should be feeling now.
I would like to address Oakley’s comments. In reference to your comments about Mr. Morris I would like to say Thank God someone had the guts to take the lead. If not where would this horrific situation be? Covered up and swept under the rug? Just as NHC thought it had been. It wasnt our dear Bristol, Va PD they did just about as much as NHC did to address it. Think about it they had an eye wittness to not 1 but 2 assualts! They had a minimum of 8 other CNA’s that also did the reporting also. Now in my opinion they chose to do nothing about the allegations or they (NHC & BVPD) simply felt that all the CNA’s NHC hires are not “credible” folks. Pick One!Heck Pick Two! Now would that not consitute probable cause? or beyond a reason doubt? As for Mr. Morris, how could anyone thing this is “easy” work? Personally I commend him. It appeasr he is in a postion to hit NHC and those that condoned and intentionally covered up assault on poor defenseless, elderly and disabled patients, exactly where it hurts $$$$$. Because that is the only language those sort of individuals know.
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