Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
A nursing home in New Jersey has been under investigation by FOX 29 for serious abuse accusations to the home’s residents. The charges, as reported by FOX 29 reporter Jeff Cole, include cover-up and neglect, and they have the family members of the residents completely enraged.
One of the licensed practical nurses of Voorhees Center nursing home, Nikki Thompson, was fired after her eight-year stint with the home. After reporting abusive and negligent behavior within her workplace, Thompson received a threatening note in relation to a specific image taken in the facility. The picture was of one of the female residents with dementia, 85-year-old Eleanor Hallowell, who was tied to her wheelchair with a bed sheet.
“I guess because they felt like they couldn’t deal with her, they tied her to a wheelchair,” Thompson told FOX 29.
The makeshift restraint was allegedly in response to a fall Hallowell sustained, and was ordered to have one-on-one care. Instead, the workers thought a sheet would suffice, but a distraught nurse’s aide saw the sheet and felt otherwise. The aide took the photo and sent it to Thompson.
Betty Monroe, Hallowell’s legal guardian, was outraged by the maltreatment the Voorhees Center had allowed and has sued to protect Hallowell. The restraint was not approved by a doctor and the center has yet to admit their mistakes, Monroe told FOX 29.
The woman responsible for the neglectful sheet restraint has been fired according to reports, and both the Voorhees Center and its owner, Genesis HealthCare, are being sued.