Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Nursing home abuse case ends with LPN's conviction


CLANTON, AL (WSFA) - A former employee of a Chilton County nursing home facility has pleaded guilty to abuse of one of the residents she was tasked to care for, confirms Attorney General Luther Strange's office.

Katherine Blevins Lenoir, 53, of Maplesville, entered her plea Wednesday to one count of reckless abuse of a protected person, a class C felony.

Lenoir was a licensed practical nurse, or LPN, at Don Hatley Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Clanton, when she admitted to inadvertently administering a large dose of a narcotic pain medication to a female resident. The victim was supposed to be taking cough medicine.

Prosecutors said Lenoir's actions crossed into criminal territory when she set about manipulating treatment records to inaccurately show she'd given the correct medication instead of immediately notifying facility management of what had happened.

The victim suffered an overdose of the narcotic and nearly died, according to prosecutors. She was found by a nurse on a later shift and rushed to a hospital's intensive care unit. She was later released.
An investigation started after the AG's office says the nursing facility's management promptly reported the incident.

Lenoir, who no longer is employed at the facility, faces up to 10 years in prison. She'll learn her fate in a May 11 sentencing hearing.

Full Article & Source:
Nursing home abuse case ends with LPN's conviction

3 comments:

  1. Human error will happen from time to time. But, we outright abuse or neglect, if facilities and staff were held accountable, it would drastically fall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad she is faced with prison.

    ReplyDelete