Daughter of Raleigh nursing home patient: 'I didn't want to believe he was being abused'

Raleigh, N.C. — As state regulators investigate patient abuse allegations at a north Raleigh nursing home, the daughter of the patient involved said Tuesday that seeing how her father was treated was like a nightmare.

"I felt sick to my stomach, and I just started crying," Rebecca Knapton said. "That’s my dad, and I’m not there protecting him."

Knapton said she set up a hidden camera in her father's room at Universal Healthcare North Raleigh, at 5201 Clarks Fork Drive, after he insisted he was being mistreated by staffers.

"He wanted those girls to get caught being mean to him," she said. "I was hoping my dad was telling tales. I really was. I didn't want to believe that he was being abused."

Richard Johnson, 68, is recovering from a stroke, and video from the hidden camera shows that he fell out of his bed early one morning. He can be heard calling for help repeatedly, but no one stops by his room for more than an hour.

When staffers finally arrive to help him, they start criticizing him as well.

"What are you doing there?" asks a staff member. "What are you doing on the floor?"

Johnson said he had to go to the bathroom but had an accident while waiting. Staffers then change him on the floor, even though he repeatedly tells them he’s cold.
"You were on the bed. You decided to go on the floor, so don’t complain that it’s cold," a staff member says.

The same staffer later faults him for his current circumstances.

"You had to do something very wrong with your life. What did you do? You’re suffering so bad, so you’ve done something wrong. Yes, you did."

Even after staffers finally put him back into the bed, the berating continues.

"How old are you? One? You’re supposed to be enjoying your retirement. Instead, look what you are doing, pooping on yourself. Shame on you," a staff member says.

Choice Health Management Services, the parent company of Universal Healthcare North Raleigh, said the staffers involved were fired, and others have received extra training.

"Anybody that treats someone in their care like this should not be labeled as a caregiver. They're not," Knapton said.

• How to file a complaint about a nursing home

Choice Health officials said in a statement last week that they believe the incident with Johnson was isolated, and they are confident that residents are well cared for at the nursing home.

"We value and respect the rights of our residents, for we have no greater responsibility than the care and safety of those who are entrusted to us," officials said in a follow-up statement released Tuesday.


But records filed with the state Division of Health Service Regulation show a history of similar problems at the Raleigh nursing home. A report from last October, for example, notes staffers not answering residents' call buttons in a timely manner, residents being allowed to sit in urine or feces, inadequate staffing and a failure to respond to grievances filed by residents and their families.

After each inspection, the facility, which has two stars on the state's five-star scale, promised to fix the problems but clearly didn't.

"The continued failure of the facility during three consecutive federal surveys … shows a pattern of the facility's inability to sustain an effective Quality Assurance Program," regulators wrote last fall.

"I am now glad that it came out because it is getting people talking," Knapton said of her hidden-camera video. "[I'm] horrified because of the stories that are coming out from other people in the community and hearing that it is not just happening here but other places."

Johnson, a veteran and former Carolina Beach firefighter, "was enjoying his retirement to the fullest" before his stroke, his daughter said, noting he had taken cruises and loved to ride his motorcycle.

"It has caused emotional harm on my father," she said of the abuse.

But she added his response to the staffers who berated him inspired her.

"I like my dad's spunk when he says, 'Shame on you,'" she said. "My dad has some fight left, and I told him keep fighting - don't give up."

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Daughter of Raleigh nursing home patient: 'I didn't want to believe he was being abused'