'I was rushing': Caretaker charged in connection to 2019 death in Spokane supported living facility

A resident of the facility died several hours after she drank a large amount of vinegar that was given to her by a caretaker.

Credit: Aacres Washington

Author: Mia Hunt

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Attorney General's Office has filed charges against a supported living facility worker related to the death of a resident in February 2019.

According to a press release from the Attorney General's Office, the resident, 64-year-old M.W., died after drinking a large quantity of vinegar instead of her medication at Aacres Human Services in Spokane.

The caregiver, Fikirte Aseged, is charged with third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. Aseged was the person in charge of the resident's colonoscopy preparation. Instead of the medication, Aseged allegedly gave the resident a large amount of cleaning vinegar to drink. The resident died several hours later.

According to Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken, the resident's cause of death was “superficial Necrosis and diffuse acute inflammation of esophagus, stomach, and small bowel due to accidental ingestion of household vinegar in place of bowel preparation solution.” 

According to the Housing Manager of the facility Tamra Dailing, M.W. was wheelchair bound, on water restriction, obese and developmentally delayed.

Dailing also confirmed that Aseged knew how to administer the resident's medicine for the procedure before it occurred. 

According to other staff who was working before and after the incident, there was a bottle of cleaning vinegar in the recycling, half-full, discovered the day after the resident's death.

The vinegar was originally purchased to clean the facility's coffee pots.

Aseged gave a statement to investigators that she thought the bottle of vinegar was the same solution she gave to M.W. the first time.

“I don’t know how we missed that day. Nobody told me the directions were on the board,” Aseged said.

She said that she did read the written directions from the doctor and some of the directions were highlighted. She admitted she had read the label on the colon preparation solution prior to giving M.W. her first half bottle around 5 p.m. However, when asked if she read the label on the bottle at 3 a.m. before giving M.W. her final dose of the colon preparation solution, she said “no” and said, “I assumed it was the same, I just grabbed the bottle, I was rushing.”

Full Article & Source:

'I was rushing': Caretaker charged in connection to 2019 death in Spokane supported living facility

Nurse and CNAs suspects in the death of an elderly woman at a Colorado Springs nursing home

By Tony Keith

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - A group of people who have dedicated their careers to helping people are now suspects in the death of a 90-year-old woman.

On Feb. 3, police were called to the Union Printers Home at 101 S. Union Boulevard after the body of Margarita Sam was found on a bench outside on the long-term care facility’s property. Following an autopsy, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office determined that the victim had died of hypothermia.

“Ms. Sam wandered outside the facility and became exposed to temperatures in the range of 23-30 degrees Fahrenheit,” police wrote in a news release on Thursday. “Following an investigation by CSPD and the Colorado Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the decision was made to file criminal charges against three employees of the Union Printers Home long-term care facility related to Ms. Sam’s death.”

SUSPECTS IN THE CASE:

-Nurse Rosalie Warren, 52 years of age, was charged with Negligent Death of an At-risk Person, Colorado Statute 18-6.5-103(2)(a), a Class 4 Felony, and Neglect of an At-Risk person, Colorado Statute 18-6.5-103(6)(a), a class 1 misdemeanor.

-Certified Nursing Assistant Asia Murray, 35 years of age, was charged with Neglect of an At-Risk person, Colorado Statute 18-6.5-103(6)(a), a class 1 misdemeanor.

-Certified Nursing Assistant Taquenis Eldridge, 31 years of age, was charged with Neglect of an At-Risk person, Colorado Statute 18-6.5-103(6)(a), a class 1 misdemeanor.

All suspects, in this case, have been served summonses and await upcoming court dates.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent the following statement to 11 News on Feb. 12:

“The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a summary suspension to the Union Printers assisted living and nursing facility on February 11, 2020. This action suspends the facility’s license and begins the process of safely transferring residents to other facilities, effective immediately. There have been numerous complaints and subsequent investigations at this facility in the past few years, most notably after a recent resident death. Findings from those investigations demonstrate that Union Printers does not have the ability to provide consistently safe care to its residents. For more information about those findings, please visit the department’s website - www.healthfacilities.info. Beginning today, the department will work with sister agencies to inform the residents, and begin safe transfers to other facilities. The department expects that process to take approximately 45 days. To ensure that all residents receive satisfactory care and services during this time, a management company has been hired. This management company will run the daily operations of Union Printers, with increased supervision from the department. In closing, the department has acted swiftly and decisively to close Union Printer’s home to protect the welfare of its residents and will remain involved until all residents have safe placement at another health care facility.”

 

Full Article & Source:

Nurse and CNAs suspects in the death of an elderly woman at a Colorado Springs nursing home

Three arrested in New York death of ventilator-dependent resident

In a December 28th press release, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York, announced the arrest of two registered nurses and a certified nurse aide in connection with the death of an 81-year-old ventilator dependent resident of the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale, NY.

According to the press release

The resident, whose identity is being kept confidential, lived on a specialized ventilator unit at the facility. She required a mechanical ventilator to breathe and was entirely dependent on the nursing staff; the resident passed away after the defendants failed to respond to the ventilator alarms. If convicted, the defendants, none of whom still work at the facility, each face up to seven years in prison.

“These allegations paint a picture of blatant neglect that ultimately resulted in the death of a patient,”

“My office will always hold accountable those medical professionals and others who knowingly ignore a patient’s basic needs or recklessly place any nursing home resident in a life-threatening situation.”

The media release described the case:

The complaint alleges that on the morning of December 20, 2015, the resident–who was wheelchair bound and ventilator dependent–became disconnected from her ventilator. The resident was unable to breathe without the assistance of her mechanical ventilator. A visual and audible alarm was immediately triggered which notified nursing staff on the floor that this resident was in an emergency, life-threatening situation.

Sijimole Reji, Annieamma Augustine and Martine Morland were at the nursing station near the resident’s room when the alarm sounded throughout the unit. All nursing staff who work on the ventilator unit at A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility are required to immediately respond to resident ventilator alarms. These three defendants–Reji, Augustine and Morland–ignored the emergency ventilator alarm for more than nine minutes and failed to provide any assistance to the resident who languished without oxygen.

Eventually, when staff entered her room, they discovered that the resident was unresponsive and unconscious. The resident was transported from A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility to Nassau University Medical Center, where she died the following day, December 21, 2015.

Deaths and abuse in care homes is not uncommon. Recently a nurse was charged in the deaths of eight people who lived in care homes in Woodstock and London Ontario.

The victim’s life was in the hands of her care-givers. Data from Belgium shows that a significant number of lives are ended each year without request. Usually these people are incompetent or completely dependent on their care-givers.

Full Article & Source:
Three arrested in New York death of ventilator-dependent resident