Nursing Home Neglect: Nurse Pleads Guilty to Criminal Neglect of Elderly Patient
The A.P. and Kentucky.com are reporting that a nurse at a nursing home in Louisville, Kentucky who sat at the nurse's station sending text messages and eating snacks instead of responding to an elderly patient in obvious distress has plead guilty to criminal neglect. According to Shawn Cantley, a Kentucky lawyer who handles civil cases involving nursing home neglect said, "while nursing home neglect is all too common, especially with elderly patients, criminal convictions for this are extremely rare."
According to the AP report, the Attorney General's office in Frankfort, Kentucky says Stacy Harrison, 49, of Henderson, kentucky, a former employee of Hurstborne Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to a 5-year sentence and the forfeiture of his nursing license, and agreed to never again apply to be a nurse in Kentucky or any other state.
Prosecutors claimed that Harrison, knowing of an elderly patient who was vomiting and showing other signs of distress, rather than responding sat at the nurses' station sending text messages and eating snacks.
"Elderly residents of nursing homes have the right to be treated competently and with dignity and respect," said Shawn Cantley.
