Tucson nursing home certified nursing assistant fired after patient sexual abuse allegations

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TUCSON (KVOA) – The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an alarming allegation made against a now former certified nursing assistant at the Tucson Life Care Center.

Following repeated inquiries from N4T investigators, the Sheriff’s Department upheld its investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse against a patient at the facility, but did not provide details about the patient or nurse and withheld police reports on the case.

When N4T investigators tried to contact the management of the Tucson Life Care Center, our calls were returned not from anyone at the local facility but from the Life Care Centers of America corporate office, which gave us the following statement:

“Residents are our top priority at the Life Care Center of Tucson. Our ultimate goal is to do everything in our power to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents. We constantly strive to provide quality service to our residents and we respond promptly to any concerns about their care.

We recently received a report claiming that a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) had abused a resident. The CNA was immediately suspended while we did a thorough internal investigation. The allegations were unfounded. In addition to our own internal investigations, we reported the allegations to the local police, relevant government agencies and the resident’s family.

Although our internal investigation did not confirm the alleged abuse, we terminated the CNA for other violations of our facility’s Code of Conduct, policies and procedures. While our reporting procedures were working properly, we took the opportunity to educate our employees about Life Care’s Abuse Policy, Suspected Abuse Reporting Requirements, and the Elder Justice Act.

Due to HIPAA regulations and out of consideration for the resident, we cannot provide any further details. However, we cooperate fully with all authorities that carry out their own investigations.

We attach great importance to the care and support of our residents and their relatives by our employees. Our dedicated caregivers work very hard to make this facility one known for their professionalism and empathy in providing services to our residents and we will continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents To ensure residents. “

Cody Bell, managing director

N4T investigators spoke to Katlyn Monje of the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault. In Arizona, the sexual abuse of people in nursing homes is unfortunately not uncommon.

“This population [in nursing homes] There is far too little reported of sexual assaults, ”said Monje.

She said that not only is it underreported, but it is also rarely prosecuted.

“There are many perpetrators out there who are not held accountable,” said Monje.

We also spoke to Lynne Cadigan, a local lawyer who has defended victims on several similar cases. She said nursing homes were a major target for sexual abusers.

“Nursing homes are a breeding ground for abusers to go around raping these helpless victims,” ​​said Cadigan.

Cadigan believes part of the problem comes with the way these types of centers operate.

“These facilities are run for profit and when you work for profit you run into problems of inadequate staffing, training, oversight and background checking,” said Cadigan.

Tucson’s Life Care Center has an A rating from the Arizona Department of Health, but received a complaint about alleged abuse of a patient in 2018, according to state records. The state investigator found that the facility had not reported the allegation within five days under state law and recommended further training. According to the records, the system is compliant again.

It has 3.5 stars on Google and more than a dozen bad reviews, many describe similar stories of abuse, none described is sexual, but some said loved ones were left in their own trash for hours before they could be treated by a nurse .

This is exactly what Leanna Schooley told her mother, who died at the facility last year.

“The place simply has to be closed. It’s hard to have your mom cry on the phone about the treatment she’s getting, ”Schooley said.

Leanna says the staff didn’t try to save her life when she got sick.

“I have to live with the fact that I haven’t done enough for them and I really believe they killed them,” Leanna said.

There is one major change in the work for nursing home supervision. In May, Governor Ducey announced he would like to get rid of the current board that oversees nursing home licenses and transfers responsibility to the state after multiple reports of problems. This change is expected in about a year.

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