Ex-Nursing Home Employee Sentenced to Prison Following Allegations of Abuse

Joshua Wegielewski, a former certified nursing assistant at the Green Ridge Gardens nursing home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, could spend up to one year in prison for abusing an elderly resident. WNEP16 reports that a judge has sentenced him to three to 12 months following allegations that he restrained the victim in her room and left multiple bruises on her arms and wrists.

The incident occurred in October; in January, WNEP16 reported that Wegielewski was facing trial. Court papers indicate that he dragged the patient into her room, leaving multiple bruises. He then restrained her in her room with a coworker by holding the door shut. These actions were caught on camera, court papers say.

During a preliminary hearing, an investigator with the Agency on Aging told a judge that the resident suffered from multiple bruises on her wrist, arm and shoulder. Assistant district attorney Susan Price said “Not only did he restrain her in her room, but the way he grabbed her and forced her and pushed her into the room and caused her bruising was uncalled for,” according to WNEP16.

Cases of nursing home abuse are tragic and far too common. Unfortunately, abuse or neglect may go undetected in some cases because the victims may not be able to communicate what is happening to them. Identifying abuse and holding abusers responsible is important for protecting loved ones in nursing homes and for dissuading such misconduct in the future.

Last summer, nine people were charged for the death of a New York nursing home resident at the Medford Multicare Center for temporary rehab in 2012. The victim, Aurelia Rios, went to the facility after being hospitalized for a breathing disorder. Despite specific orders from her doctor indicating that she needed to be connected to a ventilator at night, staff members failed to hook her up to the breathing machine and she suffocated. To make the heartbreaking situation worse, visual and audio alarms went off for nearly two hours but staff allegedly failed to respond.

The post Ex-Nursing Home Employee Sentenced to Prison Following Allegations of Abuse appeared first on Parker Waichman -

from Parker Waichman http://www.yourlawyer.com/blog/ex-nursing-home-employee-sentenced-to-prison-following-allegations-of-abuse/