Nurse enters the room, quietly, reverently: "I'll go call the coroner."
Time of death: 4:32 AM (less than 3 days after the fall)
It would not take much for this to become nothing more than a journal. That's not what I want to do. And other than me only having the opportunity to speak out, would serve no one in any worthwhile fashion. But I wanted to take a moment here to thank you for taking the time to hear my Mom's voice. Those things she cannot share with you; except through our eyes and hearts.
In this post I want to share with you the end of the legal journey (criminal side) of someone whose death is the result of what the MS Attorney General's office labels "Abuse of a vulnerable person". As a matter of a fact, that is the ONLY thing they can prosecute for. Here are things you may or may not know:
- Without malicious intent to do harm, the above conviction is the worst that can happen
- Malicious intent to do harm would be like a threat, comments of hatred or ill will toward a person before inflicting harm.
- Abuse/neglect of a vulnerable person (A/NVP) carries the maximum penalty of only 6 months probation and a $_____ fine (which can be paid for in installments)
- A/NVP is NOT a felony and does not result in jail time
- A guilty plea can be entered in with an appearance before the Circuit Court WITHOUT any record other than a guilty plea and not having to spell out what they did wrong.
Now let me just stop right here and do a bit of explaining. I received a packet of the rights of _______ in the mail from the Attorney General's Office guaranteeing me the right to be informed of a number of things, including the right to be informed of the charges and dates of hearings. I received this January 2018. Sometime after January 2019 I received a call from the AG prosecution lawyer apologizing for not contacting me about the court dates or the verdicts of the two C.N.A.'s (In fact I got no official notification of their arrests) They both turned themselves in October and November of 2018. (I saw one notice after the fact in the local paper, for which I called to confirm it was one of the C.N.A.'s and had to leave messages-no response-no call back.) In 2018 Candice Dennis and Ashley McDaniel pled guilty to Abuse of a Vulnerable Person in front of Judge _____ in the Circuit Courthouse of Lucedale, MS. As included in the public record available at the courthouse. The AG attorney apologized for not giving me notice; she had lost a parent herself recently and was not in the office. Now, I can sympathize with anyone's loss; but come on now. If you are working for the AG office it just seems reasonable to me that someone else take on your responsibilities when you cannot. So what can you do? Getting mad doesn't help. But I can tell you I felt really cheated. I was denied the closure to the criminal actions. Then she told me something like "Mrs. H____, the girls both turned themselves in. They were very sorry for what they'd done, I was there. They were quite remorseful." Am I supposed to clap and jump up and down??? I did not. If you knew me, you'd know that I don't relish watching people suffer. And, sorry if this offends, but all this made me feel like, "So, the girls make gross errors of negligence, my Mom dies a horrible death, they don't have to face a jury, there is no jail time....shoot they don't even have to look the family in the eye. And according to the court record, I don't even see where they had to verbalize what they'd done to the judge in any specific manner....they only got fired, put on 6 months probation and even had the privilege of making arrangements to pay $500 in installments. What's with that?
Lets go back to my legal education.
- If someone drinks/is under the influence and then drives, IF that person injures or even kills another....THAT results in a very different consequence. I dare say, that person most likely didn't set out to hurt/kill anyone. (now, don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the drunk driver) The result? If death occurs the worst would be negligent homicide (murder)
- Injured residents and family of LTC facilities are covered under unique laws that appear to protect the provider more than the resident. We enter into a contract of reasonable health care safety. But a resident can be unintentionally rolled in a wheel chair too close to a metal cart resulting in a laceration requiring stitches =Negligence. A resident can be picked up and dropped resulting in death=Negligence. But do you see the irony?
- For any incident requiring hospitalization, the Attorney General's office is contacted or is supposed to be contacted immediately by the nursing home facility. Investigation is automatic. But it doesn't hurt for the injured resident or family member to also call and report (However, you may see that doesn't always result in anything tangible)
- The State Health Department is also contacted by the nursing home facility immediately. They actually have to be the first to investigate the crime. These were all contacted in my mother's case and came to the nursing home facility and went over everything with a fine tooth comb, from people's statements, facility, inspecting equipment, records and who knows what. The official DID keep in touch, but the whole process was not a one or two day process. And then there were reports to write, of which we never saw, even though they were promised.
- Only after the SHD finishes does the investigator for the AG office step in. He or she does their own investigation and collects evidence. Another lengthy process.
- One other thing that NO one mentioned to us that I can remember is the Medicare.gov takes a leading role in accessing the situation and compiling a report that must be dealt with by the nursing facility...and also imposes fines if necessary. I could put a link here and may come back and do that, but it is 53 printed pages long....so just know that it exists.
- The allegations surrounding my mothers fall and subsequent death were listed under "Medicare Fraud". I just threw that out there, thought it was interesting. And one more added note...during all this time the surviving family CANNOT print, share or post anything about the incident or face possible legal suits themselves. Doesn't seem fair does it? By the time several years have passed, newspapers are just not interested. I did, however, get the local paper to print a small article. My Mom's story and voice were silenced while people went on about their business.
- Then AFTER all the criminally related lawyers and offices complete their part, you can, if you deem appropriate, pursue a civil case where at least the responsible parties can be made to face their actions or lack thereof via restitutions and settlements. I'm not proposing that people go to court and sue. But if nothing further gets done, it's just back to normal and no one is the wiser. History could very well repeat itself. A little hush, hush here, a little fine there and the business of caring for others resumes with a loose definition of "caring". In the case of criminality here in my Mom's case, I came away feeling like those most responsible just received a slap on the hands from those who had the power to make a difference. My only consolation in this area was the assurance that memory will follow those directly involved until dementia or death and I do understand that is no small thing.
UPDATE!!!
As per conversation today (8/17/21) with a Medicare.gov page via a chat session, I was informed that changes were made in July of this year (2021) to the government web site and reports and incidents of nursing homes are NO LONGER made AVAILABLE to us. The link to the 53 page report is NO MORE and any link to such reports no longer work. Therefore, any family or personal right to know the history of a particular nursing facility served by Medicare is officially ended. This does not make me happy. Instead, you can go to Medicar.gov to get a 12 month numerical summary of a facility that you may be considering or researching like this one: Find Healthcare Providers: Compare Care Near You | Medicare The word "summary" and "ratings" is used loosely. I have NO WORDS...and we have no tools!
Given the atrocities associated with LTC (Long Term Care facilities "nursing/rehab ") and COVID-19 situations of 2020 and 2021, which may be more political in nature than medical, one can only guess the possible connection(s). If not an actual connection, then the timing is certainly bad. And publicly published reports that are no longer accessible are also no longer PUBLIC are they. I can only wonder what other changes have been made in other areas under the radar.
At any rate, this post IS a summary of where the criminal road of possibilities ends.
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