It takes about an hour and a half to drive from Morgantown to Wheeling. One of its more than 30,000 residents recently suffered a legal setback when the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals denied her request to have her name removed from the Nurse Aide Abuse Registry.
According to a news report, the long-term care nurse aide worked at a Wheeling rehabilitation hospital when she was investigated for nursing home abuse and neglect.
State health and human resources investigators looked into allegations and interviewed co-workers and the patient victim before determining that the abuse accusations were legitimate.
According to the article, the nursing aide refused to help a 79-year-old woman patient who had soiled herself. The patient told another facility employee that the aide had moved the call button out of her reach; a claim confirmed by the patient’s roommate.
The aide apparently refused to go into the patient’s room when she believed the woman needed help. She was quoted as saying the elderly woman could “rot in there for all I care.” The aide was also apparently known to use vulgar or profane terms when commenting about the patient.
Despite the aide’s claim that it was the patient who was making false allegations, the court upheld the decision to place her on the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry. If you believe your loved one has suffered abuse or neglect in a West Virginia nursing home, you can protect him or her from further harm by speaking with an attorney experienced in protecting patients.