Former Nursing Home Worker Charged for the 2007 Murder of Cerebral Palsy Patient
Police have charged a former nursing home worker with the death of a patient with cerebral palsy. Robert Young died on November 12, 2007 while staying at the care facility Standifer Place. While the county medical examiner did not perform an autopsy initially because he was told that the cerebral palsy patient died when he had a seizure that caused him to fall and fracture his skull, Young’s family members were suspicious about the reported cause of death.
Young’s body was exhumed last year. Autopsy findings showed that he actually died form blunt force trauma to the head. Young’s sister sued the nursing home and the state’s Department of Human Services for his wrongful death, accusing them of working together to conceal her brother’s actual cause of death and for over a month, failing to notify his relatives that he had died. The agency says it tried to notify Young's next of kin but was unable to reach them. The agency designed and carried out its own plans to bury him.
Last week, Walter Small, who worked as a certified nursing assistant for the nursing home, was charged with criminally negligent homicide related to Young’s death. Small had been fired soon after Young’s death.
Young’s sister is seeking at least $30 million from the US nursing home and $900,000 from the Department of Human Services. The family is accusing them of “negligence” in the wake of the nursing home resident's death.
Caring for a nursing home patient is a huge responsibility. Nursing homes must make sure that the workers they hire are not dangerous persons who are liable to cause injury, abuse, death, or neglect to a resident. If a resident is harmed in any way while staying at a long-term care facility, the nursing home can be held liable for personal injury, wrongful death, nursing home abuse, or nursing home neglect.
Chattanooga: Man charged in death of nursing home patient, Times Free Press, March 7, 2009
Former Nursing Home Worker Charged in Death, Newschannel9.com, March 6, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Read the Complaint (PDF)
Senate Special Committee on Aging
