Nurse's Aide in Michigan Arrested for Abusing Nursing Home Resident

By Daniel Hawn

Published on August 02, 2005

The charges are based on abuse that took place between June and September of 2004 at the Roosevelt Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Community in Muskegon. Witnesses say Brown repeatedly struck an 85-year-old wheelchair-bound resident in the head. Following reports of the abuse, Brown was terminated from her position at the facility as a certified nurse's aide.

Cox said the incident reinforces the need to pass the bills currently before the legislature that would mandate criminal background checks of all nursing home employees. "Michigan's most vulnerable citizens deserve the highest standard of care and anyone who violates that standard will be prosecuted," he went on to say.

Brown faces one count of Patient Abuse and could face a maximum of one year in jail and $10,000 in fines. She was released on a $1,000 personal bond, and is scheduled to reappear in court July 26 at 8:30 a.m. for a preliminary examination.

The Attorney General's Health Care Fraud Division lead the investigation that concluded in Brown's arrest. The division belongs to the larger class of Medicaid Fraud Control Units. These units are responsible for regulating fraudulent billings, illegal delivery of controlled substances, unlicensed medical practices, and other unlawful activities involving Medicaid. The Health Care Fraud Division recently released two studies indicating that approximately 10% of the employees working in Michigan's nursing homes and continuing care facilities have criminal records.

The studies spurred creation of legislation that would widen the application of the Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act. The proposed amendments would require all of Michigan's nearly 5,000 residential care facilities to screen their employees for criminal history and to perform such checks on an annual basis. Punishment would also be increase for declining to comply with the background check requirements.

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