Nursing Home Employee Charged With Elder Abuse

By Daniel Hawn

Published on October 26, 2005

Marsha Doolin, 22, was indicted following an investigation conducted by state Attorney General Greg Stumbo's Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control Division. According to a report filed by the agency, on the night of June 21, 2004, Doolin abused two patients at Grand Haven Nursing Home.

The first incident involved an elderly male resident who is blind and mentally disabled. Doolin allegedly injured the man's hands by deliberately wheeling him backwards in his wheelchair even though his fingers were in the wheel spokes.

The second incident involved an elderly female resident. Doolin is said to have used a click pen to repeatedly pretend to stick the woman with a needle. The woman, who has dementia and is afraid of needles, reportedly became very distressed and began crying out.

According to prosecutors, Doolin was likely attempting to amuse her husband who had arrived at the nursing home to pick her up after her shift had ended.

Doolin is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 1 in Harrison Circuit Court. Each of the two counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

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