Illinois readers may be interested to know that a nursing home administrator who used to work at the Pomeroy Care Center in Iowa has been accused of failing to protect the patients in her care from a sex offender. The Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators has found her guilty of professional incompetence in this alleged case of nursing home abuse.
The board also stated that the nursing home administrator should have known that the sex offender resident presented a threat to the other residents at the facility. The man is accused of the sexual assault of a 95-year-old woman who lived at the home. Before moving to the Pomeroy facility, the man was living in the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders. When he was released, he went immediately to the Pomeroy facility. The woman who he is accused of fondling died in 2012, and her family is suing the facility for not protecting her.
The woman’s family is also filing suit against the Iowa Department of Human Services alleging that it failed to create a safety plan to ensure that the man was properly supervised. Records show that the man did confess to assaulting the elderly resident, but prosecutors have decided not to pursue criminal charges. The plan is to have the man recommitted to the sex offender unit.
The Iowa Legislature recently approved a bill that would have created a committee of advocates for seniors, nursing home residents, representatives of the Iowa court system and state regulators to create alternatives to placing sex offenders in nursing homes. The governor vetoed this bill that might have lessened the number of personal injury suits filed against nursing homes, saying that he had his own panel of experts to work on the issue. A personal injury attorney may be able to offer his or her assistance to the family of a victim of nursing home abuse. An attorney could offer advice and pursue a settlement against the responsible facility.
Source:Â USA Today, “Nursing home chief fined in sex assault case“, Clark Kauffman, October 30, 2013
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