Can’t breathe…help me
USAToday reports on the story of World War II veteran James Dempsey, of Woodstock, Georgia who was in a nursing home. One day, he began gasping for air and he called for help from the nursing home staff. Nursing supervisor, Wanda Nuckles, claims she rushed to his side and began chest compressions until paramedics arrived.
What she didn’t know was that the family had installed a camera which recorded the activity. Nuckles didn’t rush into the room and she didn’t begin chest compression immediately. Another nurse had to arrive and do the medically necessary procedure but she didn’t check his vital signs.
When they couldn’t get the patient’s oxygen machine working, the video recorded their laughter.
Elaine Harris, a retired nursing professor and expert in adult critical care, identified several violations of care in the video, including failure to respond, failure to assess and failure to act.
“In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a health care setting,” she said.
“That is absolutely inappropriate. You never stop compressions” until a doctor makes a decision not to resuscitate, Harris said.
Operators of the nursing home, owned by Sava Senior Care, declined interview requests but prepared a statement that officials were saddened by the events that occurred more than three years ago.
Nuckles and the other nurse gave up their licenses in September, more than three years after the incident. That probably wouldn’t have happened without the video.
Category: Veteran Health Care
Watching that video is truly heart wrenching. I hope those former nurses gets exactly what they deserve via karma. Perhaps they would like to lay helpless in a bed and say “can’t breathe….help me” and have NO ONE come to help.
RIP Sailor…you can breathe and rest easy now.
The official Board Orders from the State Board for this individuals is an interesting read. To include the handwritten addenda by Ms Nuckles
The articles, and perhaps the interviewees would lead you to believe that this individual was a Mursing supervisor, when in fact she was only an LPN, not an RN.
You can read the entire 8 page document for the surrender of her license here.
http://verify.sos.ga.gov/verification/Details.aspx?result=ff5239db-6582-4549-8e20-85567246181f
Perhaps the facilities license should be reviewed?
The facility has been hammered for substandard care a fined numerous times.
Guess they gonna learn now.
No. No they won’t. They will continue providing substandard care until the owners of the facility are held personally liable criminally and civilly.
Would volunteer to serve on a jury for these nurses. “Manslaughter” sounds like an appropriate criminal charge, but “Murder” sounds even better.
I’m an investigator for a local jurisdiction. I was the elder abuse investigator and was a charter member of the regional elder abuse task force. There are some special laws that pertain to this. Namely, elder abuse and neglect. Both felonies. Given their demeanor any defense that claims they were acting under the color of a medical professional goes out the window. I know the guys in Cherokee County. Now that the civil issue is playing out, the criminal one might begin.
I suspect I speak for many:
-“Get some”-
Make it -hurt-.
Make it hurt so badly that it never goes away as long as they live.
Good. Let us know if we can offer any encouragement.
Completely inexcusable.
Heartbreaking, watching that man die while alleged “health care givers” find it funny.
I hope I pass on before my daughter has to decide on whether or not to place me in a nursing home.
“In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a health care setting,”
Unfortunately, in only 16 years as a firefighter-EMT, I have. Most instances were in nursing homes that we reported for elder abuse, to no effect I could see. One was from a particularly-lazy firefighter-paramedic whose attitude on a call infuriated me so badly that I lost my temper completely, slammed him into the side of the engine, and was about to break his nose when I got a hold of myself. I didn’t lose my job because my captain agreed that the guy was being a fucking asshole and made sure it wasn’t reported.
I can’t stand fuckers who mistreat the elderly. I have nothing but respect and admiration for anyone who takes good care of those who can’t take care of themselves anymore. When my Grandma had to be put in a facility for her final months, my cousins and I came in around the clock, both to share as much time with Grandma as we could, and to watch her caregivers like a hawk. But she was in good hands. The folks at that facility were saints.
Agreed. In my experience, the day shifts of nurses and aides are competent, while the night shift crews at these facilities are barely literate, incompetent, and uncaring. So when you tour during the day, you feel justified in spending the $5k a month for grandma by the day personnel. But have trouble at night, and at best you’re on your own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Vakoc
Chaplain Vakoc was dropped by staff at his nursing facility near me, and later died from the injuries the nursing staff gave him. This was after years of difficult recovery, when he was starting to show signs of improvement.
Also had another nursing facility nearby give an elderly patient on a liquid food diet some solids, which he choked on. They wheeled him out of the dining room, back to his room, so he “wouldn’t make a scene.” Since he was DNR, they took no efforts to help him, and he died. A DNR doesn’t really cover the Heimlich.
Disgusting, but not surprising. Although it also sounds to me like that was negligent manslaughter at best, if not outright murder.
I’ve had plenty of experiences with day shift “caregivers” that made me want to shoot motherfuckers. Like the lady who fell down in the shower at 0800 and got no help, despite screaming for hours, until we got there at 1630, having been called because a “nurse” smelled shit (being unable to get up for over eight hours, you can guess why), thought she was dead, but couldn’t be bothered to check. We found the lady conscious, oriented, naked, covered in her own shit, and crying at the complete deprivation of her dignity. We picked her up, cleaned her off, and covered her up. My Engineer asked the nurse in very specific terms what kind of fucked-up cocksucking piece of shit could allow that to go on. I told the nurse she was goddamn lucky I hadn’t brought an axe. We reported that place to the county, and it probably went in the stack with the average of ten per week we filed on that same facility, about which the county did nothing whatsoever.
Like I said, we checked up on my Grandma around the clock. I once came in after midnight, having just come from a friend’s promotion ceremony. It was the only time Grandma ever got to see the eighth of her nine grandsons in my dress uniform, which was a pretty big deal to her, even in her diminished mental state. Their night shift was as solid as their day shift. But the family vetted the absolute shit out of that place before we checked her in there, and we kept a sharp eye not only on Grandma, but on the other folks there as well, to see if we might be missing anything. The staff at her facility were practically angels. Far too many others are anything but.
Many here, myself included, don’t think very highly of the mainstream media. However, may serve a purpose in instances like this. When valid complaints to Govt entitities fall on deaf ears, publicize it in the media.
Same experience with the regulatory agencies being deaf, blind, and dumb to our filed complaints.
The aides that pushed the choking man out and allowed him to die should be glad I wasn’t working. I told my co-workers they should have arrested them.
If anyone has the time, enter “Alpine Manor murders” w/o the quotes into your favorite search engine. That was just one nursing home in one city. Imagine what’s gone on over the years nation wide.
My experience over the last 32 years mirrors that of TOW.. It’s been rare that we went to a call at a nursing home where when we asked the “nurse” for a report on why we were called, it didn’t start with “he’s not normally my pt.”, “I just came on shift”(that one was usually at all sorts of odd hours, nowhere near a shift change), “she just got transferred to this wing”, etc… almost never took responsibility for the situation. The last call I ran, that ended up in a frank conversation with the family afterwards, including a suggestion that they get an attorney involved an gentleman who slid off the bed, and fell into a position between the bed and the wall which compromised his airway, leading to “positional asphyxia”. All the staff would have had to do, was move him away from the wall, and he would have been fine (there was no trauma from the fall) but since they had a “no lifting” policy(can you believe that crap?), the didn’t and he died right there, with three staff members in the room, before we could get there.. It took every bit of self control I and my crew had to not add to the body count that day…
Absolutely inexcusable and unforgivable. Unfortunately, substandard care like that occurs daily in many “skilled” nursing facilities. The cast of characters who pass for nurses in those palces are truly frightening, I do not mean all nurses by any means, the majority are very caring dedicated but overworked individuals the ones who make the news are the dirtbags like these or the victims of crimes perpetrated by the people they are caring for. I can recall one rainy Friday morning being called to one of the corperate owned SNFs in town for a diff breather, being met at the door by the “charge nurse” who said to us and the engine company you guys can go now, she’s a DNR. I looked at her and said where’s the DNR and has she passed? The nurse tells me “Oh, we’re looking for it. Can’t you just take my word for it and pretend we never called?” I looked at the LT like WTF. Reader’s Digest version, we ended up taking the woman, they never found the DNR, she passed in the hospital a few hours later and the administrator raised a huge shitstorm with the Chief. Guess who filed a complaint with the state about the morning’s hijinks? Oh, and the nurse who wanted us to “pretend no one had called 911”? I got a look at the back of her hands at the desk, she had a mess of fresh track marks on her arms when the sleeves on her sweatshirt rode up…
No excuse whatsoever for behavior like that.
I worked at a place where the Director of Nursing, a Vietnam Veteran allowed a bunch of ghetto CNA’s continue to work there even though I documented time after time of negligence and outright abuse of the residents.
I’m glad that these pukes got caught and will be standing for charges for criminal negligence…
Bitch scrubbed her Facebook, too. Needs kneecapped, IMO
amen
both my Mom and aunt passed in nursing homes… they were in different cities so all we could do was visit as often as possible, but the thought of something like this happening to them make my blood boil.
Kneecapped and worse.
Bitch needs the Frank Castle treatment, is what she needs!
They need to be piped like Nancy Kerrigan.
May Karma come to them in the nastiest way.
Remember reading about this on FOX. Bunch of CRAP!!
The guy who called them the “Golden Years” certainly had a morbid sense of humor. Having to ‘rely on the kindness of strangers’ for the very air you breathe. As my former boss used to say, “Time to move the shotgun a little closer to the bed”.
the word that comes to mind immediately regarding the ‘nurses’ that
were caring for him is ‘monsters’
To Mr. Dempsey’s Family…..I am deeply sorry for the loss of your loved one.
To Wanda Nuckles….may you get *everything* that you deserve.
The vast majority of “caregivers” at nursing homes are CNAs ( Certified Nurses Assistants)… and some states don’t require much certification….. if any.
It doesn’t pay well at all, although it involves a shit-load of caring for the patients. Changing the ones who are incontinent, showering/ bathing, dressing them, transferring them out of bed into wheelchairs, taking them to dining room, feeding them if necessary.
A CNA may have up to 6 or 8 patients to constantly “oversee” at a time. Most the time the actual RNs and LPNs sit at a desk and consider anything other than passing meds or filling out charts to be “below them”
My wife was a CNA for 30 years and she had some horror stories about CNAs who were caught stealing from patients or were just plain lazy.
Not knowing the full extent of what’s happening on the legal front, this is my *opinion* as a (retired) Physician Assistant: all those bitches should be charged with some form of homicide, somewhere between manslaughter to second degree murder. I suspect it’ll be filed under some misguided form of malpractice, settled as such, and be forgotten. And yes, they are bitches. Real nurses wouldn’t do crap like that.
I check on my brother (stroke victim) several times a week – and watch for the little signs that signal something untoward.
I also am not shy about dropping in unexpectedly, or talking to the director of the facility about my concerns. Politely, professionally, of course. And giving complements and thanks to those on the staff whom I believe deserve them.
But trust them – only when I can verify.
I suppose my grandmother was lucky. It only became necessary to have her in a nursing home her last 2-3 months (even though one or more of us stayed with her at all times after my grandfather passed, she got to where she needed actual professional care)…the people at her facility were terrific and caring…five or six actually came to her funeral to pay respects and I had to personally comfort one of the younger nurse aides who had really gotten attached to my grandmother and was crying almost hysterically.
Well, well, well. Yesterday, a grand jury returned an indictment in this matter.
“Loyce Pickquet Agyeman’s top charge is felony murder; Wanda Nuckles, a nursing supervisor, is charged with depriving an elder of essential services and Mable Turman is charged with neglect to an elder, the report said. Warrants were issued for their arrests.”
Murder. It doesn’t ease the family’s loss or nullify Veteran Dempsey’s needless suffering and death, but it sue does speak to justice in Georgia.
Best possible outcome once these examples of human waste decided it was up to them to deprive this gentleman of his life. Folks with no medical training would have done better.
Here’s hoping that they get found guilty and the judge throws the whole LIBRARY at these demons.
+1^100
Sorry. Here’s the link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/22/murder-charge-filed-in-fallout-from-video-that-shows-nurses-laughing-as-dying-wwii-vet-struggles-for-air.html