When faced with the daunting prospect of placing a senior loved one into a long-term care facility like a nursing home, the last thing a person wants to think about is abuse and neglect. Yet, reports of abuse and neglect of seniors are on the rise as the baby boom generation ages and become unable to care for themselves as they had before. At times, a person might not want to believe their loved one when they make accusations of abuse or neglect. However, a hidden camera can provide answers and security. WRAL reports on a hidden camera that shows staff berating a stroke victim who fell to the floor in a nursing home.
State regulators are investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at a nursing home in north Raleigh.
Rebecca Knapton, whose father is involved with the allegations of abuse said that seeing the abuse that her father suffered was sickening: “I felt sick to my stomach, and I just started crying,” Rebecca Knapton said. “That’s my dad, and I’m not there protecting him.”
Knapton set up a hidden camera in her father’s room at Universal Healthcare North Raleigh after he told her that the staff were mean to him. She hoped that he was just making up tales.
The hidden camera revealed that 68-year-old Richard Johnson, who is recovering from a stroke, had fallen from his bed. The tape revealed that he spent more than an hour calling for help before someone came.
When the staff members came, they began berating him as well. While waiting for help, Johnson soiled himself. On the tape, one of the staff members can be heard telling him not to complain that it was cold on the floor because he “chose to go on the floor.”
Another staff member could be heard telling him that his life choices were why he suffered from a stroke.
Choice Health Management Systems, the parent company of Universal Healthcare North Raleigh, said the two staff members involved in the incident were fired.
