Home Health & Hospice Week

HHA Nurse Found Not Guilty Of Patient Neglect

How much are your nurses on the hook for their patients' condition? Not as much as you might think, Virginia state court judge Morgan Armstrong recently decided. A nurse working for Dependable Home Health Care in Martinsville, Va., was charged with neglect of an incapacitated person when a patient she oversaw was found by emergency medical personnel at home in bed with severe ulcers, deteriorating skin, and a wound infested with maggots, reports the Martinsville Bulletin. Nurse Theressa Dalton supervised a personal care aide who provided daily care to the patient, the newspaper says. Judge Armstrong found Dalton not guilty because the state did not prove that Dalton realized the extent of the patient's condition. The patient had refused to be thoroughly examined.
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