The Guardian Blog : Arizona Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Solomon & Relihan Law Firm : AZ Assisted Living Neglect & Abuse : The Guardian Blog

A nursing assistant has been charged with second-degree murder after she allegedly gave a healthy non-diabetic patient an injection of insulin, which sent the elderly woman into a coma. The nursing home assistant had used the elderly woman’s credit card 10 days later before she had died. The nursing assistant had withdrawn several thousands of dollars according to state officials. She was charged with 16 counts of financial exploitation and attempted financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult in connection with just the credit card use. The charges of murder will have her facing 20 years to life without parole if convicted; the abuse of a vulnerable adult charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

It is a shame that this nursing assistant used the medications she was entrusted with to harm another patient. Most elderly patients are unable to realize what is going on and have no choice but to trust their surroundings and the people around them. This nursing assistant was heartless about this horrific act, and had the audacity to steal from the elderly woman after she had attempted to kill her.
 

The day before the elderly woman was murdered, she had talked to police about stolen checks. She had given police a print out of the checks that had been cashed over a period of time from her bank account. She had noticed that the signature on the checks did not match her own and told police that the checks had been made out to the caretaker in the facility. The four checks totaled to $1,280. The woman was found dead in her shower at the assisted living center where she was living. She was badly bruised, with injuries that were not consistent with a typical fall in a shower. She was found around 6:35am by the nursing staff and they attempted CPR to revive her and also called for help. Police arrested the caretaker while she was driving home in connection to the stolen checks and the murder. The caretaker had access to all of the resident’s apartments.

It is tragic that this type of incident occurred to this innocent woman. It is important to also question whether or not the assisted living care facility should have suspended the worker immediately upon being notified of the check incident. Or in the very least, prevent the worker from having any contact with the elderly woman. A simple step by the assisted living care facility could have saved this woman. This situation is a perfect example of how inaction and neglect can result in horrible outcome. If your loved one was harmed by a caretaker then contacting a professional to evaluate who was negligent and who failed to protect your loved one is the best step for your family to receive justice and to prevent this occurrence from happening again.