Aide Sentenced in NY Nursing Home Abuse Case
Date Published: Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
In another sad case involving nursing home abuse, a former aide has just been sentenced to 10 years of probation for sexual abuse of a patient at the nursing home where he had once worked, said the Troy Record. Robert Gundersen, 52, was facing up to seven years for charges that were brought against him by the state attorney general’s office last year, wrote the Troy Record.
Gundersen’s sentence was handed down by Rensselaer County Court Judge Andrew Ceresia, explained the Troy Record, noting that the sentence was part of a deal in which Gundersen pled guilty in January to attempted first-degree sexual abuse. According to the attorney general’s office, Gundersen allegedly fondled a 78-year-old woman, who was physically incapable of protecting herself; the woman was a resident in late 2007 to early 2008, at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center and Extended Care Facility, said the Troy Record. Gundersen was working as an aide then.
This January, in court, Gundersen admitted that he touched the woman’s breast; he must now register as a sex offender and is prohibited from ever working at a health care facility, reported the Troy Record. A charge of third-degree sexual abuse remains pending in Albany County against Gundersen for an “alleged incident” at the Eddy Ford Nursing Home, wrote the Troy Record. In that case, Gundersen is accused of “French-kissing a wheelchair-bound patient with multiple sclerosis in August and September of 2008,” the Troy Record reported.
We recently wrote about another accusation of nursing home neglect at the Ridgecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Florida that was being accused of, and investigated for, abuse. It seems that a 76-year-old patient—whose identity is being withheld—had to wait for about 12 hours before she received treatment for a broken shoulder and two broken legs, said the Daytona Beach News Journal, citing a DeLand police report. The female patient fell out of her bed at 5:00 am Friday, when her bedding was being changed, said DeLand police Deputy Chief Randel Henderson, wrote the Daytona Beach News Journal.
Just prior we wrote about a Brooklyn nursing home ordered to pay about $19 million in damages to a family whose loved one allegedly died as a result of abject neglect. We also wrote that ABC World News reported that a California nursing home used chemical restraints—drugs—to silence residents. In some cases, this practice was fatal. The Chicago Tribune broke with an exposé on how some powerful psychotropic drugs are given to nursing home residents in Illinois without consent and valid psychiatric diagnoses. Some have suffered from a variety of adverse responses that include, said the Tribune, “tremors, dangerous lethargy, and a higher risk of harmful falls or even death.”
When seniors are abused—emotionally, physically, financially, sexually, or through neglect—the risk of death increases by more than double, according a recent study, said Medicine Net recently. Sadly, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data, anti-psychotics that are inappropriately prescribed, kill 15,000 nursing home patients annually, said ABC.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 8:50 am and is filed under Legal News, Nursing Home Abuse.
In another sad case involving nursing home abuse, a former aide has just been sentenced to 10 years of probation for sexual abuse of a patient at the nursing home where he had once worked, said the Troy Record. Robert Gundersen, 52, was facing up to seven years for charges that were brought against him by the state attorney general’s office last year, wrote the Troy Record.
Gundersen’s sentence was handed down by Rensselaer County Court Judge Andrew Ceresia, explained the Troy Record, noting that the sentence was part of a deal in which Gundersen pled guilty in January to attempted first-degree sexual abuse. According to the attorney general’s office, Gundersen allegedly fondled a 78-year-old woman, who was physically incapable of protecting herself; the woman was a resident in late 2007 to early 2008, at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center and Extended Care Facility, said the Troy Record. Gundersen was working as an aide then.
This January, in court, Gundersen admitted that he touched the woman’s breast; he must now register as a sex offender and is prohibited from ever working at a health care facility, reported the Troy Record. A charge of third-degree sexual abuse remains pending in Albany County against Gundersen for an “alleged incident” at the Eddy Ford Nursing Home, wrote the Troy Record. In that case, Gundersen is accused of “French-kissing a wheelchair-bound patient with multiple sclerosis in August and September of 2008,” the Troy Record reported.
We recently wrote about another accusation of nursing home neglect at the Ridgecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Florida that was being accused of, and investigated for, abuse. It seems that a 76-year-old patient—whose identity is being withheld—had to wait for about 12 hours before she received treatment for a broken shoulder and two broken legs, said the Daytona Beach News Journal, citing a DeLand police report. The female patient fell out of her bed at 5:00 am Friday, when her bedding was being changed, said DeLand police Deputy Chief Randel Henderson, wrote the Daytona Beach News Journal.
Just prior we wrote about a Brooklyn nursing home ordered to pay about $19 million in damages to a family whose loved one allegedly died as a result of abject neglect. We also wrote that ABC World News reported that a California nursing home used chemical restraints—drugs—to silence residents. In some cases, this practice was fatal. The Chicago Tribune broke with an exposé on how some powerful psychotropic drugs are given to nursing home residents in Illinois without consent and valid psychiatric diagnoses. Some have suffered from a variety of adverse responses that include, said the Tribune, “tremors, dangerous lethargy, and a higher risk of harmful falls or even death.”
When seniors are abused—emotionally, physically, financially, sexually, or through neglect—the risk of death increases by more than double, according a recent study, said Medicine Net recently. Sadly, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data, anti-psychotics that are inappropriately prescribed, kill 15,000 nursing home patients annually, said ABC.
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