The Pennsylvania Attorney General announced that the Office of Attorney General, in conjunction with the 47th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, had filed charges against the general manager and the director of health and wellness of a personal care home in Bucks County. The managers had failed to report sexual abuse committed by a male resident with dementia on three female residents also suffering from dementia.
Staff members had reported three separate incidents of sexual abuse committed by the same male resident and involving three different female resident victims to the managers on July 22, 24, and 26. After receiving each of the three separate reports of the abuse, the managers assured the staff that they would handle the situation and therefore the witnesses should not document or report the incidents themselves. Despite these assurances, neither of them reported any of the three incidents of abuse to law enforcement, protective services, or the PA Department of Human Services as required by law.
The managers’ failure to immediately report the first allegation of abuse allowed the male resident to remain in the memory care unit with insufficient safeguards where he continued to sexually abuse female residents.
Following an investigation, the managers were charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, recklessly endangering another person, criminal conspiracy, and failure to report abuse. These charges come as part of a larger investigation by the 47th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury into potential abuse of care home residents.
“The defendants were responsible for the safety and well-being of the residents in their care. But instead of protecting their residents, they sought to cover up incidents of sexual abuse of residents that occurred under their watch. Had they followed through on the mandated reporting required by law, these assaults would have been prevented. My office will do all we can to ensure they are held responsible for their neglect,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Issue:
Keeping residents safe and free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation should always be a top priority for administration and staff. Failure to prevent any type of abuse may be considered provision of substandard quality of care, and a violation of state and federal regulations, with citations and sanctions applied. All owners, operators, employees, managers, agents, and contractors of a facility are considered to be mandated reporters and a report must be filed with the appropriate agencies when there is a reasonable suspicion that abuse has occurred. Abuse should be reported to the State agency and to law enforcement in the jurisdiction where it occurred. If the suspected abuse is sexual abuse or results in serious physical injury, serious bodily injury, or a suspicious death, reporting to the State Agency and local law enforcement is required within two hours of discovery. Failure to monitor residents to prevent sexual assault, and failure to report such incidents to appropriate authorities, may be considered a breach of residents’ rights to be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures guiding the actions of teaching, preventing, reporting, investigating, and correcting alleged abuse and neglect complaints to ensure that all incidents are handled correctly and reported to the proper authorities as required.
- Train staff regarding abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including the potential for sexual assault; their responsibility to monitor, prevent, and intervene in resident-to-resident or other assaults; and how to immediately report the incidents to their supervisor or through the facility’s Hotline.
- Periodically audit to determine if all complaints are investigated and reported as required to appropriate authorities. Also, audit to ensure that resident risk evaluations regarding sexual or other aggressive behaviors are current and that interventions are included in the individual’s care plan, including the need for staff to monitor and protect other residents from assaults.
