VA Nursing Assistant Sentenced for Making False Statements About Providing A Resident’s Care to Federal Agents
A Veterans Affairs (VA) nursing assistant was recently sentenced in a federal court to one year of probation related to her making false statements to federal agents who were investigating the death of a resident that occurred in 2016.
The resident who died suffered from multiple, serious medical conditions and his breathing was to be monitored every hour. On the morning of July 3, 2016, the patient was discovered unresponsive and not breathing and was transferred to the hospital’s emergency room where he was later pronounced dead. The nursing assistant had worked the previous overnight shift from midnight to 8 a.m., and it was her responsibility to check on the resident every hour to monitor his breathing.
During an investigation of the resident’s death, the aide made false statements two different times, telling the investigators that she had performed the hourly checks on the resident during her shift. The investigation revealed that the defendant failed to make the hourly checks, and that she had lied to the federal agents about making the hourly bed checks.
She was charged and agreed to plead guilty to two counts of making false statements, and under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, instead of the one-year probation she received, could have been sentenced for up to five years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Compliance Perspective
Failure by a facility to ensure that staff members provide the care prescribed for residents, including specified frequency of bed checks, may be considered abuse and neglect and viewed as the provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review the policy and procedures for following and accurately documenting residents’ care plans.
- Train staff on abuse and neglect and following residents’ care plans regarding specific monitoring instructions.
- Periodically audit to determine if patients’ care plans requiring specific, frequent monitoring, repositioning, etc., are being followed on all shifts.
