19 Arrested at Nursing Homes in N.Y., Spitzer files civil charges

[Rose Siding]

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Hidden cameras recorded nursing-home patients being left in their own waste while staffers watched movies, and 19 workers at two facilities have been arrested, prosecutors said Thursday.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also filed civil charges against the owner of one facility, saying it received state Medicare money for care that wasn't provided.

Videotape from that facility, the Jennifer Matthew Nursing Home in Rochester, showed a patient and other residents who hadn't been repositioned to avoid bed sores and were often left for hours to lie in their own urine and waste, Spitzer said. Medications and treatments were not provided as prescribed, he said.

Staff had moved call bells away from patients and stopped doing their rounds so they could socialize, watch movies, sleep or leave the building, Spitzer said. Some employees were also accused of falsely filing records that claimed they provided required care.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/05/AR2006010501200.html