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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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GRAND RAPIDS NEWS
Blame for poor care at Grand Rapids veterans home sits at the top, Dems say
Updated Jul 27, 2017; Posted Jul 27, 2017
Dems call for stiffer charges in Grand Rapids Home for Veterans investigation
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By Amy Biolchini amy_biolchini@mlive.com
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Democratic State Representatives Winnie Brinks and Tim Greimel say Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette hasn't gone far enough to hold officials with the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans and the state accountable for the poor conditions at the facility.
"Why did it take so long to get some action? For years, our veterans were literally calling for help, pressing the help button beside their bed, and hearing silence," Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said at a Thursday, July 27, press conference in front of the home.
This week Schuette announced felony charges for falsifying medical records against 11 former nursing assistants who worked for the former contractor, J2S Group Healthforce. His investigation found there wasn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges over the five worst complaints about member treatment, in some of which veterans died.
Schuette said this week that his investigation was not over.
11 former workers at Grand Rapids Home for Veterans charged
11 former workers at Grand Rapids Home for Veterans charged
The defendants are accused of putting inaccurate or misleading information into patients' records.
Thursday the two Democrats said pursuing low-level employees was not enough. Supervisors, administrators, high-level department officials and the state itself need to be held accountable for the veterans' suffering at the hands of privatized workers, Brinks said.
"It's about time that Bill Schuette brought charges against those whose actual decision making resulted in the human suffering here," said Greimel, D-Auburn Hills. "It's time for him to hold Gov. Snyder and his administration accountable. And perhaps, most importantly, it's time for the state of Michigan to give up on this failed experiment in privatization."
Schuette's spokeswoman Andrea Bitely said the charges against the 11 officials and Schuette's investigative report speaks for themselves.
Tony Spallone, a Vietnam war veteran who lives at the home, said he's witnessed the changes in care himself.
"We don't want only want good care, we deserve good care," Spallone said, directing his comments to Gov. Rick Snyder. "I gave up my life over Vietnam. I started dying in 1969 with Agent Orange. I hope you do something about this. Privatizing does not work here."
Care at Grand Rapids veterans' home was 'worst nightmare'
Care at Grand Rapids veterans' home was 'worst nightmare'
State Attorney General Bill Schuette filed charges against 11 certified nursing assistants at the home for veterans.
Spallone brought a lawsuit against the state in 2011, attempting to fight the privatization. It was eventually dropped. Workers at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans were privatized in 2013, with a contract with J2S for staffing.
In June 2013 Greimel and Brinks paid a surprise visit to the veterans home after hearing complaints. What they heard shocked them, Greimel said.
Stories of patients lying in their own feces, lines almost two hours long to get daily medications and constant staff turnover that meant residents were training new employees, Greimel said.
Though the legislators published a report of the conditions of the home after that 2013 visit, Schuette's investigation didn't begin until after a February 2016 audit of the home showed widespread staffing shortages, incidents of abuse and neglect, unanswered calls for help from patients and problems dispensing prescription drugs.
Greimel views Schuette's investigation into the veterans home as politically motivated. Schuette has not officially announced a campaign for the governor's seat in 2018, but is considered to be a potential candidate.
"Only when it came time for him to run for governor, only when he decided it was politically expedient did he finally - and only when he was forced to because of an audit report - only then, years later, did Bill Schuette finally do something," Greimel said.
Brinks and Greimel said they believe the responsibility ultimately lies with Snyder's administration. The decision to privatize the state union workers at the home was included in the June 2011 budget - the first under Snyder's leadership.
"If this pattern sounds familiar of human catastrophes occurring and the administration and the governor's administration and Bill Schuette doing nothing for years about it, it is familiar - because this is exactly what we saw in the Flint water crisis," Greimel said. |
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Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:12 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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WATCHDOG
Former Home for Veterans employees win against Schuette, again
Kent County Circuit Court judge Mark Trusock agreed with 61st District Court judge Christina Elmore the employees should not face criminal punishment because a law was not broken.
Author: David Bailey
Published: 2:11 PM EDT March 23, 2018
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Kent County Circuit Court judge Mark Trusock agreed with 61st District Court judge Christina Elmore the employees should not face criminal punishment because a law was not broken.
13 On Your Side broke the news last summer that 11 former workers at the Home for Veterans were charged with falsifying medical records, tied to an investigation that found the workers were signing off on member location sheets they were checking on veterans, when in reality they didn't do the work.
Attorney General Bill Schuette brought the charges against the workers and told us he thought the workers should be held accountable criminally for it.
"When you're a veteran, in particular a veteran who served our country, and you're treated in a shabby way, that's wrong," Schuette told us last year. "I am proud of what we did and if i had to do it again; I would do it a second time."
Despite the lack of action by the workers to help the veterans, two judges decided the records that were falsified by the employees weren't technically medical records.
Last summer, multiple sources close to the situation, not connected with the employees, reached out to our investigative team to express concerns about the filing of the charges against low-level workers inside the facility.
There was deep criticism that Schuette pressed on with a prosecution of these workers knowing video proving the workers didn't check on the veterans was not available. And there were questions whether the documents that were falsified were really medical records.
"In my opinion there has to be a political component of the prosecution," defense attorney Frank Stanley said at the time. "To charge these people with felonies under these circumstances is almost egregious. They should have never been charged at all." |
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Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:16 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Schuette: Veterans home workers falsified records
Jonathan Oosting, Detroit News Lansing Bureau Published 11:28 a.m. ET July 24, 2017
Veterans Homes (3)
(Photo: Cory Morse / AP)
Lansing — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced criminal charges Monday against 11 former caregivers at the state-run Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, alleging they falsified records to cover up neglect at the facility.
Schuette’s office also investigated several complaints of alleged resident mistreatment but said there was not sufficient evidence to pursue more serious vulnerable adult abuse charges against any workers at the veterans home.
The attorney general launched the probe in May 2016 following a scathing state audit that revealed “a troubling pattern of mismanagement” at the Grand Rapids facility, which prompted a state government overhaul of how nursing care is provided to Michigan veterans.
The audit showed, among other things, that workers falsified records and skipped room checks designed to ensure the safety and health of aging residents living at the facility.
Schuette is charging 11 of those workers with intentionally or willfully violating a state law against placing misleading or inaccurate information in medical records or charts. Some of the defendants are charged with multiple counts of violating the law, which is punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000.
“We owe our veterans a debt of gratitude for their service to our country. Allegations that our veterans are being abused or neglected runs counter to the duty we owe them. These allegations were thoroughly investigated by my office,” Schuette said in a statement.
“This announcement does not represent the end of scrutiny of the GRHV or the close of the investigation. We will continue to aggressively follow-up on any new complaints of abuse or neglect of veterans at the home.”
Charges were filed against: Tyisha Toliver, 40, of Grand Rapids; Doris Penny, 59, of Grand Rapids; Eric Anderson, 59, of Holland; Jasmine Ferrer, 27, of Wyoming; Cary Gerencer, 52, of Sand Lake; Sheryl Hillyer, 62, of Lansing; Lolitta Jackson, 39, of Grand Rapids; Emina Kahriman, 53, of Grand Rapids; Michelle Longmire, 49, of Muskegon; Roconda Singleton, 39, of Grand Rapids; and Sequoyah Thomas, 23, of Grand Rapids.
All 11 defendants had been employed by former state contractor J2S Group Healthforce of Grand Rapids, according to a Schuette representative. Michigan legislators opted to partially privatize the Grand Rapids home in 2011, a move that was projected to save the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs $4.2 million a year.
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Director James Robert Redford said “substantial progress” has been made since the audit was issued in February 2016.
The state has hired two new contractors to staff the facility, according to the agency, which said the home has increased staffing and instituted both member location checks and random checks of reports by each assistant director of nursing.
“The safety and well-being of all those we have the privilege of serving is of paramount concern to MVAA staff, and we are taking all possible measures to make certain we are fulfilling these responsibilities,” Redford said in a statement.
“We have put additional education and policies in place intended to correct previously identified deficiencies and to ensure we are providing the best care possible.”
Some critics have blamed problems at the home on the privatized workforce.
Democratic state legislators had first called on Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration to investigate alleged abuse and neglect at the home in 2013. They’ve criticized Schuette, a Republican, for failing to act sooner and note his office also defended the state in a 2011 lawsuit seeking to stop privatization at the facility.
“Bill Schuette did absolutely nothing until apparently he wants to run for governor, and now all of a sudden he wants to grandstand on the issue,” Rep. Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, said Monday.
Rep. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said she is “incredibly frustrated” an investigation was not launched sooner but is cautiously optimistic care has improved since “much needed changes” were made at the home and the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.
“I hope there is an ongoing and full investigation of not just the frontline employees — the caregivers — but also folks in charge at the home, all the way up through the department,” Brinks said.
As of April 2016, 408 veterans were living in the Grand Rapids facility, one of two veterans homes in the state. Roughly half were Vietnam War veterans, while others served in World War II, the Korean War, Gulf War and the Cold War era.
Legislators responded to the 2016 audit with a new set of laws creating the Michigan Veterans Facility Authority to oversee facility operations, renovations and construction. The new laws also created new triggers for state audits and require annual reporting by the Grand Rapids facility as well as the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Marquette.
As part of the criminal investigation, Schuette’s office said it solicited reports of neglect and abuse from the public and investigated more than 35 complaints, including an alleged incident where a resident was left unattended in a court yard and later found dead “freezing … in a puddle of urine with his wheelchair tipped over.”
Investigators interviewed the man’s wife, sister and other residents and said the evidence suggests he died of a heart attack after going outdoors to smoke during the summer. He was found by staff shortly after calling for help. There was insufficient evidence to pursue any criminal charges in the death, according to a report released by Schuette’s office.
Workers’ failure to perform regular bed checks on residents, as alleged, “can result in delayed treatment of acute medical conditions, residents laying in soiled beds for prolonged periods of time, and other unacceptable and dangerous circumstances, such as residents who have fallen and sustained bone fractures and head injuries going undiscovered for hours,” according to the report.
The veterans affairs agency continues “to cooperate with the Attorney General’s Office as we have since May on any and all matters under investigation,” said spokeswoman Suzanne Thelen.
joosting@detroitnews.com |
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Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:22 am |
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