Family members came to visit her often. Soon, they started noticing strange bruising on Maria’s body. Naturally, this worried them. It worried them enough to talk to the folks in charge of the home. They wanted to know what was causing all the bruising. But according to the family, their inquiries and complaints went unanswered. So they did what any reasonable family would do to protect their loved one. They set up a video camera in her room and hid it on her nightstand. And what they caught on tape was unthinkable.

It showed an employee of the nursing home, Monica Garcia, slapping the helpless Maria, pulling her around by her hair, painfully bending her fingers, neck, and wrists, and shoving and pushing her around in a shower chair. Monica Garcia ended up being charged for criminal battery. Ms. Garcia pled no contest and served only 10 days on work release. Maria’s family filed suit against the facility for hiring and keeping on staff such a person, and a jury of citizens awarded $7.5 million against the facility for the harm done to Maria.

It is a betrayal of our trust – pure and simple.

Poor treatment causes painful (and even deadly) decubitus ulcers (bedsores), unsanitary conditions, repeated infections, dehydration, dramatic weight loss, falls, broken bones, and sometimes even death.

According to press reports, secret cameras were tucked away above several residents’ rooms and above the staffs’ break room. The cameras were set to run 24 hours a day and were fed to a closed-circuit television that was in the administrator’s office. The administrator apparently stated that the system was set up to deter theft and in some cases to prove theft. However, there is no proof that thievery had ever been a problem at the home. It was later discovered that no resident or family member have ever been advised that their privacy was being invaded by the clandestine cameras. To further this nursing home’s woes, the mold investigation proved positive. Mold in a nursing home can be particularly problematic due to the fact that residents are prone to respiratory illnesses.

According to press reports, secret cameras were tucked away above several residents’ rooms and above the staff break room. The cameras were set to run 24 hours a day and were fed to a closed-circuit television that was in the administrator’s office. The administrator apparently stated that the system was set up to deter theft and in some cases to prove theft. However, there is no proof that thievery had ever been a problem at the home. It was later discovered that no resident or family member have ever been advised that their privacy was being invaded by the clandestine cameras. To further this nursing home’s woes, the mold investigation proved positive. Mold in a nursing home can be particularly problematic due to the fact that residents are prone to respiratory illnesses.

About three months later, on one of his regular visits to see his wife, Alvin found his wife unresponsive. He immediately called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. She was found to have bruising on her head and broken ribs, as well as punctured lung.

Eventually, after much effort, Alvin found out that Elaine had fallen the night before, but the nursing home decided that all she required was to be put back in bed. No one called her family nor was any doctor called in to check on her after the fall.

It took nearly a year for Elaine to recover from her fall. Although he was 92 years old, Alvin was no pushover when it came to Elaine. Alvin went to court because of how the nursing home had treated his sweetheart. After a long battle, the jury members determined that Elaine's medical bills and the harm to her should be valued at $1.3 million. Sadly, Alvin did not live to see justice done.

What I hope, more than anything here, is that ManorCare learned a lesson, and that they will hire enough qualified staff to care for all their residents. All of them. ManorCare is a giant corporation, and thousands and thousands of lives are at stake.

When her daughter first walked into Gloria's room, she just thought that she was slumped over. Gloria's daughter immediately ran to her side to help Gloria up, only to notice that her mother’s body was no longer warm. In fact, her body was cold. How long had her mother gone unnoticed in this condition? Gloria’s daughter also noticed that there was no call button within reach of her mother. The nursing home informed the daughter that they had just recently checked on her mother. And according to the funeral home, Gloria’s time of death is listed as 9:00 a.m. on June 21, 2009. But Gloria’s daughter disputes that finding. She arrived at the nursing home about 9:30. How could a body get that cold in just under half an hour? No one will ever know what happened in the last hours of Gloria Baral’s life. They will never know if she suffered or passed peacefully. Gloria’s family has filed an official complaint against the nursing home and may well pursue legal recourse, to ensure that no other resident or family member will suffer in the same way.

Thanks go to our local CBS affiliate, WLTX, for picking up this story. It is critically important that the public be made aware of what is really going on inside our communities' nursing homes.

In April, 2008 a state inspector was making a routine visit to the facility, when he found a resident who was a bilateral amputee, outside, asleep with a smoldering cigarette burning a hole into a towel that was covering his left stump. According to this inspector, there was smoke rising from the hole in the towel and the edge of the hole was still burning bright red. The resident had been labeled a safe smoker despite the fact that he had been found previously with a lit cigarette in his mouth and he was fast asleep. The resident was also found to have bedsores covering his amputated limbs and buttocks. The State had initially fined the nursing home $41,000 for both incidents but a settlement was later reached.

The nursing home only had to pay $16,000.

On May 29, 2007, Ms. Reed got up in the middle of the night and began to roam the corridors. She fell and broke her left help. Ms. Reed was then confined to a wheelchair from her injuries. Just over a week later, she was left alone again. Her wheelchair had no restraints and her personal "fall" alarm had been turned off. She fell out of her chair and broke her other hip. Ms. Reed suffered intense pain from these injuries and incurred massive medical costs. There is just no excuse for leaving Ms. Reed alone without protections. Her guardian, Hazel Timmons is working with her attorney to recover for the losses and harms to Ms. Reed.

In November, 2007 he was sent to Erlanger Medical Center for a skull fracture after a fall resulting from a purported seizure. On November 27, 2007, one week after he was admitted, Mr. Young died alone. No family members had even been notified that he was in the hospital.

Mr. Young was buried in the Ruth Cofer cemetery. For a month after his death, various family members called the assisted living facility to check on the welfare of Mr. Young. They were consistently told that Mr. Young was okay and that the family member should come and visit.

When Mr. Young’s death finally came to light, the family was devastated. The stories and lies that they had been told in the month since his death were unbearable. Can you imagine?

After a protracted court battle, and nearly a year after his death, Mr. Young's body was exhumed. An autopsy was performed. The family was shocked when they learned what had really happened. Mr. Young actually died from blunt force trauma, not a fall. Mr. Walter Small, a Certified Nursing Assistant at Standifer, has been charged with delivering the blow that caused Mr. Young's death.

We will tell you more.

She saw one gentleman who was ignored and left sitting in his own waste for so long that the feces was encrusted on his legs all the way down to below his knees. When she reported it to her boss and to the people who were supposed to be caring for him, they decided to leave him in this condition until the next shift started two and a half hours later.

Her supervisor just sprayed the room with deodorant to cover the smell.

Diana then witnessed another older resident, who was paralyzed from the waist down, struggle to get out of her room in her wheelchair just to inform the staff that she was sitting in soiled garments. Mrs. Harris was horrified when she saw the staff laugh at her.

On another occasion, after Dianna had reported that a female resident needed attention, the resident’s needs went unchecked. The neglected resident wrote to her family saying her last goodbyes because she truly thought she was going to die from neglect.

Mrs. Harris continued to report the abuse and neglect she saw for nearly three months. Instead of correcting the problems, the nursing home corporation fired her. She has since gone to court.

She filed a petition seeking for wages and punitive damages after she was advised that the only reason for her termination was her reports of abuse. No other reason was ever given for her termination. She had not committed any other act that would warrant her termination.

We hope and expect that she will find justice, and we hope that the Cimmarron Pointe Care Center will care for the helpless residents in their care.