"You hear an alarm every
second of every day,” Manley [the nursing home’s defense
lawyer] said."
RT charged with criminally negligent homicide.
RT charged with criminally negligent homicide.
By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press
May 5, 2015 — 8:45pm
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Five
employees of a suburban New York nursing home are
defending themselves against charges they disregarded
alarms for more than two hours, leading to the death of a
72-year-old bedridden patient who was not connected to a
ventilator.
Opening statements in
the complicated double-jury trial began Tuesday in state
Supreme Court in Riverhead, on eastern Long Island.
The five defendants are
among nine workers at the Medford Multicare Center for
Living Inc. charged in the October 2012 death of Aurelia
Rios of Central Islip. Two of the nine have pleaded
guilty, while two others are expected to face trial this
summer. The corporate entity that runs the nursing home
also is facing charges in the woman's death.
In the case of the
remaining five, state Supreme Court Justice John Collins
decided to conduct one trial to save time but have two
separate juries hear testimony simultaneously. One jury is
considering the case against Kethlie Joseph, a respiratory
therapist accused of failing to connect a respirator to
Rios and later ignoring pagers and other alarms indicating
she was in distress.
The second jury is
considering the case against four others — the director of
respiratory therapy and three nurses — who are accused of
falsifying business records and other charges stemming
from the woman's death. All five have pleaded not guilty.
During her first
opening statement in the case against Joseph, prosecutor
Veronica MacDevitt said Joseph was charged with criminally
negligent homicide for failing to ensure that Rios was
connected to a ventilator. "It was the most basic and most
fundamental aspect of her job," MacDevitt said. She added
that later, when electronic monitors and other indicators
showed that the patient was in distress, Joseph and others
disregarded the alarms.
Defense attorney
Jonathan Manley countered that Joseph had to care for 20
patients the night Rios died, and he questioned the
effectiveness of a pager alarm system that he said went
off constantly throughout the night for both serious and
incidental problems.
"You hear an alarm
every second of every day," Manley said. "A beeper is not
a reliable indicator of a patient's health."
He added there was a
nurse in Rios' room throughout the night, and that when
Joseph was finally informed
Later Tuesday,
MacDevitt laid out the case against the four other
employees before a separate jury. She said each in their
own way either failed to respond to alarms indicating the
patient was in distress or subsequently lied to
investigators about Rios' death.
"Someone else's failure
doesn't excuse their failures," MacDevitt said.
Although opening
statements were conducted separately before each jury, the
judge indicated that for the majority of the trial, both
juries would hear testimony simultaneously. The trial,
expected to last five to six weeks, is being held in a
large courtroom in the Suffolk County Court complex.
Although rare, other double-jury trials have been held in
the county.
Hank Sheinkopf, a
spokesman for the Medford facility, called the trial "a
very complicated case. The facts will be presented to the
judge. And we will prove that Medford's patient commitment
was not lacking."
Richard J. Mollot, Executive Director
Long Term Care Community Coalition
One Penn Plaza, Suite 6252
New York, NY 10119
www.ltccc.org
www.nursinghome411.org
www.assisted-living411.org
Phone: 212-385-0355
Email: richard@ltccc.org
