Nursing Assistant Sentenced to House of Correction for Patient Abuse of Elderly at Cape Nursing Home
Friday, April 8th, 2005.
Boston, MA - A former certified nursing assistant was sentenced today to serve eight months in the Barnstable County House of Correction after being found guilty last week of physically abusing elderly Alzheimer’s patients at a Harwich nursing home, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced today.
An Orleans District Court jury found Isaac Joseph, 40, of Dennisport, guilty of three counts of assault and battery and one count of patient abuse on Friday, April 1. Orleans District Court Judge W. James O’Neill sentenced Joseph to serve eight months in the House of Correction and ordered him to pay $2,550 in fines and fees.
Joseph stood trial on the charges following an investigation by AG Reilly’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) into abuse that occurred at the Cranberry Pointe Rehabilitation & Skilled Care Center in Harwich between December 2002 and February 2003.
Joseph was employed as a certified nursing assistant at Cranberry Pointe from August 2002 until February 2003 and most recently worked in the Bayview Unit for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The investigation by AG Reilly’s MFCU found that over several months, Joseph verbally, physically and emotionally abused two elderly Alzheimer’s patients who were residents at Cranberry Pointe.
On two separate occasions, Joseph tripped a 74-year-old man and struck him in the head. In a third incident, Joseph tormented a 76-year-old partially deaf man by repeatedly striking the man in his hearing aid.
Witnesses, including Cranberry Pointe staff and visitors, reported the abuse to Cranberry Pointe administrators. Local patient advocacy groups were subsequently contacted and the matter was ultimately referred to the Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Attorney General’s Office. Cranberry Pointe officials fired Joseph on February 19, 2003.
The Attorney General’s Office continues to investigate the conduct of supervisors at Cranberry Pointe regarding their response to the reports of witnesses that abuse and neglect was an ongoing problem at the home, and regarding conditions at the home.
Assistant Attorney General Richard Grundy prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Assistant Attorneys General Bruce Anderson and Julie Chattopadhyay of AG Reilly’s MFCU. The case was investigated by Investigators Steven Devlin, Linda Landry and Christine Soloperto, also of MFCU.
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