Sentosa nurses did not endanger nursing home patients
The US Health Department cleared ten of the Sentoza 27, a group of Pinoy nurses being charged with reckless endangerment of their patients whom they allegedly walked out on in 2006.
A spokesman from the state Department of Health said in a report by New York’s Newsday said that in their inquiry, they found that residents at a Smithtown nursing home "were not placed in jeopardy" by the mass resignation of 10 nurses in 2006.
The health department's findings were released less than two weeks before the nurses - all immigrants - are scheduled for a January 28 trial in Suffolk County, New York, on charges of conspiracy and endangering patients in a pediatric ventilation unit at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.
The Suffolk County district attorney's office questioned the thoroughness of the inquiry and defended the grand jury probe that led to the nurses' indictment in March.
Still, the health department is the second major state government agency to support the nurses' claims that patients were not endangered. The state Education Department, which licenses nurses, found in 2006 that the nurses did not abandon patients.
"This is the final straw," defense attorney Oscar Michelen said. "This is vindication that these nurses did nothing wrong, especially when it is the department in charge of patient care saying it."
Prosecutors and the nursing home's main owners, Benjamin Landa and Bent Philipson, contend that the nurses endangered patients by prompting a staffing crisis with their resignations on April 7, 2006.
The nurses did so after they complained for months about working conditions – they said they were recruited to work as nurses but were placed as caregivers in nursing homes with a lower salary and less benefits than originally promised.
Records reviewed by the health department's Office of Long-term Care showed that the nursing home was fully staffed after the nurses' departure, said Jeffrey Hammond, a health department spokesman.
"The shifts were covered and patients were not placed in jeopardy," Hammond said.
The inquiry was begun in October to determine why Avalon Gardens did not inform state health authorities of the incident. Newsday articles on Sept. 23 and 24, 2007 reported that all shifts were covered on the day the nurses resigned and described connections between the nursing home owners' political relationships and the indictment of the nurses.
State law requires a nursing home to report any "mistreatment, neglect and abuse" to the health department.
The district attorney's probe began after a private meeting District Attorney Thomas Spota held with the nursing home's owners, attorney and administrator in May 2006. Spota had received $1,500 in campaign contributions from the attorney, Howard Fensterman, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser. Fensterman and Spota have said the contribution played no role in the investigation.
Robert Clifford, a spokesman for Spota, said in a statement that the health department did not contact the district attorney's office.
"The 10 nurses and their attorney are under indictment after a grand jury heard evidence that they endangered the welfare of children and a disabled person who are dependent on mechanical ventilators to breathe," Clifford said.
Assistant District Attorney Leonard Lato said the Health Department did not visit the nursing home or contact its administrator. Rather, Lato said, the department asked one of the nursing home's owners for records showing which nurses were on call to fill shifts left open by the resigning nurses.
"That's it. Nothing beyond pure numbers. No doctor was spoken with, no nurse, nobody who was actually caring for these children," said Lato, who said his information came from the nursing home's administrator, Susan O'Connor.
Hammond said he could not say whether an on-site visit was made by the state.
Gary Lewis, a spokesman for SentosaCare, headquartered in Woodmere, a group of nursing homes including Avalon Gardens, declined to make O'Connor available for interviews because she will testify at the upcoming trial.- ABS CBN News
A spokesman from the state Department of Health said in a report by New York’s Newsday said that in their inquiry, they found that residents at a Smithtown nursing home "were not placed in jeopardy" by the mass resignation of 10 nurses in 2006.
The health department's findings were released less than two weeks before the nurses - all immigrants - are scheduled for a January 28 trial in Suffolk County, New York, on charges of conspiracy and endangering patients in a pediatric ventilation unit at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.
The Suffolk County district attorney's office questioned the thoroughness of the inquiry and defended the grand jury probe that led to the nurses' indictment in March.
Still, the health department is the second major state government agency to support the nurses' claims that patients were not endangered. The state Education Department, which licenses nurses, found in 2006 that the nurses did not abandon patients.
"This is the final straw," defense attorney Oscar Michelen said. "This is vindication that these nurses did nothing wrong, especially when it is the department in charge of patient care saying it."
Prosecutors and the nursing home's main owners, Benjamin Landa and Bent Philipson, contend that the nurses endangered patients by prompting a staffing crisis with their resignations on April 7, 2006.
The nurses did so after they complained for months about working conditions – they said they were recruited to work as nurses but were placed as caregivers in nursing homes with a lower salary and less benefits than originally promised.
Records reviewed by the health department's Office of Long-term Care showed that the nursing home was fully staffed after the nurses' departure, said Jeffrey Hammond, a health department spokesman.
"The shifts were covered and patients were not placed in jeopardy," Hammond said.
The inquiry was begun in October to determine why Avalon Gardens did not inform state health authorities of the incident. Newsday articles on Sept. 23 and 24, 2007 reported that all shifts were covered on the day the nurses resigned and described connections between the nursing home owners' political relationships and the indictment of the nurses.
State law requires a nursing home to report any "mistreatment, neglect and abuse" to the health department.
The district attorney's probe began after a private meeting District Attorney Thomas Spota held with the nursing home's owners, attorney and administrator in May 2006. Spota had received $1,500 in campaign contributions from the attorney, Howard Fensterman, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser. Fensterman and Spota have said the contribution played no role in the investigation.
Robert Clifford, a spokesman for Spota, said in a statement that the health department did not contact the district attorney's office.
"The 10 nurses and their attorney are under indictment after a grand jury heard evidence that they endangered the welfare of children and a disabled person who are dependent on mechanical ventilators to breathe," Clifford said.
Assistant District Attorney Leonard Lato said the Health Department did not visit the nursing home or contact its administrator. Rather, Lato said, the department asked one of the nursing home's owners for records showing which nurses were on call to fill shifts left open by the resigning nurses.
"That's it. Nothing beyond pure numbers. No doctor was spoken with, no nurse, nobody who was actually caring for these children," said Lato, who said his information came from the nursing home's administrator, Susan O'Connor.
Hammond said he could not say whether an on-site visit was made by the state.
Gary Lewis, a spokesman for SentosaCare, headquartered in Woodmere, a group of nursing homes including Avalon Gardens, declined to make O'Connor available for interviews because she will testify at the upcoming trial.- ABS CBN News
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