The Montgomery County District Attorney has just charged a former aide at the Cambridge Brightfield Assisted Living Facility in Lansdale, Pennsylvania with involuntary manslaughter arising from the death of a 79 year old resident last fall.

On October 8, 2008, Alvador Thompson the aide who was feeding 79 year old Ronald Myers, fed him steaming-hot Cream of Wheat that caused second degree burns of his tongue, lips, roof and sides of his mouth, as well as burns down his throat. Mr. Myers then stopped eating and he died on October 23, 2008.

The DA previously charged Thompson with reckless endangerment and neglect of a care-dependent person. The new charge was apparently added after an employee at Cambridge Brightfield described Mr. Myers - who was unable to speak as a result of his Alzheimer’s Disease - trying to put his arm out to stop Thompson from feeding the scalding hot cereal. Thompson apparently ignored Mr. Myers and kept right on feeding him.

Ask yourself: is the sort of dignity and respect we owe our senior citizens? More to the point, ask yourself if this is the type of care Mr. Myers deserved while his family was paying $2,830 per month for 24 hour care.

Unfortunately, there is not too much that state regulators can do in this instance. The DPW citation criticized only that Cambridge Brightfield failed to report this incident to the Montgomery County Older Adult Protective Services until two days later when a representative happened to be at the facility for another resident! The full set of violation reports from the Pennsylvania DPW can be found on line by clicking here. It is a 50 page pdf document so be patient for it to load.

The good news for Assisted Living Facility residents is that this facility lost its provisional license in February and has been banned from new admissions since then. They’re still doing business with the existing residents, but a least they know that licensing authorities are watching them closely.

The types of violations found in the Cambridge Brightfield violation reports are exactly to sort of care which is at the root of many of the cases we handle on behalf of residents and families whose loved ones are the victims of nursing home abuse and assisted living facility abuse. If you or a loved one have been the victim of Assisted Living Facility abuse or neglect, call us at Shrager, Spivey & Sachs.