November 2018

  Abuse can occur in the act of direct patient care.  If unnecessary pain is inflicted it is irrelevant that no visible sign of injury resulted. It is also irrelevant that the police were called but declined to file charges.  COURT OF APPEALS OF ARKANSAS October 3, 2018

  A certified nursing assistant (CNA) working in a long-term care facility was trying to get a blood pressure for an eight-five year-old Alzheimer’s patient sitting in her wheelchair in a corridor who kept drawing her arm away when the CNA tried to put on the blood pressure cuff.  Out of apparent frustration the CNA yanked on the arm hard enough that the wheelchair moved forward slightly.

  Two housekeeping workers reported the incident to the director of nursing.  One of them actually saw the incident; the other was close by and heard the resident whimper in pain.  The director of nursing reviewed the surveillance video from that corridor.  She saw the CNA yank on the resident’s arm several times and saw the wheelchair move at least once.  Believing that pain was inflicted and that infliction of pain fits the legal definition of abuse, the director reported the CNA to the State.

  The Court of Appeals of Arkansas ruled the CNA’s name belonged in the registry of persons barred from working with vulnerable individuals.  There was ample video and first-hand witness testimony.  It was irrelevant that no bruising, skin breaks, lacerations or fractures occurred.  The patient was subjected to unnecessary pain, and that fits the definition of abuse. Snyder v. Department, 2018 Ark. App. 473, 2018 WL 4763159 (Ark. App., October 3, 2018).

More references from nursinglaw.com

http://www.nursinglaw.com/abuse-patient.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/abuse-neglect-disqualified.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/abuse2.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/abuse1.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/abuse-vulnerable-adult.htm