Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
A home health nurse in Florida was accused of taping the mouth of her “nonverbal” patient and repeatedly ripping it off, according to recent reporting from local media.
Nia Ayers, 24, was charged with aggravated abuse of the elderly or disabled after turning herself in on May 7, The Miami Herald reported this week.
The incident, involving an 18-year-old patient who investigators say “is completely unable tot defend herself or cry out for help,” was reported to the St. Cloud Police Department by the patient’s mother. The mother checked home camera footage after noticing cuts and scrapes around the patient’s mouth and on her eyelids.
On the footage, Ayers can allegedly be seen repeatedly taping the patient’s mouth shut before ripping off the tape and holding a washcloth to cover the young woman’s mouth. She then shook the patient’s breathing machine while it was connected to her nose, police said.
Investigators called the alleged incident a “truly heinous act.”
Authorities said they are “concerned” there could possibly be additional victims and asked anyone with family that had been cared for by Ayers to call 407-891-6700 to report potentially suspicious or abusive acts to their Criminal Investigations Unit.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a 48-year law firm with decades of experience in litigating cases of abuse, maltreatment and negligence from nursing home employees, at-home healthcare workers and other medical professionals. Our skilled attorneys are known for their tireless investigations, dedication and diligence when it comes to securing the best possible outcome for each patient. This firm has secured numerous record and leading verdicts on behalf of injured patients throughout Florida and is among the top personal injury law firms in the country.
Our attorneys have decades of experience pursuing these types of claims and use their extensive knowledge of state and federal protections while representing these patients and grieving families. Defendants in these cases may face civil liability, meaning facilities, administrators, or staff can be held legally responsible for injuries caused by negligence or wrongful actions. Facilities caring for these patients, their staff and administrators have a duty of care when it comes to their patients, meaning that they have a legal duty to provide a standard level of care. Any breach in this duty of care occurs when they fail to meet this standard either by neglecting to provide adequate food, failing to prevent bedsores or falls, or ignoring signs of abuse by others.
As many as 5 million older people in the United States experience abuse annually with many of them suffering abuse while living at nursing homes, according to data from the National Council on Aging (NCOA). A national survey showed that women are more likely to be abused than men, according to reporting from the Nursing Home Abuse Center. Approximately 64% of elder abuse victims are women. Other factors include whether the patient has experienced past trauma or abuse — these individuals have been found to be more likely to experience abuse — and whether the patient has a physical or cognitive impairment. Additionally, studies have found that there is a link between abuse and those of a lower socioeconomic status. The results have found that there was a higher rate of abuse for those at “lower-quality facilities.”
At Leesfield & Partners, patients who have been abused and families who have lost loved ones are represented by skilled, compassionate and dedicated attorneys who aggressively pursue the best possible outcome in neglect cases.
Previous Cases
Previously, the firm represented the family of a nursing home patient in Key West who was killed due to the negligence of the staff.
The firm previously represented a 91-year-old woman who later died as the result of a preventable femur fracture in an aggravated liability case. She died less than two months after the incident.
Leesfield & Partners secured $1 million in that case.
One woman, 88, was able to walk with assistance before being admitted to a nursing home where she was severely neglected and abandoned. Following this treatment, she sustained two separate hip fractures, which required complete hip replacement surgery and extensive rehabilitation.
An 82-year-old woman suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was left unsupervised despite the nursing home where she lived being aware that she needed help walking and was prone to falling. As a result, she fell on multiple occasions and suffered several injuries that deteriorated her health ultimately leading to her death.
The firm secured a substantial, confidential award in that case.
A similar case settled for $ 1 million. In that instance, our client was a dementia patient who fell 10 times at her nursing home. One fall was so terrible that she suffered a subdural hematoma — a collection of blood between the brain and a protective layer called the dura mater — and needed surgery.
In a tragic case in which a minor died by suicide, Leesfield & Partners secured a $ 1 million recovery for the devastated parents for the mental health facility’s failure to supervise their patient.
Leesfield & Partners settled a case on behalf of a family in Orlando after their special needs child died while at a care facility. The child in this case choked on her lunch, causing a prolonged deprivation of oxygen and her death.
That case was settled for $500,000.
