Two male nurses in San Diego are being investigated after security
camera footage shows them fondling a 98-year-old stroke victim and each
other in her bedroom.
The footage, taken between March 3 and March 11, 2011, shows Russel Torralba and Alfredo Ruiz
apparently masturbating and groping each other at the foot of their
patient's bed, XETV reported. A 98-year-old woman lies unable to speak
or move her hands because of a stroke.
In one video, one of the men appears to be undoing his scrubs and
exposing himself. Another shows the same man kissing the woman.
William Berman, attorney for the woman's family. said he was shocked by the videos.
"I myself couldn't believe it," Berman told XETV-TV, adding that it
was the most shocking case of elder
abuse he's seen in 15 years of
practice in that specialty.
Torralba and Ruiz have had their nursing licenses suspended pending a
hearing next week and the San Diego District Attorney's office is
considering criminal charges. The California Department of Consumer
Affairs has been conducting an investigation into their employer, AMS Home Care Solutions, since last year.
“It appears to show very egregious behavior,”
Department spokesman Russ Heimerich told the San Diego Union-Tribune.“I
don’t know if we’ve ever had a case that has a video like this. We are
working to shut them down.”
AMS Home Care Solutions didn't respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment.
After suffering a stroke and right-side paralysis in 2005, the woman hired skilled nurses
to work two 12-hour shifts at her home at a rate of $1,300 a day,
Berman told the North County Times. He said the woman's daughter
suspected her mother wasn't being cared for properly, but complaints
went nowhere until family members saw the security camera footage.
The current suspension on Ruiz and Torralba bars the men from working
for home health agencies, but allows them to work in hospital settings.
A hearing on the permanent suspension of their licenses is scheduled
for Nov. 14.
The victim's family has sued the two men and their employer for
alleged fraud, elder abuse and negligent supervision and that trial is
set for Jan. 14.
“It’s not about the money," Berman told the San Diego Union-Tribune,
"it’s about dignity and accountability, to ensure this doesn’t happen to
anyone else."
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